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Missouri Compromise 1820-1821
Behind the leadership of Henry Clay, Congress passed a series of agreements in 1820–1821 known as the Missouri Compromise. Under these agreements, 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. -
Harriet Tubman
He was one of the most famoust conductors, 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 poosibility, Tubman decided to make a break for freedom and succeded in reaching PHiladelphia. After Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman resolved to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. -
Santa Fe Trail
stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to
Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico.
Each spring from 1821 through the 1860s,
American traders loaded their covered wagons with goods
and set off toward Santa Fe. -
San Felipe de Austin
The main settlement of the colony was named San Felipe de Austin, in Stephen’s honor. By 1825, Austin had issued 297 land grants to the group that later became known as Texas’s Old Three Hundred. Each family received either 177 very
inexpensive acres of farmland, or 4,428 acres for stock grazing, as well as a 10-year exemption from paying taxes. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
The overwhelmingly Protestant Anglo settlers spoke English instead of Spanish. Furthermore, 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 -
Abolition
the movement to abolish slavery, became the most important of a series o reform movements in America. -
The Liberator
Written by William Lloyd Garrison
The Liberator- to deliber an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation -
Nat Turner's Rebeliion
Turner and more than 50 followers attacked four
plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventaully captured and executed many members of the group, including Turner. -
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. It was 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 1836 rebellion in which Texas gained its
independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny
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. Many Americans also
believed that this destiny was manifest, or obvious and inevitable. -
Texas enters the United States
Most Texans hoped that the United States would annex their republic, but U.S. opinion divided along sectional lines.
Southerners wanted Texas in order to extend slavery, which already had been established there. Northerners feared that the annexation of more slave territory would tip the uneasy balance in the Senate in favor of slave states—and prompt
war with Mexico. -
Mexican- American War
Mexico claimed the Nueces River as its northeastern border, while the U.S. claimed the Rio Grande River, and the day that both troops met at the Rio Grande and the Mexican army opened fire, on April 25, 1846, the Mexican American War began. A war between the U.S. and Mexico spanned the period from spring 1846 to fall 1847. The war was initiated by Mexico and resulted in Mexico's defeat and the loss of approximately half of its national territory in the north. -
The North Star
Written by Frederick Douglass, who escaped from bondage
to become an eloquent and outspoken critic of slavery. Douglass began his own antislavery newspaper. He named it The North Star, 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 andceded the New Mexico and CA territories to the US. The US agreed to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession, which included present day CA, Nevada, NM, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay worked to shape a compromise that both the North and the South could accept. After obtaining support of the powerful Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster, Clay presented to the Senate a series of resolutions later called the Compromise of 1850.Clay’s compromise contained provisions to appease Northerners as well as
Southerners -
Fugitive Slave Act
To please the North, the compromise provided that CA be admitted to the Union as a free state. To please the South, the compromise proposed a new and more effecitve fugitive slave law . To placate both sides, a provision allowed popular sovereignty, the right to vote for or against slaver, for residents of the NM and Utah territories -
Underground Railroad
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. “Conductors” on the routes hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing,and escorted or directed them to the next “station.” Once fugitives
reached the North, many chose to remain there. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
published by Harriet Beecher Stowe, stressed that slvery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. As a young girl, Stowe had watched boats filled with people on their way to be sold at slave markets. Uncle Tom's Cabin expressed her lifetime hatred of slavery -
Kansas Nebraska Act
Kansas and NEbraska territory lay north of the Missouri Compromise line of 36,30 and therefore was legally closed to slavery. 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. It became law in 1854 -
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. Scott appealed to the Supreme Court for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state,Illinois and a free territory, Wisconsin had made him a free man. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
the 1858 race for the US Senate between Democratic incumbent Stephen Douglas and Republican challenger COngressman Abraham Lincoln. Neither wanted slavery in the territories, but they disagreed on how to keep it out. Douglas believed deeply in popular sovereignty. L believed that slavery was immoral. Second debate: L asked his opponent could the settlers of a territory vote to exclude slavery before the territory became a stateD:if the ppl of a territory were free soldiers then they had to elect -
John Brown's raid/Harpers Ferry
the abolitionist John Brown was studying the slave uprising that had occurred in ancient Rome and on the French island of Haiti. Brown secretly obtained financial bancking from several prominent Northern abolitionists. He led a band of 21 men, black and white, into HArpers Ferry, Virginia. Hist aim was to seize the federal arsenal there and start a general slave uprising. Troops put down the revellion and put Brown to death. -
Conscription
a draft that forced men to serve in the army.In the North, conscription led to draft riots, the most violent of which took place in New York City. Sweeping changes occurred in the wartime economies of both sides as well as in the roles played by African Americans and women. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes president
The Democratic party finally split over slavery. Northern Democrats rallied behind Douglas and his doctrine of popular sovereignty. Southern Democrats, who supported the Dred Scott decisions, lined up behind Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. Former Know Nothings and Whigs from the South organized the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennesse as their candidate. Lincoln emerged as the winner -
Formation of the Confederacy
delegates from the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed the Confederate States of America, or Confederacy. They also drew up a constitution that closely resembled that of the US, but with a few notable differences. Jefferson Davis-president -
Attack on Fort Sumter
at: Charleston harbor
Lincoln decided to neither abnadon Fort SUmter nor reinforce it. He would merely send in "food for hunger men." Confederate batteries began thundering away to the cheers of Charleston's citizens -
income tax
a tax that takes a specified percentage of an individual’s income. -
Battle of Bull Run
At 25miles from Washington DC The battle was a seesaw affair. In the morning the Union army gained the upper hand, but the Confederates held firm, inspired by General Thomas J. Jackson. “There stands Jackson like a stone wall!” another general shouted, coining the nickname Stonewall Jackson. In the afternoon Confederate reinforcements helped win the first Southern victory. Fortunately for the Union, the Confederates were too exhausted to follow up their victory with an attack on
Washington. -
Battle of Antietam
McClellan ordered his men to pursue Lee, and the two
sides fought on September 17 near a creek called the
Antietam.The clash proved to be 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
Lincoln didnt liked slavery,but didnt believed that the federal govt had the power to abolish it where it already exited. On Jan.1, 1863,Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation.The proclamation did not free any slaves immediately because it applied only to areas behind Confederate lines, outside Union control. Nevertheless, for many, the proclamation gave the war a moral purpose by turning the struggle into a fight to free the slaves. It also ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Vicksburg itself was particularly important because it rested
on bluffs above the river from which guns could control all water traffic. In the winter of 1862–1863, Grant tried several schemes to reach Vicksburg and take it from the Confederates. Grant began by weakening the Confederate defenses that protected Vicksburg. 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 -
Battle at Gettysburg
AT southern Penn. The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1 when Confederate soldiers led by A.P.Hill encountered
several brigades of Union cavalry under the command of John Buford, an experienced officer from Illinois.By the end of the first day of fighting, 90,000Union troops under the command of General George Meade had taken the field against 75,000 Confederates, led by General Lee.By the second day of battle, the Confederates had driven the Union troops
from Gettysburg and had taken control -
Gettysburg Address
In November 1863, a ceremony was held to dedicate
a cemetery in Gettysburg. There, President Lincoln spoke for a little more
than two minutes. According to some contemporary historians, Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address “remade America.” Before Lincoln’s speech, people said, “The United States are . . .” Afterward, they said, “The United States is . . .” In other words, the speech helped the country to realize that it was not just a collection
of individual states; it was one unified nation -
Sherman's March
Sherman began his march southeast through Georgia to the sea, creating a wide path of destruction. His army burned almost every house in its path and destroyed livestock and railroads. Sherman was determined to make Southerners. “so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it.” By mid-November he had burned most of Atlanta. After reaching the ocean, Sherman’s forces—followed by 25,000 former slaves—turned north to help Grant “wipe out Lee.” -
surrender at appomattox court house
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
Lincoln and his wife went to Ford’s Theatre in Washington to see a British comedy, Our American Cousin. During its third act, a man crept up behind Lincoln and shot the president
in the back of his head. Lincoln, who never regained consciousness, died on April 15. It was the first time a
president of the United States had been assassinated. After the shooting, the assassin, John Wilkes Booth a 26year-old actor and Southern sympathizer then leaped down from the presidential box to the stage and e -
Thirteenth Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment was ratified at the end of 1865. The U.S. Constitution now stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
