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Abolition
Around the 1820s, the movement to free African Americans from slavery, which is called abolition had started. Several anti slavery societies were advocating for the African American community be resettles in African, however numerous argued they should be free citizens and stay in America instead. -
The Liberator
During the time of abolition, William Lloyd Garrison, a radial white abolitionist, became the editor of an anti-slavery paper in 1828. After 3 years, he wrote the Liberator about immediate emancipation. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
A hand full of slaves rebelled against their condition of Bondage, Turner, a slave, led about 50 followers and attacked more than 4 plantations and killed about 60 whites, in the end they were all mostly captured and executed except for Turner. -
The North Star
As a supporter of the Liberator and who escaped from bondage and slavery, he was astonished by Garrison"s anti slavery work, and had started his own anti slavery newspaper in 1847, after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. -
Harriet Tubman
Born into slavery in Maryland, Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom, reaching Philadelphia in 1849 to become the most famous "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. She made 19 missions to rescue approximately 300 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Passed by Congress, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning and trying escaped slaves. Also if found convicted of assisting a slave escape the person is liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. -
Underground Railroad
When escaping from slavery, slaves would have to go through a dangerous process having to face days without food and having to just rely on the northern star for their freedom. Free slaves and white abolitionists created a network of secret routes. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was important because it helped to bring on the Civil War, it shows how slavery was not just a political contest. but also a great moral struggle. Uncle Tom's Cabin increased opposition to slavery in the North. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. From 1833 to 1843, he resided in the free state of Illinois and in the Louisiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After returning to Missouri, Scott filed a lawsuit in Missouri court for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory made him free. After losing, Scott brought it to federal court, they stated that he was only to be property, claiming that the fifth amendment protects Scott's master -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas
Neither wanted slavery in the territories, but they disagreed on how to keep it out. Douglas believed deeply in popular sovereignty, which is where states get to choose, but on the other Lincoln want slavery gone completely because he believed it was immoral, however slavery wouldn't go away unless congress abolished slavery with an amendment. Douglas won the debate and took the senate state, while Lincoln achieved presidency, due to his ideals of slavery. -
John Brown's raid/ Harpers Ferry
As an abolitionist, Brown believed it was the time to ignite a slave uprising, with the financial backing of northern abolitionist and a group pf 21 man, and white, in the Harpers Ferry, Virginia, currently West Virginia. However new uprising occurred and instead troops put down the rebellion and Brown was tried and killed, but respectfully memorialized. -
Abraham Lincoln Becomes President
Lincoln was elected in 1860. Through a tough election Lincoln emerged because of his significant views on slavery. Lincoln only gained less then half of the popular vote, none from the south. -
Formation of Confederacy
The Confederacy was formed by delegations from seven slave states, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Lousiana, and Texas, the Lower South, that had proclaimed their secession/ separation from the Union. After the separation, they drew up a constitution similar to the United States one with just a single significant change that stated that it protected and recognized slavery in new territories. -
Income tax
Due to a decrease in workers because of conscription, they had given jobs to many minotities and this tax was a way to support War costs. Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. It took a percentage of the overall pay and put it towards the war. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter had significantly started the American Civil War, where Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. The Union could not allow it to fall to the Confederates, although throughout the Deep South other federal installations had been seized. -
Battle of Bull Run
The Battle of Bull Run was the first major land battle of the American Civil War between the Union and Confederate armies where they clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The Confederate victory gave the South a surge of confidence and shocked many in the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped. -
Battle at Antietam
Numerous casualties during the Battle of Antietam made it the bloodiest day in American history. The Union victory at Antietam resulted in President Abraham Lincoln issuing his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. -
Conscription
Passed by the Confederate Congress on April 16, 1862, Conscription made all white males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five eligible to be drafted into military service, due to the increase in casualties as the war progressed. -
Battle at Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought in July 1863, Union earned the victory that stopped Confederate General Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North. More than 50,000 men fell as casualties during the 3-day battle. -
Battle at Vicksburg
The Battle at Vicksburg was a great victory for the Union, It granted control of the Mississippi River to the Union. Around the same time, the Confederate army was defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. These two victories marked the major turning point of the Civil War in favor of the Union. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to the slaves in the Confederate States if those States did not return to the Union. In addition, freedom would only come to the slaves if the Union won the war. However, this proclamation did not guarantee all slaves freedom, because it only applied to areas behind Confederate lines, outside Union control. -
Gettysburg address
President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863, The Gettysburg Address is considered a pivotal moment in the way Americans viewed themselves and their government. -
Sherman's March
A movement of the Union army troops of General William Tecumseh Sherman from Atlanta, Georgia, to the Georgia seacoast, with the object of destroying Confederate supplies and make southerners sick of war. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Confederate army on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia. This signaled the start of the end of the American Civil War. Lincoln's requests were generous for both parties, Grant let and patrolled Lee's army and they were allowed their firearms. After a 4 year battle, the war had officially ended. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Near the end of the American Civil War, the assassination by John Wilkes Booth had occurred. Abraham Lincoln had been shot on the back of the head and died on April 15, 1865. This was the first presidential assassination in history. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except when applied as punishment for a crime in the entire United States. The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865.
