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William Lloyd Garrison launches The Liberator
advocated the immediate emancipation of all slaves and gained a national reputation for being one of the most radical of American abolitionists. -
Nat Turner leads a slave revolt in Virginia
a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed anywhere from 55 to 65 people, the highest number of fatalities caused by any slave uprising in the Southern United States. -
American Anti-Slavery founded in Boston
an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan.The antislavery issue entered the mainstream of American politics through the Free Soil Party and subsequently the Republican Party. The American Anti-Slavery Society was formally dissolved in 1870, after the Civil War. -
Sarah Grimke's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women
Sarah made the case for women’s equality with passionate conviction. In 1838 her words were radical indeed, and won the agreement of only a small minority. -
Henry Highland Garnet's ¨Address to the Slaves of the United States of America¨
captured most of the attention of the delegates and called for their open rebellion. The speech failed by one vote of being endorsed by the convention. -
Frederick Douglass published the North Star
It was used to not only denounce slavery, but to fight for the emancipation of women and other oppressed groups. -
Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York
to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women will be held in the Wesleyan Chapel, at Seneca Falls -
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery
Harriet Tubman travelled along the underground railroad and escaped to Philadelphia, this sparked her dedication to rescuing slaves. -
Fugitive slave act passed
a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. Authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight -
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin
changed forever how Americans viewed slavery, the system that treated people as property. It demanded that the United States deliver on the promise of freedom and equality, galvanized the abolition movement and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War -
Sojourner Truth's ¨Ain't I a Women?¨ speech
The speech received wider publicity during the American Civil War -
Republican Party Founded
establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories -
Kansas-Nebraska act passed
mandated “popular sovereignty”–allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders. -
Civil War in Kansas known as ¨Bleeding Kansas¨
overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory and instead, using the principle of popular sovereignty, decreed that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or a slave state. -
Charles Sumner Beating
addressed the Senate on the explosive issue of whether Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state -
Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision
affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories, therebynegating the doctrine of popular sovereignty and severely undermining the platform of the newly created Republican Party. -
Lecompton Constitution rejected by Congress
The convention was organized by Free-Staters to counter the pro slavery Territorial legislature -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
brought critical importance to the sectional conflict over slavery and states’ rights also touched deeper questions that would continue to influence political discourse. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. -
Election of 1860
served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the American Civil War.