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Battle at Antietam
McClellan ordered men to pursue Lee, two sides fought near a creek called Antietam. Bloodiest single-day battle - 26,000+ casualties. Instead of pursuing the battered Confederate Army into Virginia. McClellan did nothing, and Lincoln removed him from command. -
Missouri Compromise
Maine admitted as a free state, Missouri admitted as a slave state. Rest of Lousiana Territory was split in half, North - slavery banned, South - slavery legal. President = James Madison, Henry Clay led Congress to pass agreements. -
Abolition
The movement to abolish slavery. More than 100 antislavery ssocieties advocated that African Americans be resettled in Africa. -
San Felipe de Austin
Stephen F. Austin - prominent leader of American settlers in Texas. Austin's father received land grant to establish colony between Brazos and Colorado Rivers, but died. Stephen got permission to finish project from Spain, then Mexico. 1821 - established colony - main settlement = San Felipe de Austin. -
Santa Fe Trail
One of busiest routes from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1821-1860s in spring, American traders loaded covered wagons with goods to set off toward Santa Fe. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Mexico insisted that Texans free slaves. Anglos (American settlers) and Tejanos (Mexican settleres) cooperated, but Anglos and Mexican gov. had issues with language barrier and many settlers brought slaves there. -
The Liberator
Newspaper delivered and uncompromising demand of immediate emancipation. Written by most radical white abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Rebelling against their condition of bondage, Virginia slave Nat Turner led more than 50 followers to attack four plantations, killing about 60 whites. Whites eventually caputred and excuted many members of the group including Turner. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Austin went to Mexico City late in 1833 to present petitions to Mexican president Antonia Lopez de Santa Anna for greater self-gov in Texas. Santa Anna had him imprisoned for inciting revolution. -
Oregon Trail
Stretched from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. Blazed by Methodist missionaries - Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and proved that wagons could travel on trail. -
Texas Revolution
Rebellion in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny
The belief that U.S. ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and N.A. territory. Believed that moving west was predestined by God. Believed destiny was obvious or inevitable. -
Texas enters the U.S.
Northerners feared annexation, Southerners wanted Texas to extend slavery. President James K. Polk (1844) firmly favored annexation of Texas. -
Mexican-American War
1846-1848: Polk wanted California and New Mexico after Texas annexation. When his offer to purchase those lands was rejected, he instigated a fight by moving troops into a disputed zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces River. -
The North Star
Newspaper written by Frederick Douglass following The Liberator, addressing antislavery. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
U.S. and Mexico signed treaty. Mexico agreed to Rio Grande as border between Texas and Mexico and ceded NM and CA to U.S. -
Harriet Tubman
Born a slave in Maryland in 1820-21. After her owner died in 1849, she was about to be sold, so she decided to make a break to freedom, successfully fleeing to Philadelphia. Then she beame a conductor on the Underground Railroad, making 19 trips back to the south, helping 300 slaves reach freedom. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. Anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. Some Northerners resisted it by organizing vigilance committees to send endangered African Americans to safety in Canada. Others resorted to violence to rescue fugitive slaves. Others worked to help slaves escape from slavery. -
Underground Railroad
Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who hid fugitive slaves through a system of escape routes. "Conductors" hid them in secret tunnels and false cupboards, providing them with needs, and then escorting them to the next station. -
Compromise of 1850
Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions 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. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe published this novel, stressing that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a reat moral struggle. More abolitionists increased their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act, and Southerners criticized the book. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The bill repealed the Missouri Compromise and established popular sovereignty for both territories. Northern congressmen saw it as a plot to turn states into slave states. Southerners strongly defended it. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave whose owner took him from Missouri (slave state) to a free territory and then back to Missouri. He appealed to the Supreme Court for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state made him a free man. Supreme Court ruled against Scott. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
1858 race for U.S. Senate between Democratic Stephen Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln. Neither wanted slavery but Douglas believed in popular sovereignty, Lincoln believed slavery was immoral.Douglas won Senate seat, but response widened Democratic Party split. Lincoln earned respect and considered excellent candidate for presidency in 1860. -
John Brown's raid/Harpers Ferry
John Brown led a band of 21 men into Harpers Ferry, Virginia to seize the federal arsenal and start general slave uprising. Secretly obtained fiancial backing from several prominent Northern abolitionists. Did not occur, troops put down rebellion. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes president
Republicans nominated Abraham Lincon. He pledged to halt further spread of slavery, but reassured Southerners that they would not interfere with their slaves. -
Formation of the Confederacy
South Carolina,Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas. Established in Feb. 1861. Lincoln was president. His victory convinced Southerners that they had lost their voice in the national gov. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
As soon as Confederacy was formed, soldiers in secessionist states began seizing federal installations, esp. forts. Only four Southern forts remained in Union hands. Most important was Fort Sumter. Lincoln decided not to abandon nor reinforce. Deadly struggle between North and South was under way. -
Battle of Bull Run
First bloodshed on battle field. Seesaw affair - Union army gained upper hand in morning, Confederates held firm inspired by Stonewall Jackson. Confederate reinforcements helped win first Southern victory. C was exhausted and went home. -
Income Tax
Economic boom in North. As it grew, Congress decided to help pay for war by collecting nation's first tax - takes specified percentage of an individual's income. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Authorize army to emancipate slaves. Did not free slaves immediately. Gave war a moral purpose by turning struggle into a fight to free the slaves. Also ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Conscription
As fighting intensified, heavy casualties and widespread desertions led each side to impose conscription. Draft forced men to serve in the army. Led to draft riots. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Most decisive battle of the war. Confederate soldiers encourntered several brigades of Union cavalry. Union took defensive positions surrounding the town. Both sides required more reinforcements. 90,000 Union troops against 75,000 C by end of first day. Second day - C drove Union troops away, took control of town. Did not give up. Day 3 - Confederates gave up hopes of invading North and led army back to Virginia. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Ulysses S. Grant (Union) fought to take Vicksburg, one of two remaining confederate strongholds on Mississipi River. Weakened defenses protecting Vicksburg. Worse and worse for C --> ask for surrender. -
Gettysburg Address
Helped country to realize that it was not just a collection of individual states, but a unified nation. -
Sherman's March
Created a wide path of destruction, burning houses an destroying livestock and railroads in its path. Determined to make Southerners so sick of war . By mid-Nov, he had burned most of Atlanta. After reaching ocean, Sherman's forces followed by 25,000 former slaves turned north to help Grant wipe out Lee. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
Union troops conquered Richmond (Confederate capital). April 9 - Lee and Grant met in a private home to arrange Confederate surrender. Terms were generous - Grant paroled Lee's soldiers, sent them home with their possessions, 3 days of rations. Officers permitted to keep sidearms. Within a month, all C resisteance collapsed. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Five days after surrender, Lincoln went to Ford's Theatre in Washington to see British comedy, Our American Cousin. John Wilkes Booth shot president. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall haven been duly convicted, shall exist within the U.S.
