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The Compromise of 1850 was a set of laws passed dealing with the controversial issue of slavery.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin as a response to the pro-slavery movement.
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Committee of Terrortories chairman Stephen Douglas reports the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
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Kansas elects its first territorial legislature. Pro-slavery Missourians cross the border into Kansas to vote against Free state candidates
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James Buchanan inaugurated President of the United States
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Arkansas passes legislation requiring free blacks to chose between exile or slavery
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The Convention of Seceded States adopts a provisional constitution forming the Confederate States of America
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Abraham Lincoln relieves General Ambrose Burnside [US} from command of the Army of the Potomac, replacing him with General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker.
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After attempting to break-out of the Union envelopment, Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysess S. Grant at the home of Wilmer McLean in Appomattox Court House
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President Andrew Johnson removes Edwin Stanton from office and informs the Senate of his actions
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The state of Virginia is granted readmission to Congress if the members of the Legislature agree never to amend their state constitution to denay the Negro the right of suffrage, the right to hold office, or their educational privileges
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Ulysses S. Grant wins a second term as President over Democrat Horace Greeley
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Philadelphia railroad brokers Jay Cooke and Co. declare bankruptcy, precipitating the Panic of 1873.
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Millard Fillmore dies of complications from a massive stroke, Buffalo, New York
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Secretary of the Treasury Benhamin H. Bristow breaks the Whiskey Ring. Businessmen and IRS officials used whiskey tax in Grant's reelection campaign.