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Massacre at Mystic
A pre-dawn attack on Mystic Fort that left 500 adults and children of the Pequot tribe dead, the Pequot Massacre (or the “Mystic Massacre”) was the first defeat of the Pequot people by the English in the Pequot War. It was important to Early American Discrimination because it was a major turning point in the Pequot war as it enraged the settlers that the warriors would kill civilians and led to increased support for the Pequot War among colonists. -
The Scalp Act
Governor Robert Morris enacted the Scalp Act. Anyone who brought in a male scalp above age of 12 would be given $150, for females above age of 12 or males under the age of 12, they would be paid $130. The act turned all the tribes against the Pennsylvania legislature. The act legalized the taking of scalps for money, paid by the Pennsylvania government. It was important to Early American Discrimination because The Scalp Act passed as a means to get rid of the Delaware once and for all. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
Three-fifths compromise, compromise agreement between delegates from the Northern and the Southern states at the United States Constitutional Convention that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. It was important to Early American Discrimination the Three-fifths Compromise provided additional representation in the House of Representatives of slave states compared to the free states. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
On the first day of January, 1808, a new Federal law made it illegal to import captive people from Africa into the United States. This date marks the end—the permanent, legal closure—of the trans-Atlantic slave trade into our country. It was important to Early American Discrimination because the biggest impact was that for the first time, ending slavery became a goal of the Union in the bloody civil war with the Confederacy. The news sent shock waves throughout the divided country. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
Battle of Tippecanoe, victory of a seasoned U.S. expeditionary force under Major General William Henry Harrison over Shawnee Indians led by Tecumseh's brother Laulewasikau, known as the Prophet. It was important to Early American Discrimination because the defeat at Tippecanoe prompted Tecumseh to ally his remaining forces with Great Britain during the War of 1812, where they would play an integral role in the British military success in the Great Lakes region in the coming years. -
The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a law that tried to address growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery. By passing the law, which President James Monroe signed, the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, and Maine as a free state. It was important to Early American Discrimination because it maintained a delicate balance between free and slave states. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, authorizing 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 relocation policy. It was important to Early American Discrimination because it freed more than 25 million acres of farmland to mostly white settlement in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. -
Trail of Tears
The term "Trail of Tears" refers to the difficult journeys that the Five Tribes took during their forced removal from the southeast during the 1830s and 1840s. It was important to Early American Discrimination because this tragic chapter in American and Cherokee history became known as the Trail of Tears, and culminated the implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which mandated the removal of all American Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West. -
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 and a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of enslaved people. It was important to Early American Discrimination because his revolt hardened proslavery attitudes among Southern whites and led to new oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of slaves. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act 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. It was important to Early American Discrimination because it decreed that owners of enslaved people and their “agents” had the right to search for escapees within the borders of free states. -
Dred Scott Decision
Missouri's Dred Scott Case. In its decision that stunned the nation, the United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional. It was important to Early American Discrimination because the Court ruled that no African American could be a citizen and that Dred Scott was still a slave. The court also ruled that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." It was important to Early American Discrimination because Black Americans were permitted to serve in the Union Army for the first time, and it paved the way for the permanent abolition of slavery in the United States. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "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." It was important to Early American Discrimination because the 13th Amendment abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories, and outlawed the practice of involuntary servitude and peonage. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former enslaved people—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” It was important to Early American Discrimination because the 14th Amendment was necessary to make clear that Black people, as well as anyone born in the country or naturalized, were American citizens. -
15th Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The amendment complemented and followed in the wake of the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments. It was important to Early American Discrimination because the Fifteenth Amendment extended voting rights to men of all races. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. It was important to Early American Discrimination because the battle, which resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It took place on June 25–26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee Massacre, the slaughter of approximately 150–300 Lakota Indians by United States Army troops in the area of Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota. It was important to Early American Discrimination because The massacre at Wounded Knee, during which soldiers of the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment indiscriminately slaughtered hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children, marked the definitive end of Indian resistance to the encroachments of white settlers. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people. It was important to Early American Discrimination because it essentially established the constitutionality of racial segregation.