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Abolition
Movement to abolish slavery, became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
Missouri Compromise
Behind the leadership of a Henry Clay, Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. -
Santa Fe Trail
Stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to
Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. -
San Felipe de Austin
Main colony in Texas. Austin issued 297 inexpensive land grants, each family received either 177 very inexpensive acres of farmland, or 4,428 acres for stock grazing, as well as a 10-year
exemption from paying taxes. -
The Liberator
In Massachusetts, Garrison became the editor of an antislavery paper in 1828. Three years later he established his own paper, The Liberator, to deliver an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation. -
Mexico Ablishes Slavery
Most American settlers were from the south and brought slaves which caused cultural issues. Mexico tried to get Texans to free their slaves. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Turner and more than 50 followers attacked four plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventually captured and executed
many members of the group, including Turner. -
Stephen F. Austin Goes to Jail
Santa Anna imprisoned Austin for inciting revolution. -
Texas Revolution
Colonists (primarily from the United States) in the Mexican province of Texas rebelled against the increasingly centralist Mexican government. -
Oregon Trail
Stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon.
Two Methodist missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa
Whitman drove wagons on the trail first. Many pioneers moving west used this trail. -
Manifest Destiny
Belief that the United States was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory. Many Americans also believed that this destiny was manifest, or obvious and inevitable. -
Texas Enters the US
Southerners wanted Texas in order to extend slavery, which already had been established. Northerners feared that the annexation of more slave territory would tip the uneasy balance in the Senate in favor of slave states—and prompt
war with Mexico. -
Mexican-American War
In March 1845, angered by U.S.-Texas negotiation on annexation, the Mexican government recalled its ambassador from Washington. On December 29, 1845,Texas entered the Union. President Polk believed that war with Mexico would bring not only Texas into the Union, but also New Mexico and California. America won. -
The North Star
Douglass began his own antislavery newspaper. He named it
The North Star, after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico and ceded the New Mexico and California territories to the United States. The United States agreed to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession, which included presentday California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. -
Harriet Tubman
One of the most famous conductors. Made 19 trips back to the South and is said to have helped 300 slaves—including her own parents—flee to freedom. -
Compromise of 1850
Five separate bills passed by the United States Congress which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. Anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. Some Northerners resisted it by organizing “vigilance committees” to send endangered African Americans to safety in Canada. Others resorted to violence to rescue fugitive slaves. Still others worked to help slaves escape from slavery. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe published her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which stressed that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Nebraska in the north and Kansas in the south. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Owner took him to Missouri to Illinois and Wisconsin and back. Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott. According to the
ruling, Scott lacked any legal standing to sue in federal court
because he was nota citizen. Court ruled that being in free territory did not make a slave free. The Fifth Amendment protected property, including slaves. -
Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
Douglas believed deeply in popular sovereignty. Lincoln, on the other hand, believed that slavery was immoral. However, he did not expect individuals to give up slavery unless Congress abolished slavery with an amendment. Douglas won. -
John Brown's Raid/Harpers Ferry
John Brown led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His aim was to seize the federal arsenal there
and start a general slave uprising. -
Abe Lincoln Becomes President
Lincoln emerged as the winner with less than half the popular
vote and with no electoral votes from the South. He did not even appear on the ballot in most of the slave states because of Southern hostility toward him. The outlook for the Union was grim. South succeeded from the Union. -
Formation of the Confederacy
Mississippi soon followed South Carolina’s lead, as did Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. In February 1861, delegates from the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed the Confederate States of America. -
Underground Railroad
“Conductors” on the routes hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing, and escorted or directed them to the next “station.” Once fugitives reached the North, many chose to remain there. Others journeyed to Canada to be completely out of reach of their “owners.” -
Attack on Fort Sumter
At 4:30 A.M. on April 12, Confederate batteries began thundering away to the cheers of Charleston’s citizens. The deadly struggle between North and South was under way. -
Income Tax
Takes a specified percentage of an individual’s income. -
Battle of Bull Run
Union army gained the upper hand, but the Confederates held firm, inspired by General Thomas J. Jackson. coining the nickname Stonewall Jackson. Confederation was victorious, but exhausted. -
Battle of Antietam
First major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. The next day, instead of pursuing the battered Confederate army into Virginia and possibly ending the war, McClellan did nothing. As a result, Lincoln removed him from command. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The proclamation did not free any slaves immediately because it applied only to areas behind Confederate lines, outside Union control. Nevertheless, for many, the proclamation gave the war a moral purpose by turning the struggle into a fight
to free the slaves. It also ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Battle at Gettysburg
egan on July 1 when Confederate soldiers led by A. P. Hill encountered several brigades of Union cavalry under the command of John Buford, an experienced officer from Illinois. nion won after Confederates seemed to have the victory. -
Gettysburg Address
Speech helped the country to realize that it was not just a collection of individual states; it was one unified nation. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Union general Ulysses S. Grant fought to take one of the two Confederate srongholds on the Mississippi River. -
Conscription
Draft that forced men to serve in the army. In the North, conscription led to draft riots, the most violent of which took place
in New York City -
Sherman's March
Sherman began his march southeast through Georgia to the sea, creating a wide path of destruction. His army burned almost every house in its path and destroyed livestock and railroads to make the South surrender. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
Lee and Grant met at a private home to arrange a Confederate surrender. At Lincoln’s request, the terms were generous. Grant paroled Lee’s soldiers and sent them home with their possessions and three days’ worth of rations. Officers were permitted to keep their side arms -
13th Adendment
End of slavery. -
Assassination of Abe Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth—a 26-year-old actor and Southern sympathizer— shot Lincoln in the back of the head during the third act of Our American Cousin.
