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1820
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. -
1829
In Boston, Massachusetts, David Walker publishes his widely read vociferous condemnation of slavery, AN APPEAL TO THE COLORED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD -
1831
Nat Turner, an enslaved Baptist preacher believing himself divinely inspired, leads a violent rebellion in Southampton, Virginia. At least 57 whites are killed. -
1848
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. -
1857
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. -
1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected to the presidency. -
1862
Congress abolishes slavery in Washington, D.C., and the territories. -
1863
Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in areas of rebellion -
1865
The thirteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishes slavery throughout the country. -
1837
New York City hosts the first Convention of the Anti-Slavery Society of American Women, an event attended by both black and white women. -
1842
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' -
1850
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.