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Period: to
Antebellum
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Compromise of 1850
The compromise of 1850 temporarily calmed the question over slavery, inflamed by the Treaty of Gualupe-Hildago, by making popular sovereignty decide the question of slavery in new territories. As the map of Cotton production showed, the South had a focus on and need for slave which the industrial North did not and the conflict first manifested in the slavery question for new territories. -
Bleeding Kansas
Pro- and Anti- slavery factions fought in Kansas to attempt to determine the legal status of slavery in the territory. The national government was unable to deal with the problem, foreshadowing a coming increase of the conflict nationally. As shown in the Kansas-Nebraska Act map, a large portion of territorty in the Midwest was opened to popular sovergnity amid a period of contention over slavery. -
Lincoln Elected
Lincoln achieved reelection on a platform against the expansion of slavery. This would lead to the nation's fracture as southern states left the union fearing they were being dominated by and losing their way of life to the North. Lincoln, as shown in the election map of 1860 only had support in the North. -
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Civil War
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Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in all territory not under Union control increasing support for the war from African-Americans and abolitionists. Critics called it too limited or denouced it as unecessary. The proclamation was in part a result or work by activists such as Fredrick Douglas, a former slave who strongly believed slavery was wrong, who argued the US needed to live up to its ideal and grant every slave freedom displayed through mocking a holiday of freedom as hypocritical. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the war in Northern Virginia ending agressive Southern action and leading to a string of Northern victories based off Grant's war of attrition in Northern Virginia, which would culminate in the South's surrender, since as the chart with resources seek to display, the Union was better suited to a war of attrition due to superior resources. The battle had heavy casualities and Lincoln's notable adress was given following it. -
Ten Percent Plan
The Ten Percent Plan created a way for states to reenter the Union and was notable for its leniency and focus on reconciliation. Lincoln proposed it as a method for quickly bringing the Union back together. It just required 10% of a state's population to swear allegiance. Lincoln continued the policy he had set and kept since his race for sentor where he declared that he hopes the Union shall be a whole to Republicans to argue against radicalism, he tells them, "A house divided... can not stand" -
Lincoln Assasinated
John Wilkes Booth, a confederate sympathizer, assasinated Lincoln at Ford's Theater. Lincoln died the next day. Johnson becomes president and shapes Reconstruction. -
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Postbellum
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13th Amendment
The Thirteen Amendment forbid slavery in the United States, representing success of the abolition movement and accomplishment of one of the three pinnacles of Northern ideal, along with preservation of the Union and the nation over state. The Civil War had discredited the philosophy used by proponent of slavery, such as George Fitzhugh, that slavery was humane and the best option for the enslaved that had been arguing for it in order to preserve the Southern economy and way of life shown by... -
13th Amendment Cont.
his refusal to present negative evidence, such as the whipping of slaves, and instead portray an ideal rarely achieved. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 official extended citizenship to all males in the US. This notably included African-Americans. It set the way for the 15th amendment which would make such rights part of the Constitution. The Civil Rights Act broke from the Supreme court's decision that slaves were property in the Dred Scott Decision and without Southern opposition proceeded to deny a basic tenent of slavery. -
Reconstruction Ends
To help settle the question of who would be president in the disputed election of 1876, Hayes made promises to the Democrats to secure thier support and among the promised item was an end to Reconstruction. Once president, Hayes dutifully withdrew the last of Federal troops enforcing Reconstruction leading to its end and the begining of a period dominated by discrimatory practices like the Jim Crow laws in the South.
