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Free-soil party is organized
The Free soil party, a political party organized in 1848 on a platform opposing the extension of slavery, was rooted in the growing conflict between proslavery and antislavery forces in the United States. -
California Gold rush begins
Began when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. -
Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska act
It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. -
The republican party is founded
The Party began as a coalition of anti-slavery Conscience Whigs such as Zachariah Chandler and Free Soil Democrats such as Salmon P. Chase. The anti-Nebraska local meeting was held in a Ripon, Wisconsin schoolhouse where "Republican" was suggested as a name for a new anti-slavery party. -
The caning of Charles Sumner
A member of the House of Representatives entered the Senate Chamber and savagely beat Charles Sumner, a senator, into unconsciousness. The inspiration for this clash came three days earlier when Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts antislavery Republican, addressed the Senate on the explosive issue of whether Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state. -
A pro-slavery mob sacks Lawrence, Kansas
Proslavery men attacked and looted the antislavery town of Lawrence, Kansas. The assault escalated the violence over slavery in Kansas Territory during a period that became known as “Bleeding Kansas.” -
John Brown stages the Pottawatomie Massacre
In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers—some of them members of the Pottawatomie Rifles—killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas. -
U.S. Supreme court issues the Dred Scott decision
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. -
Lecompton Constitution declares that slavery will be allowed in Kansas
The Lecompton Constitution (1857) was one of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas. It was drafted by pro-slavery advocates and included provisions to protect slaveholding in the state and to exclude free blacks from its bill of rights. -
Abraham Lincoln debates Stephen A. Douglas during the Illinois Senate Race
Lincoln-Douglas debates, series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. -
John Brown and his followers stage a failed raid
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. -
South Carolina and six other southern states secede from the Union
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. The declaration also claims that secession was declared as a result of the refusal of free states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts. -
Fort Sumter falls to Confederate forces, triggers civil war
After a 33-hour bombardment by Confederate cannons, Union forces surrender Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. The first engagement of the war ended in Rebel victory. The surrender concluded a standoff that began with South Carolina's secession from the Union -
Abraham Lincoln is Inaugurated President
Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United States. In his inaugural address, Lincoln promised not to interfere with the institution of slavery where it existed, and pledged to suspend the activities of the federal government temporarily in areas of hostility
