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The Missouri Compromise forbids slavery in the Louisiana territory north of Missouri's Southern border. Under its terms, Maine is admitted to the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.
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In Boston, Massachusetts, David Walker publishes his widely read vociferous condemnation of slavery, AN APPEAL TO THE COLORED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD
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Nat Turner, an enslaved Baptist preacher believing himself divinely inspired, leads a violent rebellion in Southampton, Virginia. At least 57 whites are killed.
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Anti-slavery groups organize the Free Soil Party, a group opposed to the westward expansion of slavery from which the Republican Party will later be born.
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott v. Sanford denies citizenship to all slaves, ex-slaves, and descendants of slaves and denies Congress the right to prohibit slavery in the territories.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected to the presidency.
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Congress abolishes slavery in Washington, D.C., and the territories.
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in areas of rebellion
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The thirteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishes slavery throughout the country.
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New York City hosts the first Convention of the Anti-Slavery Society of American Women, an event attended by both black and white women.
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In the case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the 1793 Fugitive Slave law is constitutional, while state personal liberty laws make unconstitutional demands on slave owners. Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave law is declared the federal government's responsibility, not the states'
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The Compromise of 1850 admits California to the Union as a free state, allows the slave states of New Mexico and Utah to be decided by popular sovereignty, and bans slave trade in D.C.