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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a federal law in the United States that regulated slavery in the country's western territories. -
Election of Andrew Jackson
The United States presidential election of 1828 was the 11th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, October 31, to Tuesday, December 2, 1828. -
Martin van Buren elected President
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The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five bills passed to reach a decision regarding the territories gained during the Mexican-American War. California became a free state, New Mexico and Utah were organized on basis of popular sovereignty, the fugitive slave law was strengthened, and the slave trade was abolished in D.C. Stephen Douglas passed the five proposals without convincing the North and South to agree on fundamental differences. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory. -
Election of 1860
The Democratic Party, divided on the expansion of slavery and the rights of slave owners, broke into northern and southern sections. Abraham Lincoln, the Republican, collected the majority of electoral votes, only polled 40% of the popluar vote, and was not on the ballot in 10 slave states. Lincoln was opposed to slavery's westward expansion, and it was the first election where losers refused to accept the result. Before Lincoln's inauguration, seven Southern states declared their secession. -
Secession
South Carolina passed an ordinance of secession amid jubilation and cheering, soon to be followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas in 1861. -
South Carolina Secedes
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Attack on Fort Sumter
Lincoln sought to hold onto forts in the states that had left the Union, reasoning that in this way he could assert federal sovereignty while waiting for restoration. -
Virginia Secedes
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Gettysburg
War turns against the South as the Confederates are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. -
Battle of Gettysburg
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The surrender at Appomattox Court House
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Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
While attending a production at the Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C., President Lincoln was shot and assassinated by stage actor John Wilkes Booth, as part of a larger conspiracy in a bid to revive the Confederate cause. Lincoln died on April 15, 1865. As a result, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President of the United States, forever changing the course of reconstruction and American history. -
The Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.
