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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850-1864
The Fugitive Slave Act 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. Anyone who aided an enslaved person escaping faced legal penalties.
The law denied accused fugitives the right to a trial by jury.
Federal marshals could force ordinary citizens to help them capture enslaved people who escaped from captivity. -
Compromise of 1850-1864
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican American War. The Fugitive Slave Act was amended in 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850 to abolish the slave trade in Washington, D.C.The debate over this plan lasted 8 months. Because of this the Fugitive Slave Act strengthens. -
1852 | Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Eva saves the life of Tom as he is being transported by boat to an auction in New Orleans. Uncle Tom's Cabin was used by Stowe to publicize slavery and its horrors thus reaching people who believed that slavery had no place in society Southerners viewed Stowe's work as slander, whereas northerners felt as if their eyes had been opened. This film widened the divide between North and South, and it brought slavery to life for those who were unmoved by decades of legislative conflict. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territory to decide if they were going to be a free state or a slave state. Both Kansas and Nebraska laid in the unorganized territory deemed free by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This territory had to be organized in order to build a railroad to the Pacific.This law repealed the Missouri Compromise and organized the area into Kansas and Nebraska.
This law left the question of slavery to white settlers (popular sovereignty. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford, 1857
The Dred Scott case stated that a free, nor enslaved person could not sue. It caused the spread of slavery instead of stopping it. Despite being citizens, black people were not allowed to bring lawsuits, as the Supreme Court ruled. In 1937, the Supreme Court ruled that enslaved people could not sue for freedom if held in captivity in a free state. Also, the Court ruled that Congress couldn't restrict slavery in the territories. Therefore, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. -
John Browns Raid, 1859
John Brown led an attack on Harpers Ferry, a town in Virginia he captured a federal arsenal and rifle manufacturing plant with 21 armed men. He took dozens of hostages with the help of 19 supporters who carried the Beecher-Bibles, they raided the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Before Brown and seven of his remaining men were captured, seven people were killed and at least ten more were injured. On October 27, Brown was tried for treason against the state of Virginia -
The Battle of Fort Sumter, 1861
Secession turned several federal forts, including Fort Sumter in South Carolina, into foreign outposts. Consequently, Lincoln resupplied the garrisons. On April 12, 1861, Confederate warships launched a 34 hour bombardment on Fort Sumter, forcing the supply convoy to turn back. On April 14, the garrison surrendered.Now the Civil War had begun. Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee dissolved their ties with the federal government due to reluctance to contribute troops. -
The Battle of Antietam, 1862
The bloodiest day of the Civil War is militarily uncertain, yet essential for the Union reason. A proposal from Britain and France to intercede a tranquility based on Confederate freedom is dropped. Lincoln, who had been hanging tight for a particularly auspicious snapshot of Union benefit, gives a Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on 22 September. He cautions the Confederacy that he would arrange slave liberation except if the revolting states return to the Union by the new year. -
The Second Battles of Bull Run
The Second Battle of Bull Run was a decisive victory for the Southerners, as Lee had managed a strategic offensive against an enemy force (Pope and McClellan's) twice the size of his own. -
The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863
Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation saying that slaves in the rebelling Confederacy were 'thenceforward, and forever free', applying to over 3 million of the 4 million slaves in the whole of America at the time of the conflict. The Proclamation only applied to the Confederacy, not the slave states still in the Union or the areas under Union Army authority; emancipation would not be granted until 1865. The Proclamation added the abolition of slavery to Lincoln’s goal of reuniting the Union -
Battle of Vicksburg, 1863
The Siege of Vicksburg (May 18, 1863-July 4, 1863) was a decisive Union victory during the American Civil War (1861-65) that divided the confederacy and cemented the reputation of Union General Ulysses S. GrantConfederate stronghold with geographic advantages. Started in May 18-July 4, 1863; a long approach to a win by the Union. Confederate surrender came on July 4, 1863.
Loss of Life: ~38,000 -
The Freedman's Bureau aassociation, 1865-1872
The Freedman's Bureau was a freedom and Relief program it provided clothing, and shelter to southerners and newly freed slaves. Many people built hospitals to help with medical care. The Freedmen's Bureau also helped with peoples personal lives like helping people legalize marriages and locate lost family. -
Lincoln's Assassination, 1865
Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. Lincoln was 56 years old. The person that killed him was John Wilkes Booth. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a bill that granted full equality. First, Johnson had vetoed the bill, but the veto was overrode by the Republicans in Congress. Therefore, the bill soon became a law. -
Reconstruction Act of 1867
The Reconstruction Act of 1867 outlined the terms for readmission to representation of rebel states. The bill divided the former Confederate states, except for Tennessee, into five military districts.
These were called for the creation of new state governments with black men able to vote. This act was vetoed by Johnson but was passed anyways in 1867. -
Tenure of Office Act
People were afraid that having Johnson in office would interfere with the Racial Reconstruction. Because of this, Congress created the Tenure of Office Act. This made it to where the president couldn't change laws without running it by the Senate. -
The 15th amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments -
The election of 1876