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The Louisiana Purchase
The United States purchased French territory that doubled the size of the country. This allowed for Westward expansion. -
The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise meant that all new states would be split evenly, half of them being slave states and the other half being free. The Northern states were free and the Southern states were slave. -
The California Gold Rush
Gold was found in California and many people flooded into the area in hopes of getting rich. California would soon become a state, but this would upset the balance between free and slave states from the Missouri compromise. -
Popular Sovereignty
A new issue arose. Would the new states from the Louisiana purchase be free or slave? The United States settled on popular sovereignty. This meant that states would decide whether they allowed slavery by popular vote. -
The Compromise of 1850
The United States settled on the Compromise of 1850. It had five parts.
1) California would enter the union as a free state
2) Land won from Mexico would be open to slavery until it became a state, and then it would be voted on. (Popular sovereignty)
3) Slave auctions were now banned in Washington DC
4) Texas gets $10,000,000 but can not advocate for slavery
5) The Fugitive Slave Act was put into action. This means the Northerners would get harsher punishment for helping slaves escape North. -
Kansas? More Like Kan-sassy
On Kansas' voting day, people from the slave state Missouri rush into Kansas and vote to support slavery. There were only 2,900 registered voters in Kansas, but 6,000 votes were recorded in support of slavery. The anti-slavery supporters were run out of town by the violent newcomers. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a slave. His owner took him to a free state, and Dred was free. He then returned willingly with his owner back to a slave state and was enslaved again. Dred said that he is not a slave because he was freed. There was a trial and the supreme court decided that he was still a slave. This also caused the supreme court to decide that slavery would be legal in all new states. -
John Brown is Executed
Also known as "God's Executioner," John Brown is inspired by the unjust slavery of Dred Scott. He tries to arm the slaves and kill slavery-supporters. He is captured by Robert E. Lee and is hung for treason. In his lifetime, he would slaughter slavery-supporters. This scared the slave owners and it showed them that people were willing to fight and die to abolish slavery. -
Abraham Lincoln is Elected President
This was seen as the last straw for the South because the North now controlled congress and the president was a Northerner. The South seceded because they predicted that slavery would soon be abolished and they did not want that. -
South Carolina Declares Independence
South Carolina votes to withdraw from the Union! -
Lincoln Tries to be Nice
Lincoln told the South that he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed, and invited them all to join the Union again whenever they wanted. However, the government buildings and forts that were in Confederate territory still belonged to the United States. So, Lincoln had to take them back. -
The Confederate States of America is Formed
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas all join with South Carolina and they create the Confederate States of America. They saw themselves as people preserving their rights, and believed that blacks are inferior and must be kept as slaves. Slavery was guaranteed in every state, tariffs were banned, and the president could have one 6-year term. Jefferson Davis was elected president. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter was a military base in South Carolina and the most important shipping port in the South. Lincoln wants to supply his soldiers so he tells the South that he is sending a ship with food on it and that he is not attacking them. Jefferson Davis sees this as an act of war, and tells the United States at the fort to surrender. They don't surrender, and so the Confederacy attacks and captures the fort. This begins the Civil War. -
Battle of Bull Run
The Confederates and the United States greatly underestimate each other and fight a deadly, bloody battle. Previously, the war was expected to be short and quick but this battle proved that the war would be difficult and long, -
Battle of Shiloh
The Confederates launched a surprise attack on the Union. Thousands died and it was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. It was yet another display of the terrors of warfare and new technology. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln knows that he must end slavery to make the sacrifices of the men in the North worth while. On January 1st, 1863, all slaves were to be freed. This was a crucial moment in American history and I am quite surprised it is not a holiday. -
Battle at Gettysburg
This battle lasts for three days. It starts as a stalemate until Robert E. Lee makes a mistake. He sends 15,000 of General Pickett's men on a charge known as Pickett's Charge. 7,000 men died in 30 minutes. This is one of the major turning points during the war and Lee blamed himself for losing. Lee retreats, the British decide not to back the Confederacy, and this motivated the North. -
Sherman's Crazy Fire March
William Sherman, a Northerner, marches to the Atlantic Sea. He burns down everything in his path. This was so that the Southerners would know that the Confederacy can't protect them and that the war could be even more horrific than it already is. This man. -
Slavery is Abolished!
Lincoln is re-elected. He takes this as a sign that the people want to end slavery forever. The thirteenth amendment is passed and slavery is banned in the United States. -
Freedman's Bureau is Formed
The Freedman's Bureau is established and it provides food and clothing for war refugees. It also helped former slaves find work and education. Slaves were also promised 40 acres of Confederate territory and a mule. However, Congress did not enforce that. The Freedman's Bureau was a step in the right direction, but the Southerners did not like it at all and America was still a very racist nation. -
General Lee Surrenders
Lee gets trapped in Virginia and surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House. This ends the war! -
Lincoln Gets Yoted In The Theatre
Abraham Lincoln goes to a Theatre to see a show. He was warned not to go unescorted, but he didn't listen and got shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln dies the next morning and Booth is tracked down and killed. -
Reconstruction and the KKK
The reconstruction era begins. The North is trying to help rebuild the South and provides them with food, railways, hospitals, and orphanages. The North also stationed soldiers in the South to keep them under control. The South was very unhappy and still treated the blacks terribly. The KKK was also formed in 1865 and they were a white supremacy group. The reconstruction era lasted for nearly 2 decades.
