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Abolition
The movement to abolish slavery, became most important of a series of reform movements in America -
Missouri Compromise
While James Monroe was president, Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The rest of the Louisiana Territory was split into two parts. The dividing line was set at 36°30´ north latitude. South of the line, slavery was legal. North of the line—except in Missouri—slavery was banned. This was known as the Missouri Compromise. -
Santa Fe Trail
Settlers and traders used a series of old Native American trails as well as new routes. One of the busiest routes was the Santa Fe Trail, which stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to
Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. -
San Felipe de Austin
One of the prominent leaders of the American settlers in Texas named Stephen F. Austin carried out his father's plan, and established a colony where “no drunkard, no gambler, no profane
swearer, and no idler” would be allowed. -
The Liberator
William Lloyd Garrison wrote a newspaper to deliver an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation. -
Mexico Abolishes Slavery
In 1829 Mexico had abolished slavery, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Virginia slave Nat 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
While Austin was on his way home from Mexico City, Santa Anna had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail stretched from Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. It was blazed by two Methodist missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. Wagons could travel on the trail. It was used for goods to get across the state -
Texas Revolution
The 1836 rebellion in which Texas grained its independence from Mexico -
Manifest Destiny
Expressed the belief that the United States was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native territory -
Texas enters the United States
In March 1845, angered by U.S.-Texas negotiation on annexation, the Mexican government recalled its ambassador from Washington and Texas entered the Union -
Mexican and American War
The Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War, the U.S.–Mexican War or the Invasion of Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 US annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory, despite the 1836 -
The North Star
Fredrick Douglas wrote The North Star in hopes to abolish slavery -
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 present day California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, 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
Under this law, 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. -
Underground Railroad
Started by free African Americans and white abolitionists, they developed a system in which slaves would use a system of escape routes and directed by others to reach the North -
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland but eventually decided to make a break for freedom when her owner died. She succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. She then decided to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. She made 19 trips back to the South and is said to have helped 300 slaves escape to freedom. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
An anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Douglas introduced a bill in Congress that 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´. -
Dread Scott v. Sandford
Dread Scott was a slave whose owner took him from the slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin and back to Missouri. He sued for freedom of grounds that living in a free state. The final verdict was that being in free territory did not make a slave free. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
These two men were in a race for the U.S. Senate. Neither wanted slavery in the territories, but they disagreed on how to keep it out. 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. Eventually Douglas won. -
John Brown's raid/Harpers Ferry
John Brown studied slave uprisings that had occurred in ancient Rome and, more recently, on the French island of Haiti. He led a band of 21 black mean in to Harper's Ferry, Virginia -
Abraham Lincoln Becomes President
In the 1860 election, Abraham Lincoln 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.” -
Battle of Bull Run
July 21, 1861 was the day that the battle was fought. It was the first major battle of the American Civil War. Washington's army won -
Formation of the Confederacy
The states farthest south, where slavery and plantations agriculture were dominant, formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as President. They established their capital at Montgomery, Alabama and took over federal forts on their territory. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
Confederate soldiers seized Fort Sumter. This unified the North -
Income Tax
a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) that varies with the income or profits (taxable income) of the taxpayer -
Battle of Antietam
McClellan pursued Lee, and the two sides fought near a creek called the Antietam. The clash was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with casualties totaling more than 26,000. 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 Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The effect on the war was that it did not free any slaves. -
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln -
Battle at Vicksenburg
Vicksburg itself was particularly important because it rested on bluffs above the river from which guns could control all water traffic. After food supplies ran so low that people were reduced to eating dogs and mules, the Confederate command of Vicksburg asked Grant for terms of surrender. The Confederacy was now cut in two. -
Battle at Gettysburg
When Hill’s troops marched toward the town from the west, Buford’s men were waiting. The shooting attracted more troops and both sides called for reinforcements. After the three day battle 23,000 Union men and 28,000 Confederates were killed or wounded. Northerners won and were enthusiastic about breaking “the charm of Robert Lee’s invincibility.” -
Conscription
A draft that forced men to serve in the army. -
Sherman's March
Sherman's March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the military Savannah Campaign in the American Civil War, conducted through Georgia from November 15 to December 21, 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Image result for Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. -
Surrender AT Appomattox Courthouse
Lee and Grant met at a private home to arrange a Confederate surrender. 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. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln as he was attending a play in Ford's Theater because he was a sympathizer with the south.
