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The U.S. Constitution states that Congress may no ban the slave trade until 1808.
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A federal fugitive slave law is enacted, providing for the return slaves who had escaped and crossed state lines.
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The slave population in the U.S. numbers more than two million, making the ratio of free to enslaved Americans approximately 5.5:1
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The slave population is now nearly four million, making the ratio of free to enslaved Americans approximately 7:1
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President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "that all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate state "are, and henceforward shall be free."
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The Civil War ends and Lincoln is assassinated. On June 19 slavery in the United States ended when 250,000 slaves in Texas finally received the news that the Civil War had ended two months earlier.