Civil War Timeline

  • Northwest Ordinance

    Declared Slavery was illegal in the Northwest Territory. Also set the precedent for how new states would enter the union.
  • Louisiana Purchase

    President Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory through the Louisiana Purchase treaty from France
  • Missouri Compromise of 1850

    Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also drew the line for the expansion of slavery at "36'30" line
  • Monroe Doctrine

    President James Monroe issues this Doctrine to warn European countries not to recolonize Latin American.
  • Nullification Crisis

    John C. Calhoun from South Carolina and he made it so sates have the right to declare a federal law or tax, also null and void if it harms that state.
  • Texas Annexation

    Mexico refused to acknowledge Texas independence, and Texas could not be admitted as a new state because of the border dispute and the slavery issue.
  • Oregon Treaty

    Negotiations led to the Oregon Treaty of 1846 granting US control south of the 49th parallel and avoiding war.
  • Mexican Cession (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo)

    Contained territories that made up most of the rest of the southwestern United States. Completed manifest destiny by giving Americans control of land from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
  • Compromise of 1850

    Introduced the principle of popular sovereignty. Also California as a free state.
  • Bleeding (Bloody) Kansas

    Competition of pro- slavery and anti- slavery forces turned conflict violent. This eventually led to the emergence of a new Party The Republican Party
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

    Overturned the Missouri Compromise by allowing popular sovereignty north of 36'30".
  • Battle of Bull Run

    On July 1861 at Bull Run Creek outside Manassas, Virginia, General Irvin McDowell (Union) and General Thomas J. Jackson (Confederacy). The Confederate won.
  • Battle of Fort Sumter

    When confederate forces fired on the Union held garrison. The garrison commander surrendered on April 13th, and was evacuated the next day.
  • Battle of Antietam

    On September 1862 in Antietam Creek, Sharpsburg, Maryland, General George McClellan (Union) and General Robert E. Lee (Confederacy). This single bloodiest day of the war 23,000 soldiers laid dead or wounded.
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    The turning Point. This document did not free the slaves. It did not attempt to free slaves in the regions under Confederate control or in the border states. Emancipation was announced he promoted it as a “military measure” against the Confederacy.
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    Presidential Reconstruction

    Lincoln and Johnson, The 10% Plan. Lincoln only 10% of the voters on the 1860 election need to oath to the union and accept terms of Emancipation and Johnson wanted to continue Lincoln's broad Reconstruction Plan.
  • Battle of Vicksburg

    May 1863 in Vicksburg, Mississippi General Ulysses S. Grant (Union) and General John Pemberton (Confederacy). This was the Union Victory
  • Battle of Gettysburg

    July 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania General George G. Meade (Union) and General Robert E. Lee (Confederacy). This was another victory for the Union
  • Gettysburg Address

    November 1863 in Gettysburg Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln visits the Gettysburg battle field to dedicate a cemetery for the fallen soldiers.
  • Sherman’s March to the Sea

    William Tecumseh Sherman also followed the total war strategy. He led his forces on a march to the sea from the Tennessee-Georgia border, utilizing scorched earth methods. His main objective was to capture the port at Savannah, Georgia.
  • 13th Amendment passes

    February 1865 Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposes the 13th Amendment.
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    Congressional Reconstruction

    Republicans in Congress passed a Congressional Reconstruction plan.
  • 14th Amendment

    Grants birthright citizenship and Must grant African Americans the right to vote.
  • 15th Amendment

    Allows all men to vote this was motivated by desire to ensure right to vote and by desire of Republican party to establish its political power in the South.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    Separate but equal Supreme Court upheld/legalized segregation and discrimination-govt abandons protecting rights.