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Missouri Compromise
Missouri enters as a slave state and Maine enters as a free state. The dividing line is 36 degrees, 30" N -
Compromise of 1850
California enters as a free state. Slave trade abolished in D.C. Fugitive slave law amended -
Fugitive Slave Law
All slaves have to be returned to owners even if in a free state. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas, was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements. It took place in the Kansas Territory and the neighboring towns of the state of Missouri between 1854 and 1861. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas and Nebraska will be determined to be slave or free by the poeples vote. -
Dred Scott Decision
The case held that African Americans could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court,and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Dred Scott, an enslaved African American man attempted to sue for his freedom. In a 7–2 decision written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the Cour -
Douglas-Lincoln Senate Race
Douglas and Lincoln were both running for Illinios senator. Douglas won, but Lincoln was discovered by the people. -
Raid at Harper's Ferry
The raid was an attempt by the white abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt by seizing a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown's raid was defeated by a detachment of U.S. Marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln vs. John C. Breckinridge. Lincoln wins. -
Fort Sumter
On April 12, 1861, General P.G.T. Beauregard, in command of the Confederate forces around Charleston Harbor, opened fire on the Union garrison holding Fort Sumter. At 2:30pm on April 13 Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander, surrendered the fort and was evacuated the next day. -
Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run was the first major land-based confrontation of the American Civil War. The Union army commander in Washington, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, gave in to great pressure to begin campaigning before his men’s 90-day enlistments expired, although he did not feel the army was adequately trained yet, leading to a stunning Confederate victory and ending northern hopes of a quick end to the war. -
Donelson
On February 15, with the fort surrounded, the Confederates, commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, launched a surprise attack against Grant's army in an attempt to open an escape route to Nashville, Tennessee. Grant, who was away from the battlefield at the start of the attack, arrived to rally his men and counterattack. Despite achieving partial success and opening the way for a retreat, Floyd lost his nerve and ordered his men back to the fort. They agreed to a conditional surrender. -
Battle of Pea Ridge
Union forces in Missouri were reorganized into the Army of the Southwest. Samuel R. Curtis fought Ear Van Dorn's confederate soldiers. The union won. -
Battle of Shiloh
Also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, the Battle of Shiloh took place from April 6 to April 7, 1862, and was one of the major early engagements of the American Civil War. The battle began when the Confederates launched a surprise attack on Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant in southwestern Tennessee. After initial successes, the Confederates wereunable to hold their positions and were forced back,resulting in a Union victory. Both sides suffered heavy losses -
Second Battle of Bull Run
Confederate Robert E. Lee fought John Pope's Union soldiers. Robert E. Lee won -
Antietam
Union George B. McClellan fought Robert E. Lee. About 22,727 people were killed, captured or wounded. The Union won. -
Fredericksburg
Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside. The Confederates won the battle. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Vicksburg
Union forces under U.S. Grant assaulted the Confederate position at Vicksburg. After two assaults were repulsed with heavy losses, Grant settled in to besiege the Confederate position. It took about a month, but the Confederates ultimately gave up the position. Along with the Union victory at Gettysburg the same week, it set beginning of the end for the Confederacy. -
Gettysburg
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. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
The campaign began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia, on November 15 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21 -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
The Battle of Appomattox Court House was one of the last battles of the American Civil War. It was the final engagement of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. -
Lincoln' Assassination and Death
Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford's Theater. He died from his injuries several hours later. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment guaranteed that no future administration could reinstate slavery by simply rescinding the Emancipation Proclamation. The Amendment legally guaranteed the end of slavery in the United States. -
Theory of Total War
Grant said that after you beat the enemy in battle, you have to destroy everything they have. That includes farms, houses, and everything else.
