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Massacre at Mystic
The Mystic massacre – also known as the Pequot massacre and the Battle of Mystic Fort – took place on May 26, 1637. Between 400 and 700 people were killed during the massacre, with only a few survivors. -
The Scalp Act
The act legalized the taking of scalps for money, paid by the Pennsylvania government. It was passed as a means to get rid of the Delaware once and for all. The act was the result of 40 years of lying to Delaware and Shawnees about who they were. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
In 1787, delegates from the Northern and Southern states agreed that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. A compromise agreement was reached at the United States Constitutional Convention (1787) that led to the adoption of the Bill of Rights. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
After the American Civil War, most Northern states passed legislation to abolish slavery. In the South, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made cotton a major industry. Tension arose between the North and the South as the slave or free status of new states was debated. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811. It was fought between American and Native American forces associated with Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa. They were part of a confederacy of various tribes opposed to European-American settlement of the American frontier. -
The Missouri Compromise
This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. It authorized the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the policy and were relocated. -
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Trail of Tears
The federal government forced Native Americans to leave their homelands in the 1830s. This journey is known as the Trail of Tears. By the end of the decade, very few natives remained in the southeastern U.S., today's Census Bureau counts 1,000 Native Americans. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nathanial "Nat" Turner was an enslaved man who led a rebellion of enslaved people. His action set off a massacre of up to 200 Black people. The rebellion stiffened pro-slavery, anti-abolitionist convictions until the American Civil War. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. It required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott v. Sandford was a decade-long fight for freedom by a Black enslaved man named Dred Scott. Case persisted through several courts and ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Decision incensed abolitionists, gave momentum to the anti-slavery movement. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free". -
13th Amendment
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. -
14th Amendment
The Congress shall make no law that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment was ratified by Congress on February 3, 1870, granting African American men the right to vote. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought on June 25, 1876. It pitted federal troops led by George Armstrong Custer against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Custer's forces were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed in what became known as Custer's Last Stand. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
The massacre of nearly three hundred Lakota people by soldiers of the United States Army. It occurred on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek in the U.S. state of South Dakota. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people.