Unit 4 Timeline-Chapters 14-17 By sarahelishevitz 1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain 1836 Americans are defeated at the Alamo 1841 John Tyler becomes president 1842 Americans and British agree to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty 1845 US annexes Texas 1845 Mexican War begins 1846 Most members of the Donner Party die en route to California 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican War 1848 Free-Soil party organized 1849 California gold rush begins 1851 Plains Indians agree to the Fort Laramie Treaty 1853 US makes the Gadsden Purchase The US acquires 30,000 square miles from Mexico 1854 Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 The Republican party is founded 1856 A pro-slavery mob sacks Lawrence Kansas and John Brown retaliates with the Pottawatomie Massacre 1856 Charles Sumner is caned by a pro-slavery congressman in the Senate 1857 U.S. Supreme court issues the Dred Scott decision 1857 Lecompton Constitution declares that slavery will be allowed in Kansas 1858 Abraham Lincoln debates Stephen A. Douglas during the 1858 Illinois Senate race 1859 John Brown and his followers' stage raid at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to incite a massive slave insurrection 1860 South Carolina secedes from the Union 1860 Crittenden Compromise is proposed 1861 Trent affair commences when a union warship stops a British ship on the high seas and takes two Confederate agents into custody 1861 Fort Sumter Falls to Confederate forces; Lincoln issues Call to Arms 1861 First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) Mar 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as president 1862 Peninsular campaign 1862 Battle of Shiloh, second Bull Run, and Antietam 1862 Congress passes the Morrill Land Act 1862 Congress guarantees the construction of a Transcontinental Railroad 1862 Congress passes the Homestead Act Jan 1, 1863 Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation 1863 Siege of Vicksburg, Battle of Gettysburg and Chattanooga 1864 Lincoln refuses to sign the Wade-Davis Bill 1865 13th Amendment is ratified 1865 Congress sets up the Freedmen's Bureau Apr 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House Apr 14, 1865 Lincoln is assassinated 1866 Ku Klux Klan is organized 1866 Congress passes the Civil Rights Act 1867 Congress passes the military Reconstruction Act 1867 Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act 1868 Fourteenth Amendment is ratified 1868 Congress impeaches President Andrew Johnson; the Senate fails to convict him 1877 Compromise of 1877 ends Reconstruction
