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Missouri Compromise
Maine=free state, Missouri=slave state. Split Louisiana territory in half, southern states become slave and northern become free. James Madison was president during this time. -
Abolition
Movement to abolish slavery. Became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
Santa Fe Trail
Stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to
Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. One of the old Native American trails that people followed when expanding west. -
San Felipe de Austin
Colony between the Brazos and Colorado rivers. Founded by Stephen F. Austin in honor of his father who died when establishing the colony. -
"The Liberator"
Antislavery paper demanding emancipation. Written by white radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Many of the settlers were Southerners, who had brought slaves with them to Texas. Mexico, which had abolished slavery in 1829, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Turner and more than 50 followers attacked four
plantations and killed about 60 whites in an act of rebellion. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Austin had traveled to Mexico City late in 1833 to present petitions to Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna for greater self-government for Texas. While Austin was on his way home, Santa Anna had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution -
Oregon Trail
Stretched from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. Blazed in 1836 by two Methodist missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. By driving their wagon as far as Fort Boise (near present-day Boise, Idaho), they proved that wagons could travel on the Oregon Trail -
Texas Revolution
The rebellion in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny
The belief that the westward expansion was predestined by God.The phrase “manifest destiny” expressed the belief that the United States was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory. Manifest=inevitable -
Texas enters U.S.
Southerners wanted it to expand slavery, northerners didn't because it could to inbalance in senate. 1844 U.S. presidential campaign focused on westward expansion. The
winner, James K. Polk, a slaveholder, firmly favored the annexation of Texas.On December 29, 1845, Texas entered the Union -
Mexican-American War
First U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil, distracted President Polk from expansion. Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. -
"The North Star"
Written by Frederick Douglass who escaped from bondage and became an outspoken critic against slavery. Named 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. U.S. agreed to pay $15 mil for the cession -
Compromise of 1850
South wanted slavery in new territories, but northern didn't. Henry Clay made a series of resolutions to these problems-called the Compromise of 1850. California=free state. To please the South, the compromise proposed a new and more effective fugitive slave law. For both, it proposed popular sovereignty, the right to vote for or against slavery, for residents of the New Mexico and Utah territories -
Fugitive Slave Act
Alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. In addition, anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months Infuriated by the Fugitive Slave Act, 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 -
Underground Railroad
Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a
secret network of people who would, at great risk to themselves, hide fugitive slaves. The system of escape routes they used became known as the Underground Railroad -
Harriet Tubman
Born a slave in Maryland in 1820 or 1821. In 1849, after Tubman’s owner died, she heard rumors that she was about to be sold. Fearing this possibility, Tubman decided to make a break for freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. Shortly after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman resolved to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad -
"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
Douglas introduced a bill in Congress on January 23, 1854, that would divide the area into two territories: Nebraska in the north and Kansas in the south. If passed, the bill would repeal the Missouri Compromise and establish popular sovereignty for
both territories -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott: a slave whose owner took him from the slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin and back to Missouri. Claimed that living in a free state and territory (Illinois and Wisconsin) made him a free black. Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott. According to the ruling, Scott lacked any legal standing to sue in federal court because he was not, and never could be, a citizen. Fifth Amendment protected property (including slaves) -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
Lincoln challenged Douglas to series of debates on the issues of slavery. Neither wanted slavery, both disagreed on how to get rid of it. Douglas=popular sovereignty, Lincoln= wanted Congress to abolish it with an amendment. Douglas won Senate seat, Lincoln recieved lots of attention (people want him as pres.) -
John Brown's raid/Harpers Ferry
John Brown led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Goal=sieze the federal arsenal and start a general slave uprising. Troops put down the rebellion. John Brown put to death. Huge reactions in both northern and southern states. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes President
Pledged to halt the further spread of slavery, he also tried to reassure Southerners that a Republican administration would not “interfere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves.” Nonetheless, many Southerners viewed him as an enemy. Democratic Party split over slavery. Former Know-Nothings and Whigs organized the Constitutional Union Party.Lincoln emerged as the winner with less than half the popular vote and with no electoral votes from the South. -
Formation of the Confederacy
South Carolina first to seced from the Union. Followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Delegates from these states joined together and formed the Confederate States of America (aka the Confederacy). Selected Jefferson Davis as president. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
As soon as the Confederacy was formed, Confederate soldiers in each secessionist state began siezing federal forts. Only four Sothern forts remained in Union hands. Most Important: Fort Sumter. On April 12th, Confederates began thundering away at the fort. The fort's fall united the North. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first bloodshed on the battlefield occurred about three months after Fort Sumter fell, near the little creek of Bull Run, just 25 miles from Washington, D.C. Confederate reinforcements helped lead to first Southern victory. -
Battle of Antietam
Union corporal found a copy of Confederate's plan. McClellan (Union) fought Lee (Confederate) by creek called Antietam; bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. History. 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 Confederacy used the labor of slaves to build fortifications and grow food. Lincoln’s powers as commander in chief allowed him to order his troops to seize enemy resources. Therefore, he decided that, just as he could order the Union army to take Confederate supplies, he could also authorize the army to emancipate slaves. Emancipation was not just a moral issue; it became a weapon of war.Ensured that compormise was no longer possible, encouraged people of Union to fight harder to end slavery -
Conscription
A draft that forced men to serve in the Army. Led to draft riots in the North. Changes occurred in the wartime economies of both
sides as well as in the roles played by African Americans and women. -
Income Tax
Northern economy grew. Congress decided to help pay for the war by collecting the nation’s first income tax, a tax that takes a specified percentage of an individual’s income. -
Battle of Vicksburg
Union general Ulysses S. Grantfought to take Vicksburg, one of the two remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River.He sent Benjamin Grierson to lead his cavalry brigade through the heart of Mississippi. Grierson succeeded in destroying rail lines and distracting Confederate forces from Union infantry working its way toward Vicksburg. Confederates surrender. Confederecy cut in 2. -
Battle at Gettysburg
Confederate soldiers led by A. P. Hill encountered several brigades of Union cavalry under the command of John Buford. 3 day battle in which North held up their side. South gave up trying to invade the North. Total casualties more than 30%. Northerners enthusiastic about "breaking the charm of Robert Lee's invincibility". -
Gettysburg Adress
Speech by President Lincoln. Held to dedicate a ceremony in Gettysburg. Speech helped the country to realize that it was not just a collection of individual states; it was one unified nation. -
Sherman's March
In March 1864, President Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant commander of all Union armies. Grant in turn appointed William Tecumseh Sherman as commander of the military division of the
Mississippi. March through Georgia burning every house and killing all livestock he came across. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
In a Virginia town, 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. Within a month all remaining Confederate resistance collapsed. After four long years, the Civil War was over. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Killed by John Wilkes Booth-Southern sympathizer, at a theater. First time a President has been assassinated. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Emancipation Proclomation didn't end all slavery, so they passed this Amendment-ending all slavery in the U.S.
