Antebellum Assessment Timeline (Kellen and Robin)

By Kellen Bobko

  • John Punch

    The General Court of Colonial Virginia apprehended three indentured servants. The two white servants were given a sentence of a few years, while John Punch, the only black servant, was sentenced to serve for the rest of his life. This made John Punch the first African American to be enslaved in the state of Virginia.

  • First North American Colony to Recognize Slavery

    Massachusetts became the first North American colony to recognize slavery as a legal institution.

  • Virginia Slave Codes

    The Virginia Slave Codes were passed in 1662 in Virginia, declaring that the race of the mother would determine if a black child would be enslaved. 

  • Bacon's Rebellion

    Bacon's Rebellion is one of the first times we saw enslaved black people and poorer white people fighting together as a reaction to the increasing popularity of slavery.

  • Pennsylvania Quakers

    The first formal anti-slavery resolution in American history was passed by Pennsylvania Quakers.

  • Virginia Slave Codes Updated

    The Virginia Slave Code formalized slaves' status, reducing their freedom. It stipulated that non-Christians brought to Virginia would be treated as slaves.

  • Further Restrictions

    Restrictions on slaves increased when nine white men died due to a slave revolt in New York City.

  • Crispus Attucks

    An ex-slave named Crispus Attucks was shot and killed during the American Revolution in what is known as the Boston Massacre. Crispus Attucks organized the seige, yet it is still debated whether he should be called a hero.

  • Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery

    The Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery was established.

  • 5,000 Free Black Men Fought in the American Revolution

    After previously vetoing the notion, General George Washington decided to allow free black people into the American Army. Over 5,000 free black people fought in the American Revolution.

  • The Declaration of Independence

    The Declaration of Independence was implemented by the Continental Congress.

  • The First Fugitive Slave Act

    The first fugitive slave act was passed by Congress in 1793, making it illegal to harbor an escaped enslaved person or disturb an arrest of an enslaved person.

  • Cotton Gin Invented

    Cotton Gin Invented
    In 1793, when the South had exhausted their lands for nutrients due to their tobacco-growing craze, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. The cotton gin was a machine that could remove seeds from cotton very efficiently. It spread throughout the South quickly, and centered the industry around cotton, which increased the amount of enslaved workers in the South. While the North moved away from slavery, the South became ever more dependent on it. 

  • The First Major Slave Rebellion

    The first major slave rebellion was planned by Gabriel Prosser and Jack Bowler, and it took place in Richmond, Virginia. 1,000 enslaved people were going to participate, but a thunderstorm forced them to postpone and two enslaved people left the cause.

  • African Slave Trade Outlawed

    The African Slave Trade was outlawed in the United States and all British colonies.

  • The American Colonization Society

    The American Colonization Society was established in Washington. The society's goal was to promote African Americans' return to Africa.

  • First African Methodist Church

    The African Methodist Episcopal Church was formally established as the first all-black religious group in the United States.

  • The Republic of Liberia

    The establishment of the Republic of Liberia happened because the American Colonization Society started transporting free African American Men back to Africa.

  • Monroe Reelected

    James Monroe won reelection without any challengers. John Quincy Adams was the only person who did not provide an electoral vote to James Monroe

  • The Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise
    The Missouri Compromise was a compromise adding Missouri to the United States as the 24th state, starting territorial dissent between the North and South. Earlier, Maine had become part of the Union, but Senator Jesse B. Thomas amended the bill, prohibiting slavery anywhere above 36°30′, but turning Missouri into a slave state. This issue was resolved on March 3, 1820, by Henry Clay, but the unrest in the country would eventually lead to the Civil War.

  • Vessey Slave Uprising

    Nearly 135 African Americans were detained in June of 1822 and put on trial in secret. The gang was charged with preparing a slave uprising. A free Black man living in Charleston named Denmark Vessey is said to have been the rebellion's commander. 35 slaves were executed and 43 were sold.

  • Monroe Doctrine

    With the Monroe Doctrine, the Spanish were to be discouraged from trying to retake any of their former provinces in South America, saying the American continents are no longer to be thought of as potential targets for colonization by any European nations, it was declared.

  • Indian Removal Act

    Indian Removal Act
    In 1830, President Andrew Jackson passed the "Indian Removal Act," claiming to "voluntarily" move Native Americans to Western America, removing them from their homelands in the East. This act gained some support through the misconception the relocated Native Americans would be repaid for their troubles, or that they would eventually get removed through the states own laws. The North mostly opposed this act, with some calling the act immoral.

  • The Bloodiest Slave Rebellion

    The bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history, killing up to 57 enslaved people and 60 white people, was led by Nat Turner.

  • Amistad

    The United States Supreme Court's decision to acknowledge that the enslaved people aboard the Amistad were free individuals. This Court decision was based on the slave revolt aboard the Amistad in 1841.

  • Mexican War Begins

    Mexican War Begins
    The Mexican War was a war between Mexico and the United States in 1846. America annexed Texas, which Mexico never accepted, so they rejected a US peace envoy, resulting in President Polk sending troops to the border, which ended in war.

  • Compromise of 1850

    Compromise of 1850 California as a free state prohibited public slave sales in the District of Columbia. It also enforced fugitive slave laws and allowed stolen land from Mexico to be used as a colony for slave owners.

  • Impending Civil War Blood Spilled [1]

    On November 7, 1849, four slaves broke out from Edward Gorsuch's estate. At least two of Gorush's slaves were located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, he discovered two years later.

  • Impending Civil War Blood Spilled [2]

    Because it was said that his slaves were in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, using the authority provided by the Fugitive Slave Act, Gorsuch traveled to Philadelphia and obtained a warrant to reclaim his slaves. After that, Gorsuch traveled to Christina with his son, a Federal Marshall, and an unspecified number of other men.

  • Uncle Tom's Cabin Published

    Uncle Tom's Cabin Published
    "Uncle Tom's cabin" was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and published in 1852, detailing the life of a slave family. Millions of copies were sold, affecting American society by increasing slavery opposition in the north, as well as internationally in England and France.
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    Bleeding Kansas

    Bleeding Kansas was an event initiated by a proslavery mob in Lawrence, Kansas. They burned the town newspaper office, as well as the hotel, to "wipe out this hotbed of abolitionism." John Brown, along with other antislavery protesters, struck back three days later in the Pottawatomie Massacre.

  • Kansas - Nebraska Act [1]

    Kansas - Nebraska Act [1]
    The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an act passed in 1854, causing all the states to decide for themselves whether they want to be a slave or free state. This movement was heavily supported by Illinois senator Stephen Douglas, who believed that westward expansion was necessary to increase the Union's power and wished to override the Missouri Compromise.

  • Kansas - Nebraska Act [2]

    Kansas - Nebraska Act [2]
    The Kansas-Nebraska act caused Kansas to become a slave state and Nebraska to become a free state. However, while an additional slave state being added brought support for the act in the South, the North was riled up by the prospect.

  • Dred Scott v. Sandford

    The United States Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that black people were not citizens of the United States and refused to give the ability to prohibit slavery in federal territories to Congress.

  • John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

    John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
    In 1858, John Brown led a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, consisting of himself and 22 other men, of which five were Black and 3 were John Brown's Sons. 10 of the 22 people died, and John Brown was hanged, being martyred in the North and called a mass murderer in the South.
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    Lincoln - Douglas Debates

    Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas debated seven times during the Illinois senatorial campaign over spreading slavery in the territories, called the Lincoln-Douglas.

  • Confederate States of America [2]

    Confederate States of America [2]
    The newly formed Confederate States of America attempt to draft  first 100,000, then 400,000 soldiers, in response to Union President Abraham Lincoln calling for 75,000 soldiers. Lincoln also instills a naval blockade around the Confederate States.

  • Confederate States of America [1]

    Confederate States of America [1]
    From 1860 to 1861, 11 states seceded from the Union to become the Confederate States of America, including South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. These states chose Jefferson Davis, a senator from Mississippi, to be their president.

  • Lincoln Elected

    At the time the Southern States declared their secession, Abraham Lincoln was elected president.

  • The Clotilda

    More than half of American exports are cotton. The Clotilda, the last ship carrying Africans kidnapped as slaves, smuggles its cargo into Alabama in defiance of international law.

  • Civil War Begins

    Civil War Begins
    The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Robert Anderson and around 85 troops are besieged at Fort Sumter by around 5,500 Confederate soldiers led by General P.G.T. Beauregard in Charleston harbor.

  • Emancipation Proclamation

    With the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln confirmed that if the Union won the Civil War, slavery in the United States would come to an end.

  • 13th Amendment

    Slavery was made illegal after the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was added to the constitution.