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Kansas-Nebraska Act
The southern states' representatives in Congress were in no hurry to permit a Nebraska territory because the land lay north of the 36°30' parallel where slavery had been outlawed by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Just when things between the north and south were in an uneasy balance, Kansas and Nebraska opened fresh wounds. -
Bleeding Kansas
A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas Territory between roughly 1854 and 1856. The territory bordered Missouri, a state where slavery was allowed, and the area became a battleground for pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces who fought over whether the resulting state of Kansas should be a slave state or a free state. -
John Brown
The southerners became increasingly fearful of slaves revolting and northerners supplying them with guns and knives, as shown by the actions of John Brown. The southerners fealt they could not continue in the Union. -
South Carolina Convention
The doctrine of state's rights, the legality of secession, and the institution of black slavery had been issues of debate in the United States for decades before the election of Abraham Lincoln brought on the secession of the Southern states. Time after time the South had forced political compromises by threatening to dissolve the union, but by 1860 many Northern politicians had come to view the threat as a bluff and were sick of compromising when it came to slavery. -
Abraham Lincoln’s Election
Abraham Lincoln was elected by a considerable margin in 1860 despite not being included on many Southern ballots. As a Republican, his party’s anti-slavery outlook struck fear into many Southerners. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the American Civil War and signaled the start of the war. The South bombarded Fort Sumter from all sides. -
Monitor and Merrimack
A naval engagement at Hampton Roads, Virginia, a harbour at the mouth of the James River, notable as history’s first duel between ironclad warships and the beginning of a new era of naval warfare. -
The Capture of New Orleans
The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces was a major turning point in the war. New Orleans was the Confederacy’s largest city, and, given its location at the mouth of the Mississippi River, a trading location with a powerful and economical port. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation1 Jan 1863The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order that Abraham Lincoln signed on January 1, 1863. It proclaimed the freedom of the 3.1 million slaves in the Confederate States of America. This enraged the south and turned this into a total war to destroy the Old South. -
The Battle of Getttysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1-3, 1863 in and near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This battle was one of the most important battles of the Civil War for the North. Robert E. Lee had invaded the North and was trying to defeat the Union Army once and for all. However, the Union Army held him off and sent him retreating. This was a major turning point in the war. -
Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan
Former confederate states would be readmitted to the Union if 10% of their citizens took a loyalty oath and the state agreed to ratify the 13th amendment that outlawed slavery. Not put into effect because Lincoln was assassinated. -
The Wade-Davis Bill
Many Radical Republicans believed that Lincoln’s plan was too lenient: they wanted to punish the South for secession from the Union, transform southern society, and safeguard the rights of former slaves. As an alternative to the Ten-Percent Plan, Radical Republicans and their moderate Republican allies passed the Wade-Davis Bill in 1864. -
Abraham Lincoln is Re- Elected
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Ku Klux Klan
the KKK engaged in terrorist raids against African Americans and white Republicans at night, stating in 1865. The group destruction of property, assault, and murder people. In a few Southern states, Republicans organized militia units to break up the Klan. In 1871, the Ku Klux Act passed Congress, authorizing President Ulysses S. Grant to use military force to suppress the KKK. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment, which outlawed slavery everywhere in the United States. Remember, that the emancipation proclamation only declared that slaves in the rebel states were free. The 13th amendment made slavery and involuntary servitude illegal everywhere in the United States. -
Tenure of Office Act
Congress over the veto of President Andrew Johnson; it forbade the President to remove any federal officeholder appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate without the further approval of the Senate. It also provided that members of the President's cabinet should hold office for the full term of the President who appointed them and one month thereafter, subject to removal by the Senate. -
Johnson's Impeached
Johnson was impeached, in the U.S. House of Representatives on eleven articles of impeachment detailing his "high crimes and misdemeanors", in accordance with Article Two of the United States Constitution. -
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment is a very important amendment that defines what it means to be a US citizen and protects certain rights of the people. -
The Campaign and Election of 1868
The Radical Republicans had overreached themselves in their attempt to impeach the president on trumped-up grounds. The Republican Party was now afraid of losing power in Washington. Republican leaders decided that the best thing to do would be to support the candidate who seemed most assured of an easy victory at the polls. This man was none other than Ulysses S. Grant -
Compermise of 1877
There was a deadlock between Hayes a Republicanand Tilden a Democrat for the election of 1876. Points went to Hayes as long as he pulled the rest of the federal troops out of the south, which would leave the Democrats to rule that part of the country. He also had to give federal funding to internal improvements, federal patronages to democratic points in office, federal aid of businesses in the south, etc. It kind of screwed the blacks over, but now Hayes was president.