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Compromise of 1850
One of the most controversial parts of the Compromise of 1850 was the fugitive slave act. The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery and territorial expansion -
New American political system
The whig party fell apart and the new political parties were the democrats that wanted slavery and the republicans that didn't want slavery to expand -
Kansas Nebraska Act
It became law on May 30, 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. It also produced a violent uprising known as “Bleeding Kansas,” as proslavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote. -
Presidential election of 1856
The 1856 United States presidential election was the 18th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1856. In a three-way election, Democrat James Buchanan defeated Republican nominee John C. Frémont, and Know Nothing nominee and former President Millard Fillmore. -
Dred Scott vs Sanford
Drew Scott was a black enslaved person owned by Sanford, and when Sanford moved into a free state, he still practiced slavery on Drew Scott. He finally wanted to go to court to get his freedom. The Supreme Court ruled that black people were not citizens and could not bring lawsuits, and he ruled that enslave people could not ue for freedom if held in captivity in a free state. -
Lincoln and Douglas 4th debate
The 4th debate was in Charleston Illinois. There Douglas attacked Lincoln by saying that his opponent favored racial equality, an unpopular position at the time, even In the north. The painting below shows Lincoln speaking to the crowd gathered for the outdoor event. Douglas sits to Lincolns right, waiting his turn to speak. -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown led an attack on Harpers Ferry, which is a town in Virgina. He captured the Arsenal with 21 of his men and took hostages. He did this because he thought it would trigger a slave revolt and make people stand up to slavery. However, it did not go to his liking, and 10 of his men died. He was captured and hung 6 weeks later. -
Slavery racism and Segregation
By 1860 nearly 4 million enslaved African Americans -
The political parties break apart
Bleeding Kansas, The Dred Scott decision, John Browns read at Harpers Ferry. each of these developments had left the United States more divided over slavery. The Democratic Party found it harder to hold itself together as tensions grew between its powerful southern faction, or group, and its smaller northern faction. When the two factions could not agree on a candidate for the 1860 presidential election, the party split in two. -
Election of 1860
Lincoln won the election, which led to a lot of divide in the political parties. Many people in the south were very outraged by Lincoln's win. They were scared he was going to abolish slavery. -
Shots at Fort Sumter
Once the northern states declared war and most southern states had seceded, the country waited to see whether the states in between would remain in the Union. At Fort Sumter the confederate forces surround the fort and started to bomb it, the shelling went on for 34 hours, and the Union soldiers inside faced starvation. Once the bombing was over the Union surrendered. This was the thing that first started the Civil War. -
Southern States Secede
The Election of 1860 played a big role in leading the southern states to secede. South Carolina became the first southern state to secede from the Union in December of 1860. Followed by South Carolina, 10 other southern states seceded from the Union in months. Once all the southern states had seceded, they created a temporary government called the Confederacy. -
The Battle of Shiloh
The Union Won this war and the loss of life on both sides were 23,000 -
Seven Days' Battle
Cinfederate Victory, loss of life 36,000 -
Battle of Antietam
Union Victory, Loss of life 23,000 -
Battle of Fredericksburg
Confederate Victory, Loss of Life 17,000 -
Drafts in the Confederacy
Required 3 years of service for all white men between 18 to 35. You could pay your way out of it for 500$ fro someone else to replace you. Men with over 20 slaves were exempt. -
Emancipation Proclamation
This proclamation declared that enslaved people in the Confederate states as legally free. This did not apply to border states. However, the confederate states did not listen to this proclamation. -
The Election of 1864
The republicans chose Andrew Johnson to be Abraham Lincoln's vice president. However Johnson did not believe the same thing that Lincoln did. It made a controversy in the white house. -
THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU
It is to help the formerly enslaved, as well as impoverished white southerners. Congress appointed General Oliver Otis Howard to run the bureau. Army officers acting as bureau agents provided medicine, food, and clothing to newly freed African Americans and others displaced by the war. The officers also tried to settle former slaves on southern land that had been abandoned or seized during the war. Agents drew up labor contracts between landowners and African-American workers. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Congress was furious over the black codes and the leniency of Johnson’s Reconstruction plans. As a result, Republicans proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The bill granted full equality and citizenship to “every race and color.” Johnson vetoed the bill, but Republicans in Congress overrode the veto, and the bill became law. To solidify these rights, Radical Republicans also proposed the 14th Amendment. -
THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS OF 1867
Shocked northerners watched as delegates at southern state conventions refused to accept the 14th Amendment. When Republicans won control of Congress in the 1866 elections, they decided it was time to take Reconstruction out of the president’s hands. They put themselves in charge of the process by passing the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. Their plan of action came to be called Radical Reconstruction. -
black peonagebh
Sharecropping often left African-American families in debt to landowners. Landowners would sell or rent the supplies to the sharecroppers on credit and at a high rate of interest. By the time the crops were harvested, sharecroppers had usually run up a large bill and, as a result, would receive very little of the profits from selling the crops. Sharecropping tied African Americans to a landowner’s land and resulted in black peonage, a sort of economic slavery. -
THE KU KLUX KLAN
That same year, a group of young men in Tennessee founded the Ku Klux Klan. Originally intended as a social club, the group’s purpose changed dramatically in 1867 when African Americans gained voting rights in the state under the Reconstruction Acts and began holding public office. Thereafter, the Ku Klux Klan, under the leadership of former. To achieve its goals, members of the Klan terrorized and killed African Americans. -
JOHNSON VERSUS CONGRESS
Made bold by the lenient terms of Presidential Reconstruction, some southern states refused to ratify the 13th Amendment. They even refused to admit that secession had been illegal. Southern states also passed black codes—laws for controlling African Americans and limiting their rights. The codes granted African Americans a few rights, such as the right to marry and pursue a lawsuit in court, but most of the codes dealt with what African Americans could not do. -
THE ELECTION OF GENERAL GRANT
In the 1868 presidential race, the Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant, the great Union hero of the Civil War. Although Grant had no experience in government, Republicans believed their candidate would be able to please members of both parties. When Grant accepted the nomination, he said, “Let us have peace.” That phrase became a theme for the campaign. Republicans were aware that white voters had become less willing to help African Americans. -
THE 15TH AMENDMENT
After the 1868 election, Republicans pushed for the adoption of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. Under the amendment’s terms, the federal and state governments could not restrict the right to vote because of race, color, or poll taxes. A poll tax is a fee charged when people register to vote. Meanwhile, the Amnesty Act of 1872 removed voting restrictions on most of those who had belonged to the Confederacy. -
Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871
These acts made it a crime to use violence of threats to interfere with a citizens right to vote, hold office, or serve on a jury. The purpose of the acts were to stop the Ku Klux Klan activities of violence. -
Taking action against the Ku Klux Klan
The federal government started to take action against teh Klu Klux Klan by charging leaders of the Klan with crimes that they had committed to innocent people. After this the Klan was scarce but not yet abolished. -
Amnesty Act of 1872
It removed voting restrictions on most of those who had belonged to the Confederacy.the Amnesty Act of 1872 ended office-holding disqualifications against most of the Confederate leaders and other former civil and military officials who had rebelled against the Union in the Civil War. -
The Election of 1872
The Liberal Republicans defected from the Republican party and sided with the Democrats. They nominated Horace Greeley as their candidate. However his beliefs were to end reconstruction so Grant easily got elected for his 2nd term. -
Panic of 1873
The US went into an economic depression when the banks closed and people lost their jobs. -
The Election of 1876
The 1876 race elicited the highest rate of voter turnout in American history, 81.8 percent nationally. In six northern and three southern states over 90 percent of the potential electorate came to the polls. Rutherford B. Hayes won the election. Tilden ran against him. -
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Congress created an electoral commission to decide the election, but while it met, Democrats and Republicans got together to negotiate a deal. Democrats agreed to award the victory to Hayes if Republicans agreed to end Reconstruction and pull federal troops out of the South. The deal was struck.