-
Period: to
Conflicts and Rebellions Leading to the Civil War
A timeline of conflicts, rebellions, and acts of war that led to the American Civil War. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
In August of 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led a rebellion of around 70 other slaves that tore through plantations of southern Virginia. They killed 60 whites in the two day rebellion and were eventually stopped by a militia. In the end 55 slaves and Turner were executed and decapitated for their actions in the rebellion. As a result of all of this the government in the south took away more of what few civil rights the blacks owned. -
Killing of Elijah P. Lovejoy
In Alton, Illinois 1837 Elijah P. Lovejoy, an anti-slavery writer of a anti-slavery newspaper, was killed by a pro-slavery mob while defending the site of his newspaper. His death upset many northerners and strengthened the anti-slavery movement in the north. This made Lovejoy a martyr of the cause he supported. -
Mexican American War
The Mexican American was was fought over Texas. Mexico didn't led the US buy Texas which started the whole thing and it was a big mess. The southerners wanted to use the land gained in the war and make it all slave land that can be used for cotton farming. But the anti-slavery people didn't want the country to be lopsided with more slavery than not. This caused much tension in the country. -
Henry S. Foote in U.S. Senate
On April 17, US senator from Mississippi Henry S. Foote pulled a gun on an anti-slavery senator when in the discussion of the issue of slavery. Obviously this was not appropriate in this context and it just goes to show how torn the country was on all levels on the issue of slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
In the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 the settlers of the two lands were given the power to decide whether the new states would be slave or free states. As a result both pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters poured into Kansas and Nebraska in hope of swaying the vote their way. For the next five years the two groups of contrasting views had many conflicts and physical confrontations and over the five years there were 56 people killed. -
Preston Brooks vs Charles Sumner in U.S. Senate
In 1856 on the floor of the US senate, congressman Preston Brooks viciously bears senator Charles Sumner. In a previous speech given by Sumner, he passionately spoke about the evils of slavery and he calls out many politicians including the cousin of Preston Brooks. Brooks didn't take well to this so his solution was to attack Sumner with a cane. Sumner, due to his injuries, had to leave politics for some time. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
The Dred Scott case in 1857 was an interesting event in its time. It was a slave filing a law suit to sue his owner. Scott was a lawful slave in a slave state, but then his owner moved into a slave-free state, but Dred Scott was still considered a slave. The final decision by the supreme court was that a slave, like Scott, was not considered a citizen so he was not allowed to file in federal court, therefore the case was dismissed. -
Brawl on the Floor of Congress
In February of 1858, during an all night long debate over the Lecompton constitution in Kansas. This was a big deal because there had previously been small disputes in government debates, but this was the first big physical confrontation involving this many people. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown was a anti-slavery man. He was very passionate about this and was not afraid to take violence into the issue. On October 18, 1859 Brown and his sons along with a few others attempted to start a rebellion at a federal armory in Harpers Ferry in Virginia. The plan was to raid the armory and then distribute the weapons to slaves in the area and start a huge rebellion. This didn't work and Brown and his men never made it out of the armory when they were stopped by a militia. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
The battle of fort Sumter in 1861 was the official start of the American Civil War. Southern confederates pummeled the fort with cannon near Charleston, South Carolina and it eventually led to a surrender by the US army. This attack was followed with declarations of secession by the southern states. This kicked the inevitable American Civil War.
