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The series of resolutions presented by Henry Clay called the "Compromise of 1850" comes into effect. California was finally admitted as the 31st state without slavery and the Fugitive Law was strengthened. Utah and Mexico were added as territories. The Slave Trade ended in the district of Columbia.
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The Republican Party which was a group consisting of opponents of slavery in the territory formed. They opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and desired to keep slavery out of territories.
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The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law. The area was divided. Nebraska was in the north while Kansas was in the south. The Missouri Compromise was abolished and Popular Sovereignty was established in both territories.
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John C. Fremont was nominated by the Republicans and James Buchanan was nominated by the Democrats. The Whig Party also lost support from both the North and South and split over the issue of slavery.
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The Dred Scott Decision was established. This law stated that a slave did not become free if moved to a free state and slaves were not and never could be citizens and therefore Dred Scott did not have any legal standing to sue in federal court.
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Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election with less than half the popular vote and no electoral votes from the South.
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After finding out about Robert E. Lee's plan, McClellan ordered his men to chase Lee, and the two sides fought. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history with more than 26000 casualties.
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The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln comes into effect. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." It gave the war a moral purpose.
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Confederate soldiers that were being led by A. P. Hill in Southern Pennsylvania came into contact with several Union forces that were being commanded by John Buford and the Battle of Gettysburg thus begun.
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Ulysses S. Grant is appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as commander of all Union armies and Grant, in turn, appoints William Tecumseh Sherman as commander of the military division of the Mississippi.
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On April 3, 1865, the Union troops managed to conquer the Confederate Capital, Richmond, and on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant meet at Appomattox Court House in order to arrange a Confederate surrender.
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306,000 out of 6 million ballots were cast for Ulysses S. Grant and he becomes president. Out of the 500,000 Southern African Americans that voted, 9 out 10 of them voted for Grant.
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The Fifteenth Amendment which was introduced by the Radicals becomes ratified by the states. It stated that no one could be kept from voting because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
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Congress passed a series of Enforcement Acts to lessen Ku Klux Klan violence and Democratic intimidation. One act gave the president the right to use federal troops in places where the Klan was active and another act provided the federal supervision of elections in Southern states.
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Congress passed the Amnesty Act which removed voting restrictions and gave back the right to hold federal and state offices to about 150,000 former Confederates.
