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Abolition
The movement to abolish slavery, became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
Missouri Compromise 1820-1821
Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri should be admitted as slave state. Louisiana Territory was split into two parts. South of the line slavery was legal. North of the line slavery was banned (except missouri).
President: James Monroe -
San Felipe de Austin
Main settlement of the colony named in honor of Stephen F. Austin. Established in 1821. Stephan established it a colony where "no drunkard, no gambler, no profane, wearer, and no idler" would be allowed. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Many of the settles were Southerners who had brought slaves with them to Texas even though Mexico had abolished slavery. This was a cultural difference between the region and it's government. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Turner and more than 50 followers attacked four plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventually captured and executed
many members of the group, including Turner. -
The Liberator
Written by Willian Lloyd Garrison. Made to deliver an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Santa Anna had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution, in a way this led to the Texas Revolution. -
Oregon Trail
Stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. Proved wagons could travel on the Oregon Trail. -
Texas Revolution
The rebellion in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico -
Manifest Destiny
Expressed a belief that the United States was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory. -
Texas enters the United States
Most Texans hoped that the United States would annex their republic, but U.S. opinion divided along sectional lines. Southerners wanted Texas in order to extend slavery, which already had been
established there. Northerners feared that the annexation of more slave territory would tip the uneasy balance in the Senate in favor of slave states—and prompt war with Mexico -
Mexican-American War
pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the administration of U.S. President James Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. -
The North Star
Frederick Douglas wrote it. An antislavery newspaper. He named it
The North Star, after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgp
Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico and ceded the New Mexico and California territories to the United States. The United States agreed to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession, which included present-day California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. -
Harriet Tubman
After Tubman’s owner died, she heard rumors that she was about to be sold. Fearing this possibility, Tubman decided to make a break for freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. Shortly after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman resolved to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. -
Compromise of 1850
To please the North, the compromise provided that California be admitted to the Union as a free state. To please the South, the compromise proposed a new and more effective fugitive slave law. To placate both sides, a provision allowed popular sovereignty, the right to vote for or against slavery, for residents of the New Mexico and Utah territories. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. In addition, anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe was the author. Stressed
that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. The book stirred Northern abolitionists to
increase their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act, while Southerners criticized the book as an attack on the South. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Douglas introduced a bill in Congress on January 23, 1854,
that would divide the area into two territories: Nebraska in the north and Kansas in the south. If passed, the bill would repeal the Missouri Compromise and establish popular sovereignty for both territories. Congressional debate was bitter. Some Northern congressmen
saw the bill as part of a plot to turn the territories into slave states.
Southerners strongly defended the proposed legislation -
Dread Scott v. Standford
Dred Scott’s slave master had brought him from Missouri to live for a time in free territory and in the free state of Illinois. Returned to Missouri. Scott believed that because he had lived in free territory, he
should be free. He sued in federal court for his freedom. The court ruled against him, and he appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not and could never be citizens. Thus, Dred Scott had no right even to file a lawsuit and remained enslaved. -
Underground Railroad
Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a
secret network of people who would, at great risk to themselves, hide fugitive slaves. “Conductors” on the routes hid fugitives in
secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing, and escorted or directed them to the next “station.” Once fugitives reached the North, many chose to remain there. Others journeyed to Canada to be completely out of reach of their “owners.” -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
To counteract Douglas, Lincoln challenged the man
known as the “Little Giant” to a series of debates on the issue
of slavery in the territories. Douglas accepted the challenge,
and the stage was set for some of the most celebrated debates
in U.S. history. Neither wanted slavery in the territories,
but they disagreed on how to keep it out. Douglas believed deeply in
popular sovereignty. Lincoln, on the other hand, believed that slavery
was immoral. Douglas won the Senate seat. -
John Brown's raid/Harper's Ferry
Troops put down the rebellion. Later, authorities tried Brown and put him to death. Public reaction to Brown’s execution was immediate and intense in both sections of the country. In the North, bells tolled, guns fired salutes, and huge crowds gathered to hear fiery speakers denounce the South. He led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His aim was to seize the federal arsenal there and start a general slave uprising. -
Santa Fe Trail
Stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Sante Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes President
Although he pledged to halt the further spread of slavery, he also
tried to reassure Southerners that a Republican administration would not “interfere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves. Lincoln emerged as the winner with less than half the popular
vote and with no electoral votes from the South. He did not even appear on the ballot in most of the slave states because of Southern hostility toward him. The outlook for the Union was grim. -
Formation of the the Confederacy
Delegates from the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed the Confederate States of America, or Confederacy. They also drew up a constitution that closely resembled that of the United States, but with a few notable differences. The most important difference was that it “protected and recognized” slavery in new territories. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
“ Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four
hours, until the quarters were entirely burned,
the main gates destroyed by fire, . . . the magazine
surrounded by flames, . . . four barrels
and three cartridges of powder only being
available, and no provisions but pork remaining,
I accepted terms of evacuation . . . and
marched out of the fort . . . with colors flying
and drums beating . . . and saluting my flag
with fifty guns." -
Battle of Antietam
McClellan ordered his men to pursue Lee, and the two
sides fought on September 17 near a creek called the
Antietam. The clash proved to be the bloodiest
single-day battle in American history, with casualties
totaling more than 26,000. The next day, instead of pursuing
the battered Confederate army into Virginia and possibly
ending the war, McClellan did nothing. As a result,
Lincoln removed him from command. -
Battle of Bull Run
Near the little creek of Bull Run, just 25 miles from Washington, D.C. The battle was a seesaw affair. In the morning the Union army gained the upper hand, but the Confederates held firm.In the afternoon Confederate
reinforcements helped win the first Southern victory. Fortunately for the Union,
the Confederates were too exhausted to follow up their victory with an attack on
Washington. Still, Confederate morale soared. Many Confederate soldiers, confident that the war was over. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation did not free any slaves immediately because it applied only
to areas behind Confederate lines, outside Union control. Nevertheless, for many,
the proclamation gave the war a moral purpose by turning the struggle into a fight
to free the slaves. It also ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Conscription
A draft that forced men to serve in the army.
In the North, conscription led to draft riots, the most violent of which took place
in New York City. -
Income Tax
A tax that takes a specified percentage of an individual’s income. -
Gettysburg Address
Before Lincoln’s speech, people said, “The United States are . . .” Afterward, they said, “The United States is . . .” In other words, the speech helped the country to realize that it was not just a collection
of individual states; it was one unified nation. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Union general Ulysses S. Grant fought to take Vicksburg, one of the two remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. Vicksburg itself was particularly important because it rested
on bluffs above the river from which guns could control all water traffic. The Union had achieved another
of its major military objectives, and the Confederacy was cut in two -
Battle at Gettysburg
When Confederate soldiers led by A. P. Hill encountered several brigades of Union cavalry under the command of John Buford, an
experienced officer from Illinois. Buford ordered his men to take defensive positions on the hills and ridges surrounding the town. When Hill’s troops marched toward the town from the west, Buford’s men were waiting. The shooting attracted more troops and both
sides called for reinforcements. Losses: 23,000 Union men and 28,000
Confederates were killed or wounded. -
Sherman's March
Sherman began his march southeast through Georgia to the sea, creating a wide path of destruction. His army burned almost every house in its path and destroyed livestock and railroads. Sherman was determined to make Southerners. “so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to
it.” By mid-November he had burned most of Atlanta. After reaching the ocean, Sherman’s forces—followed by 25,000 former slaves—turned north to help Grant “wipe out Lee.” -
Thirteenth Amendment
It was ratified at the end of 1865. The U.S. Constitution now
stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
Grant paroled Lee’s soldiers and sent them home with their possessions and three days’ worth of rations. Officers were permitted to keep their side arms. Within a month all remaining Confederate resistance collapsed. After four long years, the Civil War was over. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Five days after
Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox,
Lincoln and his wife went to Ford’s Theatre
in Washington to see a British comedy, Our
American Cousin. During its third act, a man
crept up behind Lincoln and shot the president
in the back of his head.
Lincoln, who never regained consciousness.
