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Under its terms, Maine was admitted as a free state at the same time that Missouri came in as a slave state, maintaining the balance between slave and free states. -
The Genius of Universal Emancipation is published in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio by Benjamin Lundy. William Lloyd Garrison helps to edit and publish the newspaper. -
A freed African American, Denmark Vessey organizes an uprising by enslaved people in Charleston.
Segregated public schools are established in Philadelphia for African American children. -
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Founded by the American Colonization Society, the land was originally known as Monrovia.
Elizabeth Hyrick publishes the pamphlet, Immediate not Gradual Emancipation -
Formerly enslaved person William B. Grimes publishes "Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave." -
Sojourner Truth, feminist and North American 19th-century Black activist, escapes enslavement with her infant daughter, Sophia. -
Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm publish the first African American newspaper, Freedom's Journal. The publication is circulated in eleven states, Haiti, Europe, and Canada. -
Anti-enslavement activist David Walker publishes his pamphlet, Walker's Appeal in Four Articles. David Walker's Appeal is considered the most radical anti-enslavement publications when it was published because of its emphasis on promoting rebellion and opposition to colonization. -
The first National Negro Convention is held in Philadelphia. The Convention brings together forty freed Black Americans. Its aim is to protect the rights of freed Black Americans in the United States. -
Garrison publishes the first issue of "The Liberator," one of the most widely read anti-slavery publications. -
Freeborn Black American political activist Maria Stewart (1803–1879) begins her career as an abolitionist and feminist, by speaking before the African American Female Intelligence Society. -
The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society is founded by Quaker minister Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) and Grace Bustill Douglass (1782–1842), among others, because women were not allowed to be full members of the AAAS. -
Abolishing enslavement in its colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, South Africa, and Canada. -
These petitions are part of a campaign launched by abolitionists, and the House responds by passing the "Gag Rule," automatically tabling them without consideration. Anti-slavery members including former U.S. president John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) undertake efforts to repeal it, which nearly gets Adams censured. -
Various abolitionist organizations rally together and sue in the Commonwealth v. Aves case about whether an enslaved person who permanently moved to Boston with her enslaver from New Orleans would be considered free. She was freed and became a ward of the court. -
This interracial association was comprised of various women's anti-slavery groups, and both the Grimke sisters spoke. -
Angelina Grimke addresses the Massachusetts legislature concerning not only the abolition movement but also the rights of women. -
The formation of the Liberty Party is announced by abolitionists to use political action to fight against enslavement.
Abolitionists Lewis Tappan, Simeon Joceyln, and Joshua Leavitt form the Friends of Amistad Africans Committee to fight for the rights of Africans involved in the Amistad case. -
Cotton produced in the American South earned more money than all other U.S. exports combined. -
After a long legal battle, the U.S. Supreme Court finds that. Residents of Texas are given the responsibility of catching freedom seekers and then, alerting local law enforcement. -
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states do not need to offer assistance to recapturing freedom seekers in the case, Prigg v. Pennsylvania. -
Henry Highland Garnet speaks at the National Negro Convention and delivers "Address to the Slaves."
Sojourner Truth and William Wells Brown become prominent speakers on the anti-enslavement lecturing circuit. -
Beginning in 1844 through 1865, North American 19th-century Black activist William Still assists at least sixty enslaved African Americans escape bondage every month. As a result, Still becomes known as the "Father of the Underground Railroad.
North Carolina pass a law declaring it will not recognize freed African Americans as citizens. -
North American 19th-century Black activist and writer Frances Watkins publishes her first collection of poetry, "Forest Leaves." -
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The publication is a result of his division with North American 19th-century Black activist William Lloyd Garrison's news publication The Liberator.
The state of Missouri prohibit freed African Americans from receiving an education.
Robert Morris Sr. becomes the first African American attorney to file a lawsuit. -
Several anti-enslavement organizations work together to create the Free Soil Party. The group opposes the expansion of enslavement into western territories. The Republic Party will eventually be born from the Free Soil Party. -
As a result, an estimated 4,000 African Americans will migrate to California to participate in the Gold Rush.
Britain recognizes Liberia as a sovereign state. Joseph Jenkins, formerly of Virginia, becomes Liberia's first president.
The Virginia legislature passes a law allowing an enslaved African American to be freed by will or deed. -
California Territory sought to join the Union. Mostly as a result of tensions over slavery, a new party, the Republicans, arose in the North
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The legislation would eventually pass and be highly controversial, but it essentially delayed the Civil War by a decade. -
An enormous exhibition of technology opened in London with a ceremony attended by Queen Victoria and the event's sponsor, her husband Prince Albert. Prize-winning innovations shown at the Great Exhibition included photographs by Mathew Brady and the reaper of Cyrus McCormick. -
Death of Henry Clay. The great legislator's body was taken from Washington, D.C. to his home in Kentucky and elaborate funeral observances were held in cities along the way. -
Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Japanese harbor near present day Tokyo with four American warships, demanding to deliver a letter to the emperor of Japan. -
The conflict between was costly and had a very confusing purpose. Treaty of Kanagawa signed. The treaty opened Japan up for trade, after considerable pressure from the United States. -
The Panama Railroad opened, and the first locomotive to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean traveled on it. David Livingstone became the first European to reach Victoria Falls in Africa. -
The Know-Nothing Party held a convention and nominates former president Millard Fillmore as its presidential candidate. -
He became very ill at his own inauguration, raising questions in the press about whether he had been poisoned in a failed assassination attempt. -
Perennial rivals Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln held a series of seven debates in Illinois while running for a U.S. Senate seat. Douglas won the election, but the debates elevated Lincoln, and his anti-slavery views, to national prominence. Newspaper stenographers wrote down the content of the debates, and portions that were published in newspapers introduced Lincoln to an audience outside of Illinois. -
The following morning it was discovered to be successful. The modest well would lead to a revolution as petroleum taken from the ground would propel the rise of industry.
Abolitionist John Brown launched a raid against the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. -
The election was fought entirely along sectional lines. The Democratic Party finally splintered over slavery, with the party fielding two candidates. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. -
The conflict was the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and much of the South left in ruin.