-
Wilmot Proviso
one of the major events leading to the American Civil War, would have banned slavery in any territory to be acquired from Mexico in the Mexican Wa -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming -
Gold Discovery at Sutter's Mill, CA
Native Sons of the Gold West purchased and rehabilitated Sutter's Fort when the City of Sacramento sought to demolish it, which was repaired and given to the state of California -
Seneca Falls Convention
Convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women -
Free Soil Party Formation
Free-Soil Party developed in part from a political rivalry in New York State. The Democratic Party there consisted of contending factions: the Barnburners, who were strongly opposed to slavery, and the Hunkers, who were neutral or supportive of slavery -
Compromise of 1850
Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished -
Fugitive Slave Act
pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher -
Republican Party Organized
organized in July 1854 by thousands of anti-slavery activists -
Kansas-Nebraska Act passed
repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing white male settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow them to choose if they had slaves -
"Bleeding Kansas" takes place
Bloody Kansas or the Border War was a series of violent political confrontations in the United States involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the neighboring towns of the state of Missouri between 1854 and 1861 -
Charles Sumner attacked
Representative Preston Brooks attacked Senator Charles Sumner with his walking cane in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner two days earlier. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford decision made
Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, holding that blacks could not be U.S. citizens, exacerbated sectional tensions between North and South -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the Senate in Illinois, and Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate -
John Brown raids Harpers Ferry, VA
John Brown led a small army of 18 men into the small town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to instigate a major slave rebellion -
Abraham Lincoln wins presidential election
first Republican to win the presidency -
SC secedes from Union
"Within three months of Lincoln's election, seven states had seceded from the Union." -
Economic Depression
several underlying causes, of which economic historians debate the relative importance such as post-war inflation
