Civil War

  • Compromise of 1850

    Set of laws passed admitting California as a free state, creating the Utah and New Mexico territories with popula sovereignty, settling Texas-New Mexico border dispute, ending the slave trade in DC, and making it easier for southerners to recover slaves
  • Kansas Nebraska Act

    A bill that mandated popular sovereignty . Went against former border of slavery
  • Bleeding Kansas

    Used to describe the time of violence after the Kansas Nebraska Act. The North and the South fought for control of the popular sovereignty states.
  • Dred Scott Decision

    Supreme Court decides to allow slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories.
  • Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    Series of seven debates during the 1858 Illinois state elections. Mainly directed at slavery and states' rights.
  • Harper's Ferry

    U.S. military arsenal was the target of an assault by abolitionists led by John Brown.
  • Lincoln's Election

    Abraham Lincoln elected as the 16th president. Won despite only recieving 40%of the popular vote.
  • Fort Sumter

    Beauregard attacked Fort Sumter heavily and won after 34 hours. Confederate troops then occupied it for four years.
  • Antietam

    FIrst battle on northern land. Bloodiest day in American history with more than 22,000 casualties. The result remains inconclusive.
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Lincoln declares that as of January 1, 1863 all slaves in the rebellious states will be freed. It did not free any slaves but was still a huge turning point in the war.
  • Gettysburg Address

    President Lincoln was invited to deliver a speech at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the site of one of the bloodiest and mostdecisive battles in US history. He talked about human equality in the declaration of independence.
  • Andersonville Prison

    South's largest prison for captured Union soldiers. Unhealthy conditions and high death rate.
  • Surrender at Appomattox Court House

    Confederate surrender to Union ending Civil War.
  • Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

    John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincolna= at a play at FOrd's theatre in Washington D.C.
  • Reconstruction

    From the end of the war through 1877 America reconstructs from the war. New laws were passed and there were still problems with slavery and discrimination.