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The pro-slave territory of
Missouri applies to join the Union as a state in 1819. Until this time, pro-slavery and anti-slavery states had joined the Union in pairs to keep the balance in the US Senate. Missouri spoils the balance. The dispute is settled by letting the Northern ‘free’ state of Maine into the Union at the same time. The Missouri Compromise does not solve the problem; it simply postpones it for forty years. -
Turner (an enslaved African American)
and a group of followers kill 60 Whites. After the
rebellion is put down, Turner and a hundred
others are executed. The state government
in Virginia starts to talk about abolishing slavery. -
South Carolina defies the Federal Government over a
national tariff law citing states’ rights. President Andrew Jackson threatens to use the army to force South Carolina to accept the law, and the state backs down. This illustrates the views held by Southern states about their rights in relation to the Federal Government. -
The United States goes to war with Mexico and gains
land in the south-west. -
Land taken from Mexico creates new problems – should people in the new land be allowed to have slaves? The result is another compromise. California joins the Union as a ‘free state’, while the rest become territories and decide for themselves whether they will allow slavery. Again, the problem is put off until another time.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe writes the novel Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, attacking slavery. It has great influence in
the North and causes resentment in the South. -
The Kansas–Nebraska Act: As people move west, arguments increase about whether slavery should go with them. The new territories of Kansas and Nebraska attract a great deal of attention. Stephen Douglas, a Northern Democrat who wants to be president, argues that the new territories should
make the decision for themselves. This is called ‘popular sovereignty’. Pro- and anti-slavery groups flood the new territories with their supporters and this leads to violence. -
The Republicans are outraged by the Kansas–Nebraska Act and oppose the idea of extending slavery any further. Abraham Lincoln becomes
one of the early leaders of the new party. -
This case, heard by the US Supreme
Court, holds that slaves are always the property of
their masters, even if they are taken into ‘free states’ or territories. This decision is greeted with approval in the South, but with increased calls from the North to make slavery illegal. -
Brown, an anti-slavery campaigner, raids the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to steal guns and start a slave rebellion. The Union army stops him and Brown is hanged.
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The Democratic Party splits over slavery into Northern and Southern Democrats. This ensures the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, to the sixteenth presidency of the United States. When Lincoln is elected, South Carolina becomes the first of the Southern states to leave the Union.
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The Battle of Bull Run is the fi rst battle of the Civil War and the South wins. The North realises it will be a long war.
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The Confederates fire upon Fort Sumter, the Union
fort in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and the
Civil War begins. -
The South forms the Confederate States of America
(also known as the CSA or the Confederacy) and leaves the Union. -
Jefferson Davis becomes President of the confederacy.
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The civil war between the Union and the Confederacy
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Robert E. Lee is given command of the army of Northern Virginia.
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The Battle of Antietam, repelling an invasion of the
North by Lee, is called a Union victory, but at a great
cost of lives. -
At the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Union attacks at the strongest point of the Southern line, suffers heavy losses and is forced to withdraw.
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The Battle of Gettysburg is perhaps the last real chance of success that the South has in the war. Gettysburg is a Union victory.
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Lincoln announces the Emancipation Proclamation, which frees all slaves.
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Lincoln appoints Ulysses Grant as general-in-chief of the Union Army.
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Lincoln is re-elected President.
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The Civil War ends.
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Lincoln is assassinated. Vice-President Andrew Johnson becomes President.
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The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution makes the abolition of slavery official.
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Ulysses Grant, the most successful Union general of the war, is elected as the eighteenth President of the United States.