-
Invention of Cotton Gin
History of the Cotton GIn
In 1794, U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
Period: to
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was the term used to describe a network of meeting plages, secret routes, passageways and safe houses used by slaves in the U.S. to escape slave holding states to northern states and Canada. -
Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise
In February 1819, Representative James Tallmadge of New York introduced a bill that would admit Missouri into the Union as a state where slavery was prohibited. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turners Rebellion
A slave named Nat Turner led a rebellion in Southhampton County, Virginia. A religious leader and self-styled Baptist minister, Turner and a group of followers killed some sixty white men, women, and children on the night of August 21. Turner and 16 of his conspirators were captured and executed, but the incident continued to haunt Southern whites. -
Wilmont Proviso
The Wilmont Provisowas designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War (1846-48). -
Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850
Divisions over slavery in territory gained in the Mexican-American war were resolved in the Compromise of 1850. -
Period: to
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas is the term used to described the period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska Actwas an 1854 bill that mandated “popular sovereignty”–allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders. -
dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott Decision
On this day in 1857, the United States Supreme Court issues a decision in the Dred Scott case, affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories, therebynegating the doctrine of popular sovereignty and severely undermining the platform of the newly created Republican Party. -
Period: to
Lincoln and Douglas Debates
Lincoln and Douglas DebatesHistorians have traditionally regarded the series of seven debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois state election campaign as among the most significant statements in American political history. The issues they discussed were not only of critical importance to the sectional conflict over slavery and states’ rights but also touched deeper questions that would continue to influence political discourse. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Browns Harper ferry raid
On the evening of October 16, 1859 John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry. Descending upon the town in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. -
election of 1860
Electon of 1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency.
