The Road So Far

  • Slavery came to Jamestown in 1619

    The growing number of Africans in America led to the establishment of the slave system regulated by law.
  • The Two Clauses

    The Two Clauses

    The 3/5ths Compromise an The Fugitive Slave Clause allowed sectional tensions to develop as free states and slave states fought over dominance in America.
  • The 'Gin'

    The 'Gin'

    Eli Whitney's engine revolutionized the production of cotton and entrenched slavery in the heart of the southern economy. The gin allowed fewer workers being needed for picked the seeds out of the cotton. This allowed farmers to plant more fields of cotton.
  • The Louisiana Purchase

    The Louisiana Purchase

    Acquired 827,000 square miles of land and secured control of the Mississippi River.
  • The Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise

    Congress passes the Missouri Compromise Act. This made Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state to maintain the slave and free state balance in Congress. Slavery is banned above the dividing line, it remained legalized below it.
  • The Nullification Crisis

    The Nullification Crisis

    1832 is the beginning of The Nullification Crisis. This marked the first major threat of secession by a state government.
  • The Abolitionist Movement

    The Abolitionist Movement

    The three most active antislavery organizations, the Philadelphia Quakers, the New England Garrisonians, and the New York Reformers, met with freed blacks to form an organization called the America Anti-Slavery Society.
  • Wilmot Proviso

    Wilmot Proviso

    Proviso was added to the Appropriations Bill, but it would ultimately not pass the Senate until the Proviso was removed.
  • Mexican-American War

    Mexican-American War

    The United States Senate voted 40 to 2 to go to war with Mexico. President James K. Polk had accused Mexican troops of having attacked Americans on U.S. soil, north of the Rio Grande. The Mexican-American war is one of the least known moments in US history.
  • Compromise of 1850

    Compromise of 1850

    The Compromise of 1850 was made up of five bills that attempted to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories added to the United States in the wake of the Mexican-American War. It admitted California as a free state, left Utah and New Mexico to decide for themselves whether to be a slave state or a free state, defined a new Texas-New Mexico boundary, and made it easier for slave owners to recover runways under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
  • Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Tells the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved person, depicted as saintly and dignified, noble and steadfast in his beliefs. Many northerners were exposed to the horrors of slavery on a personal level, which pushed them towards abolitionism.
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

    Kansas-Nebraska Act

    Repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    Bleeding Kansas

    Violence broke out immediately between these opposing factions(pro-slavery, Free-Staters and abolitionists) and continued until 1861 when Kansas entered the Union as a free state on January 29.
  • Dred Scott Decision

    Dred Scott Decision

    The United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional.
  • Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    Lincoln-Douglas Debates

    The debates consisted of Douglas accusing Lincoln of being an abolitionist while Lincoln accused Douglas of wanting to nationalize slavery.
  • John Brown's Raid

    John Brown's Raid

    John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia
  • Abraham Lincoln's Election

    Abraham Lincoln's Election

    Lincoln won the Electoral College with less than 40 percent of the popular vote nationwide by carrying states above the Mason–Dixon line and north of the Ohio River, plus the states of California and Oregon in the Far West.
  • Secession Winter

    Secession Winter

    The time between Abraham Lincoln's election in November 1860 and inauguration in March 1861. The Confederacy of eleven southern states broke away from the United States.
  • Fort Sumter

    Fort Sumter

    Forces from the Confederate States of America attacked the United States military garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Less than two days later, the fort surrendered. No one was killed. The battle, however, started the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history.