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Election of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States and the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40% of the popular vote, but continued to defeat three other candidates. This included Steven Douglas, John Bell, and John C. Beckinridge. -
Secession of Southern Sates
When Abraham Lincoln was elected, the Southern States Believed he was going to ban slavery, so they seceded from the Union. The First states to secede was South Carolina. Four months later, 6 other states seceded. They were Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana. Later Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee joined them. -
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Civil War
The Civil war started on April 12, 1861 due to the capture of Fort Sumter by Confederate troops. The American Civil War was the bloodiest battle ever fought by the US, with more than 620,000 Casualties. The War ended on May 9 1861 when Robert E. Lee surrendered the last major confederate army to the Union at Appomottox Courthouse. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. It declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellion staves were free. The Proclamation also gave new meaning to the war, that Union was no longer only fighting to reunite the Union, but to abolish slavery. -
Sharecropping
With the Southern economy in pieces, conflict arose between many white landowners trying to reestablish labor force and freed blacks seeking economic independence. These conflicts resulted in the sharecropping system, in which black families would rent small plots in exchange for a portion of their crops to be given to the landowner -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth who had unobstructed access to the President fatally shot Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. -
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Reconstruction
The process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period posed challenges. President Andrew Johnson passed "black codes" which kept blacks in slave like conditions. Radical Reconstruction then gave blacks a voice in government for the first time in American History. -
Freedmen's Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau was established by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South after the Civil war. It provided food, housing and medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance. However, the Bureau was prevented from carrying out its programs due to lack of funds and personnel, along with the politics of race. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially abolished slavery in America. It was ratified on December 6, 1865. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude was to be allowed. -
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Radical Reconstruction
Radical Reconstruction was when the republicans took over the Reconstruction going on in the South. During Radical Reconstruction, newly enfranchised blacks gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to Southern state legislatures and even to the U.S Congress. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment guaranteed African American citizenship and all its privileges. It also reaffirmed the privileges and rights of ALL citizens and granted all these citizens "the equal protection of the laws". -
1st African American Elected to Congress
Hiram Rhoades Revels, a republican from Natchez, Mississippi, was the first ever African American to sit in Congress. On January 20, 1870 Revels wa elected to fill the Senate seat from former Jefferson Davis. When Mississippi was granted representation in Congress, Revels was immediately sworn in. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of race,color, or previous position of servitude." -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
The Civil Rights Act preserved rights of all people especially blacks. It concluded that there was to be no racial discrimination regarding juries, schools, transportation, and public accommodations.
