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First issue of the Liberator
Garrison saw moral persuasion as only means to end slavery. To him the task was very simple. Shows people how immoral slavery was and they would join the campaign to end it. He disdained politics, he saw the political world as an arena of compromise. -
Compromised of 1850 passed
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 Published
The strength of Uncle Tom's Cabin is its ability to illustrate slavery's effect on families, and to help readers empathize with enslaved characters. Stowe's characters freely debated the causes of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law, the future of freed people, what an individual could do, and racism. Writing in the 1950s, poet Langston Hughes called the book a moral battle cry for freedom. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act-Posted
In January 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill that divided the land west of Missouri into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. He argued for popular sovereignty, which would allow the settlers of the new territories to decide if slavery would be legal there. Antislavery supporters were outraged because, under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery would have been outlawed in both territories. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott who had resided in a free state and territory where slavery was prohibited was not thereby entitled to his freedom that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States -
John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry
Was an attempt by the white abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt in 1859 by seizing a United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. -
Abe Lincoln elected President
Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the Northern faction of a heavily divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell. -
South Carolina secedes from the Union
The force of events moved very quickly upon the election of Lincoln.South Carolina acted first, calling for a convent to secede from the Union. State by state, conventions were held, and the confederacy was formed. -
James B. Sworn into office as 15th President
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. -
Battle of Fort Sumter begins
On April 12, 1861, General P.G.T. Beauregard, in command of the Confederate forces around Charleston Harbor, opened fire on the Union garrison holding Fort Sumter. On April 13 Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander, surrendered the fort and was evacuated the next day. -
Battle of Bull Run
This was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. On July 16, 1861, the untried Union army under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell marched from Washington against the Confederate army, which was drawn up behind Bull Run beyond Centreville. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The proclamation declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Having concentrated his army around the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Gen. Robert E. Lee awaited the approach of Union Gen. George G. Meade’s forces. -
Sherman's March to Sea
Is the name commonly given to the military Savannah Campaign in the American Civil War, conducted through Georgia. -
The surrender at Appomattox Court House
Heading for the South Side Railroad at Appomattox Station, where food supplies awaited, the Confederates were cut off once again and nearly surrounded by Union troops near the small village of Appomattox Court House. -
Lincolns Assassination
A doctor in the audience rushed over to examine the paralyzed president. Lincoln was then carried across the street to Petersen's Boarding House, where he died early the next morning.
