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Missouri Compromise
This compromise made Missouri a slave state, Maine a free state, and banned slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase North of the 36°30' latitude. -
Compromise of 1850
There were five parts to this compromise,
-California would be admitted as a free state.
-Popular sovereignty would determine the fate of the other western territories
-Congress would cancel some of Texas’s debts and in exchange for getting rid of the debts, the government gave some of Texas’s western land to New Mexico Territory.
-Slave trading would be banned in Washington, D.C.
-Congress would pass a tougher Fugitive Slave Law, to reduce the number of slaves who went North every year. -
Kansas- Nebraska Act of 1854
This Act allowed each territory to decide what to do about slavery on popular sovereignty. It also repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected
Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the United States becoming the first Republican to win. The announcement of Lincoln's victory pushed the South to secede and form the Confederate States of America. -
South Secedes
Once Abraham Lincoln was elected as the Presedent South Carolina voted to leave the United states. They were later joined by six more states, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Also after South Carolina left there was the threat of four more states leaving, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. -
Confederate Government
In Montgomery, Alabama the seven states got together and came up with a Confederate Constitution similar to the United States. Jefferson Davis was to be the temporary President until elections could be held. -
Lincoln's Inauguration
President Lincoln said that he would not end slavery in states that it existed, but that he wouldnt stand for secession. Lincoln wanted to solve this problem without warfare. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
The Civil War offically began when General Pierre Gustave T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter. After three days the commander at Fort Sumter surrendered. -
The First Battle of Bull Run
This took place in Manassas, Virginia and was the first major battle of the Civil War. About 35,000 troops left Washington D.C, and traveled to a small river callled Bull Run where the Confederate troops were. This battle was a victory for the Confederates, it gave them confidence, while it surprised the North and made them realize that the war would last longer then they thought. -
Monitor vs Merrimac
The Monitor and the Virginia, also known as the Marrimac, were the first two ships to have fought and have iron armor protecting their hulls. The battle resulted in a draw, because each ship had thought that the other had retreated. -
The Battle of Shiloh
The Confederates under the command of General Johnston attacked the Union forces near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. During the first day of the battle General Johnston was wounded and was replaced by P.G.T. Beauregard. After two days of battle the Confederates surrendered to the Union. -
Robert E. Lee Assumes Command
Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia replacing the seriously wounded Joseph E. Johnston. -
Seven Day's Battle
The Army of Northern Virginia under the leadership of a new commander, Robert E. Lee, would go against George B. McClellan and his Army. Lee's focus on the offensive instead of defense won him this battle forcing the evacuation of the Union army. -
Antietam
The bloodiest single day in American military history that ended in a draw, but with the Confederate retreat Abraham Lincoln had the “victory” he wanted before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln declares that all slaves that were in the South are now free, but ths document actually freed very few people. This document did show the American people that the war was now being fought to end slavery. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The most famous and most important Civil War Battle with Confederate causalities in dead, wounded and missing being 28,000 out of 75,000. Union casualties were 23,000 out of 88,000. -
Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln's speech at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In two minutes Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality, as written in the Declaration of Indepedence, in the speech that is regared as one of the greatest speeches in American history. -
Lincoln Reelected
With Lincoln's re-election, any hope for a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy vanished. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
Union general William T. Sherman marched from Atlanta to Savannah to show the Southern people that the government can not save them from being invaded. -
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The final Surrenders of the Confederacy
Over these three months the last surrenders of the Civil War occured. After Lee surrendered the several other Confederate armies that were still fighting were too small and too weak to continue the fight. -
Lincoln Assassination
While attending a performance at the Ford's Theatre President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theater that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancee, Clara Harris. Rathbone tried to grab the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, but Booth got away.
