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Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Missouri Compromise was signed which said Missouri would be slave except above 36 degress 30 North longitude would be totally free. -
First Telegraph Message
Samuel Morse's telegraph sends first message from Washington D.C. to Baltimore Maryland. The message said "What hath God wrought?" -
Sewing Machine Patented
Elias Howe's sewing machine's patented. This invention revolutionizes the way clothes are made in homes and in factories. -
Compromise of 1850
California comes in as a free state. The remaining territory's status of free or slave would be decided by a popular vote of people in the territioy. This compromise undid the Missouri Compromise. -
African - Americans Riot
In Christiana, Pennsylvania a small band of african -americans protected a few fugitive slaves from their owners. Northern white bystanders refused to assist the southern slave hunters and even after the slave owner was killed the white jury refused to prosecute the african - americans -
Uncle Tom's Cabin Published
Uncle Tom's Cabin published in the United States written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book was the first anti - slavery book that wrote about slavery first hand. It sold 300,000 copies in its first year. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act allowed the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to be voted on the fact whether they would enter the Union as a free or slave state. -
Proslavery Activists Attack Lawrence, Kansas
The free town Lawrence, Kansas was attact by proslavery forces. They looted homes, burned down the hotel, and destroyed the presses of The Kansas Free State newspaper. -
John Brown Raids Pottawatomie
John Brown takes his sons and a couple of fellow abolitionists conduct a midnight raid upon Pottawatomie, Kansas. Brutally murdered 5 proslavery settlers. -
Elisha Otis Installs First Safety Elevator
Elisha Otis installs the first safety elevator. The invention consists of hooks on the sides of the shaft and when the cable breaks the elevator would snap open the sides to catch the elevator. Install at 488 Broadway, New York City. -
First Macy's Opened
Rowland H. Macy opened a department store in New York. It became the largest single store in America. It used widespread avertising, a cariety of goods organized into "departments", and high - quality items at fair prices. -
First Oil Well
Edwin Drake drilled what would become the world's first oil well in Titusvilled, Pennsylvannia. -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown and a small band of followers seized the federal aresenal at Harpers Ferry, which had 300 blacks in the town, 150 free and 150 enslaved. John Brown hoped to ignite a rebellion with the blacks there but the raid ended October 18, when John Brown was held up inside a barn and U.S. Marines forced him out. -
South Carolina Secedes
As soon as Lincoln's victory is confirmed South Carolina holds a convention and secedes from the Union because they will not have a president who opposed slavery. -
Southern Ships Attack Northern Supply Ship
The Star of the West, set sail Jan. 5, was fired upon entering the Charleston Bay. It was an unarmed ship that contained supplies and 250 recruits to the Fort. The ship was forced to flee. This pushed tensions between the North and South to the breaking point. -
Abraham Lincoln Inaugurated
Abraham Lincoln won the crucial election of 1860 rising victor over Stephen Douglas, John Bell, and John Breckingridge. Lincoln's election causes many repurcussions. -
Confederate Sates of America Formed
The constitution for the Confederate States of America was officially put into effect marking the southern states seceding from the Union. -
Siege of Fort Sumter
After Confederate ships demand Fort Sumter's surrender and they refuse. The Confederate warships open fire starting a 34 hour bombardment until Fort Sumter runs out of ammunition and is forced to surrender. This event was the breaking point. -
Lincoln Declares Insurrection
President Abraham Lincoln declares insurrection and calls for 75,000 troops to from an army to preserve the Union. -
Battle of Bull Run
The Battle of Bull Run was the first actual conflict in the Civil War and was a great awakening for the North because it made them realized this was going to be a long, and bloody war. The battle ended on July, 21st 1861 with a Confederate Victory. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This document officialy made the Civil War about slavery as supposed to the Union. The proclamation frees all slaves in the rebelling states only. -
Siege of Vicksburg
General Ulsses S. Grant takes control of the town Vicksburg, Mississippi. This town was crucial because it split the Confederacy in two and weakened them as a whole. -
Battle of Gettysburg
One of the bloodiest but pivotal battles of the Civil War. The Union was pushed into its own soil where they emerged victorious changing to tide of the war and keeping the Confederacy on their heels as the Union would start to push them back. -
Draft Law of 1863
Congress enacted a draft for the Civil War calling for any and all able bodied men between the ages of 20 to 45. Riots break out, and President Lincoln suspends habeas corpus. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
General William T. Sherman led 60,000 Union troops on a destructive 400 mile march through Georgia and South Carolina using the tactics of total war, destroying crops, burning factories, and severing majoy supply lines for the Confederate Army. The march ended on December 22, 1864. -
Abraham Lincoln Assassinated
John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln in the Peterson House. Lincoln's vice president Andrew Johnson fortunately shared the same views that Lincoln did and passed laws and amendments as Lincoln would have. -
Lee Surrenders to Grant
General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant in the small Virginia town of Appotamattox, in the town's courthouse. This marks the end of the Civil War. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The thirteenth amendment outlawed slavery in all of the U.S. This was the goal of President Lincoln and serves as a huge turning point for the nation. -
Ragged Dick, or Street Life in New York Published
Horatio Alger published his first novel Ragged Dick, or Street Life in New York. The book tells the story of a young boy that goes from rags to riches. -
Fourteenth Amendment
This amendment granted full citizenship to any person that is born within the borders of the United States of America. Including African - Americans. -
Knights of Labor Established
Uriah Smth Stephens founded a labor union called the Knights of Labor. This labor union included all workers of any trade, skilled or unskilled in this union. -
Fifteenth Amendment
This amendment evened the imbalance and gave black men the right to vote. -
Great Chicago Fire
On this day in the O'Leary barn a cow knocked down a lantern thus setting the barn on fire and because of the dry conditions and low precipitation, and abundant fuel from all the wood buildings the Chicago Fire destroyed Chicago and killed 200 to 300 people and leaving 100,000 homeless. -
Menlo Park Research Facility
Thomas Edison supported by J.P. Morgan established resaerch laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey. -
Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes won this election by electoral votes even though Samuel Tillden won by popular vote. This election dissolved reconstruction. -
Edison Electric Lamp Patented
Thomas Edison patented his electric lamp in America. This revolutionized cities, factories, and homes. Switched from dangerous and innefficient candle light. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
As a result of heavy discrimination and prejudice towards chinese laborers. This act prohibited immigration of Chinese workers, limited the civil rights and forbade the naturalization of Chinese residents. -
Haymarket Square Riot
Thousands of workers mounted a national demonstration for an 8 hour work day in Haymarket Square in Chicago, IL. Violence eventually broke out when a protester threw a bomb. Americans grow weary of labor unions and the Knights of Labor were blamed for the riot. -
American Federation of Labor Founded
Samuel Gompers, a poor english immigrant, founded the American Federation of Labor. Unlike the Knights of Labor, the AFL only included craft workers. -
Interstate Commerce Commision Established
The United States Senate passed the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee railroad operations. The ICC could only regulate railroads that crossed state lines. -
First Successful Streecar
In Richmond, Virginia the first successful streetcar system was implemented with electric cables powering these primitive buses. This introduced mass transit. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The U.S. Senate passed the Sheran Antitrust Act, this act outlawed any trust that operated "in restraintof trade or commerce among the several states." -
Ellis Island Established
On this day Ellis island was officialy opened to process european immigrants coming to America. They only denied about 2% of incoming immigrants. -
Homestead Strike
Econonimic depression lead to cut in steel worker's wages at a Carnegie Steel Plant.Carnegie's business partner, Henry Frick called in the Pinkertons, a private security force, to deal with the rioters. Violence ensued and public opinion associated violence with unions and unions lost power throughout the country. -
Pullman Strike
Pullman palace car company laid off workers and reduced wages by 25%. Workers tried negotiating, but they were fired. Eugene V. Debs organized the uinion and called for a nationwide strike, halting all railroad traffic and mail delivery. President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops, thus ending the strike. -
First Subway System
In Boston, Massachussetts, the first subway was implemented, New York followed in 1904. The subway was simple the streetcars being run underground in tunnels. -
Angel Island Opened
Unlike Ellis Island, Angel Island was located outside San Francisco bay and processed Chinese and Asian immigrants. Since the Chinese immigrant population was booming the immigration officials started to make the immigrants prove they were American Citizens or related to an American Citizen.
