American History timeline

By destfaith
  • Missouri Compromise

    Missouri Compromise

    In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. In 1854, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
  • In 1831, Nat Turner was sold to plantation owner and slaveholder Joseph Travis. In February of that year, an eclipse of the sun convinced Turner that it was a sign from God to start an insurrection, and lead his people out of slavery.

    In 1831, Nat Turner was sold to plantation owner and slaveholder Joseph Travis. In February of that year, an eclipse of the sun convinced Turner that it was a sign from God to start an insurrection, and lead his people out of slavery.

    Nat Turner was an enslaved African American who led the Nat Turner's slave rebellion of slaves and free blacks in Southampton County, Virginia on August 21, 1831, that resulted in the deaths of 55 to 65 white people.
  • In 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States of America, becoming the 28th U.S. state.

    In 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States of America, becoming the 28th U.S. state.

    In 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States of America, becoming the 28th U.S. state. Border disputes between the new state and Mexico, which had never recognized Texas independence and still considered the area a renegade Mexican state, led to the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).
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    The Mexican–American War

    The Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War, the U.S.–Mexican War or the Invasion of Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848. Wikipedia
  • The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

    The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

    The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
  • The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states.

    The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states.

    Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished.
  • The Fugitive Slave Act

    The Fugitive Slave Act

    The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers.
  • May 30, 1854 The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.

    May 30, 1854 The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.

    To gain the southerners' support, Douglas proposed creating two territories in the area–Kansas and Nebraska–and repealing the Missouri Compromise line. The question of whether the territories would be slave or free would be left to the settlers under Douglas's principle of popular sovereignty.
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    Kansas-Nebraksa Act

    In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraksa Act overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory and instead, using the principle of popular sovereignty, decreed residents either a free or a slave state.
  • Dred Scott

    Dred Scott

    Dred Scott decision, formally Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sandford, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on March 6, 1857, ruled (7–2) that a slave (Dred Scott) who had resided in a free state and territory.
  • Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group

    Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group

    Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery.