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Nat Turner Slave Revolt
A slave revolt in Virginia that was led by Nat Turner. Turner and at least 80 other slaves killed the Travis family and at least 51 white people. When Turner was caught and executed, it ended the emancipation movement in the south, new and more restrictive legislation was passed regarding slaves and Freedmen, and deepened the divide between slave-owners and abolitionists. -
William Lloyd garrison Published "The Liberator"
In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison published the first edition of the "The Liberator." This was an abolitionist -
American Anti-Slavery Society Begins
The American Anti-Slavery Society was a pacifistic society dedicated to urging the immediate abolition of slavery. The Society was often met with violence, and members agreed to die as martyrs if the need arises. -
Sarah Grimke's "Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women" Published
These letters were a call to women to embrace their traditional roles, but to also expand beyond them. They called for women to empathize with female slaves, strive for an education, and to consider them as equals to men. Grimke argued that this did not make a woman less of a woman, but actually taking them to greater heights as women. -
Henry Highland Garnet's "Address to the Slaves of the United States of America"
Henry Highland Garnet was a black abolitionist known for his radical ideals in his youth. This speech shamed the oppressors, apologized to the enslaved, urged them to free themselves through any and all means in order to be able to properly worship god, and that all the ideals that America was founded upon are spit on by the existence of slavery. -
Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls
This convention launched the movement for womens' suffrage. This convention put forth 12 resolutions intended to grant women certain rights that they were denied, such as the right to vote This convention was spearheaded by women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton -
Harriet Tubman Escapes from Slavery
In 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery. This allowed her to become a conductor for the Underground Railroad and personally lead her family and over 60 other slaves to freedom. When the South passed the Fugitive Slave Act, she rerouted the Railroad to Canada. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Acts were a source of much contention in the Northern States. Many opposed by enacting personal liberty laws, as well as streamlining the Underground Railroad and other pathways for escaping slaves to reach the North and Canada. Resistance by the Northern legislatures was a primary reason cited for states such as South Carolina's succession -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay brought about a series of compromises to diffuse the tension created by the issue of slavery. Due to Zachary Taylor's resistance, Clay was unable to push the deal through as soon as he wanted to and possibly prevent conflict for another generation. -
Sojourner Truth Delivered her "Ain't I a Woman" Speech
Sojourner Truth delivered this speech in 1851, and it was a criticism of how men in society preach about how women need to be protected and taken care of, yet beat and abuse black women. This was her first major speech given about abolition and women's rights. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe Published "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" described the fictional servitude and death of a dignified slave. It served to promote the wrongdoings and the moral wrong that is slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas, a small civil war, began in 1854 over the legality of slavery in the newly formed territory of Kansas. Pro-slavery advocates poured in from the Southern slave states and territories while antislavery advocates poured in from nearby Missouri. Eventually the conflict was solved when Kansas was admitted as a free state, and the violence gave the republicans an edge in the next election. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
IT allowed the states of Nebraska and Kansas to decide for themselves whether to be accepted as free o slave states, thus effectively repealing the Compromise of 1820, which stated that any states north of the 36'30 were to be exclusively free states. -
Republican Party Founded
Established by anti slavery and abolitionists leaders, during the 1800's, the Republican party became known for an anti-slavery and reformative stance. -
Dred Scott Decision
A controversial decision that was regarded by historians to be the most ridiculous and objectively the worst decision in the U.S. Supreme Court's history. The decision found that Scott would always be a slave, African Americans could never be full citizens to the federal government, and the the government had no constitutional authority to regulate slavery in any form, and that the concepts of popular sovereignty were unconstitutional. -
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was an instrument framed in Kansas and had a bill of rights that excluded Free black men and supported the institution of slavery. This framework was eventually struck down. but President Buchanan supported portions of it in the establishment of Kansas. -
Panic of 1857
This was the first worldwide felt financial scare, due to the newly formed interconnectedness between various powerful countries. Domestically, the scare was caused by the lack of international trade and over expansion of the domestic economy. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln and Douglas primarily argued over the issue of slavery and determining the legality and morality of slavery, and tying to reconcile Douglas' Free port doctrine with the previous decisions of the supreme court on Dred Scott's case. The results of these debates diminished Douglas's power over the divided Democratic party and establish Lincoln as an excellent Republican speaker. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown and a band of Freed men and abolitionists attacked and attempted to raid the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. This attack convinced the South that the Abolitionists would stop at nothing, and established John Brown as a martyr despite the majority of Northerners condemning the attack. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Lincoln was the first Republican president elected and was the president during the Civil War, and eventually signed the Emancipation Proclamation into law. -
Democratic Party Splits Into Northern and Southern Halves
Due to tensions between the Northern and Southern halves of the Democratic party caused by the issue of slavery, they nominated 2 nominees, splitting the Democratic ticket and giving the republican nominee, Abraham Lincoln, a huge advantage in the election. His election was one of the final things to push the southern states to succession. -
South Carolina Succeeds from the Union
South Carolina was the first state to succeed from the Union and was one of the founding states of the Confederacy. It's succession led to other states holding conventions and soon succeeding from the Union themselves. -
Confederate States of America Founded
The Confederate States of America, otherwise known as the Confederacy, was established by 11 states who succeeded from the Union over the issue of Slavery, and it meant to maintain the institution of slavery. The formation of this new country directly lead to the Civil War. -
Firing on Fort Sumter
This is widely regarded as the beginning of the American Civil War when the Confederacy fired cannons at the Fort. This resulted in Union forces surrendering and the Confederate occupation of Fort Sumter -
Battle of Antietam
The bloodiest battle of American history on American soil with a total tally of over 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. The Confederacy eventually retreated, giving the Union a tactical victory, but strategically was inconclusive. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation may have held very little actual power, but it was used as a tool to convert the Civil War into a crusade for human freedoms, and bolstered Union troops by allowing the recruitment of colored soldiers. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was a major battle during the Civil War that resulted in a crushing defeat for the South, but an almost empty victory for the North. General Lee of the Confederacy intended to mount an invasion of the North and was met by General Meade, who managed to stem the tide at a high cost of over 23,000 casualties of an original force of 94,000 men. -
Gettysburg Address
This speech by Abraham Lincoln came to be viewed as a masterpiece of prose poetry and served to bolster the morale of the Union. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
Considered to be an early modern example of total war, Sherman's march followed a scorched earth policy, destroying military, industrial, and civilian targets with no discrimination, which would help influence the South's decision to surrender. -
Abraham Lincoln Reelected
Despite Lincoln's doubts, he managed to be reelected in the first election since 1812 to occur during a war. -
General U.S. Grant Assumed Command of Union Troops
Grant would go on to lead all of the Union troops into victory against the Confederacy and signed the peace treaty between the North and South, which was also signed by Confederate General Lee. -
Congress passed the 13th Amendment
This amendment formally abolished slavery throughout the United States of America. -
Lee Surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House
The surrender marked the practical end of the Civil War and began a rapid surrender of other Confederate armies. -
Andrew Johnson Became President
Andrew Johnson rose to the presidency after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. His lenient Reconstruction policies lead to his political downfall and failed to reduce the racist sentiment still in the South. -
Arrival of Scalawags and Carpetbaggers from the South
Carpetbaggers were northerners who moved to the south for their own financial gain, Scalawags were white southerners who cooperated politically with freedmen and northerners. -
Ku Klux Klan Formed
The Ku Klux Klan used violence and terror to reassert white supremacy throughout the South in opposition to Reconstruction -
Freedmen's Bureau Established
The Bureau was dedicated to providing assistance to freedmen and other poverty stricken members of the south during the transition from slavery and freedom. It built schools, gave out rations, and helped build housing for the newly reed blacks. -
Lincoln Assassination
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth as retribution for the defeat and surrender of the Confederacy. Expecting to be heralded as a hero, but faced condemnation, Booth fled and hid for several days in the countryside. Lincoln's death lead to a tie of national mourning. -
Johnson Announced Plans for Presidential Reconstruction
Johnson's policy for Reconstruction gave White Southerners free reign in regards to transitioning from slavery to freedom and failed to give the newly freed blacks any influence in regards to the new policies that would form, leading to the Jim Crow laws. -
Andrew Johnson Impeached
The impeachment of Andrew Johnson, who was later acquitted by a Senate trial, was a dramatic political incident caused primarily by the removal of Stanton from the office of Secretary of War and attempting to replace him with someone with far less experience. -
U.S. Grant Elected President
Grant was effectively a neutral president who, despite being elected as a way to end the strife and turmoil caused by Reconstruction, just let the reforms of Radical Reconstruction to run its course -
Creation of the Radical Republicans
Radical Republicans were dedicated to the abolition of slavery and equal rights to freedmen. -
14th Amendment Ratified
The 14th amendment established that any person, regardless of race or gender, who were born into the U.S. would be considered full citizens and would give them equal rights as such. It also barred any former political or military figures who were involved in the confederacy from holding any sort of federal office again without a 2/3 majority vote from Congress. -
Period of "Redemption" after the Civil War
"Redemption" was a path where many southerners called for a return to the old order where white supremacy was to be reestablished and blacks be stripped of their newly won rights. -
Slaughterhouse Cases (Supreme Court)
The Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment did not pertain to business ventures, monopolies, and did not shift all civil rights control to the federal government. The state governments still could decide to allow such institutions to exist. -
U.S. V Cruikshank
The Supreme Court ruled that the First and Second Amendments only apply to the national government and not the state governments -
Compromise of 1877
It was an informal deal that was created to ease the tension of the election of 1876 and ended the Reconstruction era by pulling federal troops from the South. -
First Congressional Reconstruction Act Passed
The Reconstruction acts were concerned with how to readmit the formerly confederate states and required them to give universal male suffrage and to ratify the fourteenth amendment prior to being readmitted into the Union.
