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The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential extension of slavery to the western territories. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed on May 30, 1854, according to the U.S. Senate. It was signed into law by President Franklin Pierce. The act's purpose was to organize the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, allowing settlers to decide the issue of slavery through "popular sovereignty," says the National Archives. -
Lincoln won the plurality of the popular vote in a four candidate field. Almost all of his votes came from the Northern United States, as the Republicans held little appeal to voters in the Southern United States. -
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the federal union. The presidential victory of Abraham Lincoln triggered disunion across the slave holding south. -
Delegates to the Montgomery Convention unanimously elected Jefferson Davis as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America and he was inaugurated on February 18. -
Confederate forces initiated the American Civil War by firing on the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. This action followed South Carolina's secession from the Union in December 1860 and a standoff between the Union and the Confederacy over control of the fort. -
Lincoln initially suspended habeas corpus in Maryland in 1861. He later extended the suspension to all Union states in September 1861, and later to all Union states in 1863. -
Richmond, Virginia, officially became the capital of the Confederate States of America on May 8, 1861, after being initially established in Montgomery, Alabama. -
This was the first major land battle of the American Civil war resulting in a Confederate Victory. This battle is also significant because it marked the beginning of the fighting in war. -
While the battle was inconclusive, the Monitor's action's prevented the destruction of the Union navy. The Merrimack's machinery is restored, and her wooden superstructure is replaced with an iron-covered citadel mounting 10 guns. -
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major engagement of the American Civil War fought on April 6-7, 1862, in western Tennessee. It resulted in a Union victory, but at a high cost, with nearly 24,000 casualties on both sides. -
Robert E. Lee was appointed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1, 1862, after General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines. He led the army until its surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865. -
This battle was fought in Maryland resulting in a Union Victory and ending the confederate invasion of the North -
This was one of the largest and deadliest battles in the Civil war. It featured the first opposed river crossing in American military history. -
This declared that all enslaved persons in Confederate states were to be free. This proclamation while not immediately ending slavery had a significant impact on the war and nation. It transformed the wars character by making the abolition of slavery a central union goal. -
The Battle of Chancellorsville, fought in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, from April 30 to May 6, 1863, was a major victory for the Confederacy despite heavy losses, according to the American Battlefield Trust. -
This was a three day battle which was fought between the union and confederate armies between July 1 and 3. -
The surrender was led by Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. This surrender marked a major turning point in the American Civil War, as it effectively cut the Confederacy in half and gave the Union control of the Mississippi River. -
On Saturday, July 11, 1863, the first lottery of the conscription law was held. For twenty-four hours the city remained quiet. On Monday, July 13, 1863, between 6 and 7 A.M., the five days of mayhem and bloodshed that would be known as the Civil War Draft Riots began. -
Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. This was delivered in just two minutes. -
Atlanta was captured by Union forces on September 2, 1864, during the Civil War. General William T. Sherman's forces had been besieging the city for weeks, cutting off its supply lines and engaging in battles like the Battle of Atlanta. -
Lincoln defeated him in the re-election -
Union General William T. Sherman's "March to the Sea" began on November 15, 1864, in Atlanta, Georgia. The campaign aimed to destroy Confederate infrastructure and disrupt their economy and war effort by marching through Georgia to the Atlantic coast. -
Yes, Congress passed the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, on January 31, 1865. It was a crucial step in ending slavery throughout the United States and is considered a key Reconstruction Amendment. -
On March 3, 1865, Congress passed “An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees” to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services, and land to displaced Southerners, including newly freed African Americans. -
On March 4, 1865, only 41 days before his assassination, President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time. Lincoln's second inaugural address previewed his plans for healing a once-divided nation. -
Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. -
Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a confederate sympathizer and actor, while attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. Booth shot Lincoln in the head. -
John Wilkes Booth was killed at age 26 years old. He was shot in the neck by a federal solider, while he was attempting to fight his way out of the burning tobacco bar where he had hidden.