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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. -
Manifest Destiny
For a quarter century after the War of 1812, only a few Americans explored the West. Then, in the 1840s, expansion fever gripped the country. Many Americans began to believe that their movement
westward 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. Many Americans also believed that this destiny was manifest, or obvious and inevitable -
San Felipe de Austin
Austin’s father, Moses Austin, had received a land grant from Spain to establish a colony between the Brazos and Colorado rivers. Stephen obtained permission, first from Spain and then from Mexico after it had won its independence, to carry out his father’s project. In 1821 he established a colony where “no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer, and no idler” would be allowed. The main settlement of the colony was named San Felipe de Austin, in Stephen’s honor. -
Santa Fe Trail
The settlers and traders who made the trek west 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. Each spring from 1821 through the 1860s, American traders loaded their covered wagons with goods and set off toward Santa Fe. -
Oregon Trail
The 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. Following the Whitmans’ lead, many pioneers migrated west on the Oregon Trail. Some bought “prairie schooners,” wooden-wheeled wagons covered with sailcloth and pulled by oxen. -
Texas enters the United States
MostTexanshopedthattheUnitedStates 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. The winner of the presidency, James K. Polk, a slaveholder, firmly favored the annexation of Texas. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Despite peaceful cooperation between Anglos and Tejanos, differences over cultural issues intensified between Anglos and the Mexican government. 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 slav- ery in 1829, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Mexican politics had become increasingly unstable. 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. -
Texas Revolution
After Santa Anna suspended local powers in Texas and other Mexican states, several rebellions broke out, including one that would be known as the Texas Revolution. When Austin returned to Texas in 1835, he was convinced that war was its “only resource.” Determined to force Texas to obey Mexican law, Santa Anna marched his army toward San Antonio. At the same time, Austin and his fol- lowers issued a call for Texans to arm themselves. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was fought between the United States and Mexico between 1846 and 1848. The war started with the U.S. annexation of Texas and was the result of disagreement over where the Mexican-American border should be. The United States victory resulted in adding more that 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
On February 2, 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the 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.rado and Wyoming. -
Abolition
Forten’s unwavering belief that he was an American not only led him to oppose colonization—the effort to resettle free blacks in Africa—but also pushed him fer- vently to oppose slavery. Forten was joined in his opposition to slavery by a grow- ing number of Americans in the 19th century. Abolition, the movement to abol- ish slavery, became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
The Liberator
The most radical white abolitionist was a young editor named William Lloyd Garrison. Active in religious reform movements in Massachusetts, Garrison became the editor of an antislavery paper in 1828. Three years later he established his own paper, The Liberator, to deliver an uncom- promising demand: immediate emancipation. -
The North Star
Garrison heard Douglass speak and was so impressed that he sponsored Douglass to speak for various anti-slavery organizations. Hoping that abolition could be achieved without violence, Douglass broke with Garrison, who believed that abolition justified whatever means were necessary to achieve it. In 1847, Douglass began his own antislavery newspaper. He named it The North Star, after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Some slaves rebelled against their condition of bondage. One of the most prominent rebellions was led by Virginia slave Nat Turner. In August 1831, 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. -
Compromise of 1850
Legislation passed by Congress allowing California to enter the Union as a free state, slave trading ended in Washngton D.C., Texas gives up its claims to New Mexico, Utah decides if they want to allow slavery, and a stronger Fugitive Slave Law is enacted. The compromise was drafted by Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Under Fugitive slave law, alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. In addition, anyone con- victed 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
As time went on, 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. One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman, born a slave in Maryland in 1820 or 1821. -
Harriet Tubman
One of the most famous conductors was 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 suc- ceeded 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
In 1852, 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. 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. The book stirred Northern abolitionists to increase their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act, while Southerners criticized the book as an attack on the South. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The only difficulty was that, unlike New Mexico and Utah, the 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. -
Dread Scott v. Sandford
Dred 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. Scott lacked any legal standing to sue in federal court because he was not, and never could be, a citizen. Moreover, the Court ruled that being in free territory did not make a slave free.The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not and could never be citizens. Thus, Dred Scott had no right even to file a lawsuit and remained enslaved. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
To counteract Douglas, Lincoln challenged the man known as the “Little Giant” to a series of debates on the issue of slavery in the territories.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. Finally, Douglas won the Senate seat. -
John Brown's raid / Harpers Ferry
The abolitionist John Brown was studying the slave uprisings that had occurred in ancient Rome and on the French island of Haiti. Brown secretly obtained financial backing from several prominent Northern abolitionists.On October 16, 1859, he led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His aim was to seize the federal arsenal there and start a general slave uprising.
Instead, troops put down the rebellion. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes president
As the 1860 presidential election approached, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln appeared to be moderate in his views. Although he pledged to halt the further spread of slavery, he also tried to reassure Southerners that a Republican administration would not “inter- fere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves.” Nonetheless, many Southerners viewed him as an enemy. -
Formation of the Confederacy
South Carolina led the way, seceding from the Union on December 20, 1860. Mississippi soon followed South Carolina’s lead, as did Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. In February 1861, delegates from the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed the Confederate States of America, or Confederacy. The Confederates then unanimously elected former senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
At 4:30 A.M. on April 12, Confederate bat- teries began thundering away to the cheers of Charleston’s citizens. The deadly struggle between North and South was under way. -
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. 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. Still, Confederate morale soared. Many Confederate soldiers, confi- dent that the war was over, left the army and went home. -
Battle at 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 bloodi- est single-day battle in American history, with casualties totaling more than 26,000. The next day, instead of pursu- ing the battered Confederate army into Virginia and possi- bly ending the war, McClellan did nothing. As a result, Lincoln removed him from command. -
Conscription
The war led to social upheaval and political unrest in both the North and the South. As the fighting intensified, heavy casualties and widespread desertions led each side to impose 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. -
Income Tax
The economic boom had a dark side, however. Wages did not keep up with prices, and many people’s standard of living declined. When white male workers went out on strike, employees hired free blacks, immigrants, and women to replace them for lower wages. As the 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 at Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1. Buford ordered his men to take defensive positions on the hills and ridges surrounding the town. 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. By the end of the first day of fighting, 90,000 Union troops under the command of General George Meade had taken the field against 75,000 Confederates, led by General Lee. -
Gettysburg address
In November 1863, a ceremony was held to ded- icate 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 col- lection of individual states; it was one unified nation. -
Battle at Vicksburg
While Meade’s Army of the Potomac was destroying Confederate hopes in Gettysburg, Union general Ulysses S. Grant fought to take Vicksburg (in May 18, of 1863).Grant began by weakening the Confederate defenses that protected Vicksburg. He sent Benjamin Grierson to lead his cavalry brigade through the heart of Mississippi.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 city fell on July 4. -
Sherman's March
In the spring of 1864,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 live- stock 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.” -
Thirteenth Amendment
After some political maneuvering, the 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 con- victed, shall exist within the United States.” -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Whatever further plans Lincoln had to reunify the nation after the war, he never got to imple- ment them. On April 14, 1865, five days after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, Lincoln and his wife went to Ford’s Theatre in Washington to see a British comedy, Our American Cousin. Lincoln died on April 15.After the shooting, the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, a 26-year-old actor and Southern sympathizer, then leaped down from the presidential box to the stage and escaped. -
Emancipation proclamation
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. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation.It gave the war a moral purpose by turning the struggle into a fight to free the slaves. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
On April 9, 1865, in a Virginia town called 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.
