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Missouri Compromise
During James Monroe's term, series of agreements where Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri a slave state. The rest of the Louisiana Territory was split into two parts. The dividing line was set at a 3630' north latitude. -
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 succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. Shortly after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman resolved to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. In all, she made 19 trips back to the South and is said to have helped 300 slaves—including her -
San Felipe de Austin
The main settlement of the colony was named San Felipe de Austin, in Stephen’s honor. By 1825, Austin had issued 297 land grants to the group that later became known as Texas’s Old Three Hundred. Each family received either 177 very
inexpensive acres of farmland, or 4,428 acres for stock grazing, as well as a 10-year exemption from paying taxes. -
Santa Fe Trail
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. -
The Liberator
Active in religious reform movements in Massachusetts, Willian Lloyd Garrison became the editor of an antislavery paper in 1828.Three years later he established his own paper, The Liberator, to deliver an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation. -
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 slavery
in 1829, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves.
Meanwhile, Mexican politics had become increasingly unstable. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
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. The Turner rebellion frightened and outraged slaveholders -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Meanwhile, 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. After Santa -
Texas Revolution
After Santa Anna suspended local powers in Texas and other Mexican states, several rebellions broke out. 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 followers issued a call for Texans to arm themselves. -
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. -
Manifest Destiny
Expressed the belief that the United States was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into the Mexican and Native American territory. -
Texas enters United States
Most Texans hoped that the United States
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.In March 1845, angered by U.S.-Texas negotiation on annexation, the Mexican
government recalled its ambassador from Washington. -
Mexican- American War
In the United States, the conflict lasting from 1846-1848. it was an armed conflict between the United States and the Centralist Republic of Mexico (which became the Second Federal Republic of Mexico during the war). It followed in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory, despite the 1836 Texas Revolution -
The North Star
Hoping that abolition could be achieved without violence, Frederick 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 -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Meanwhile, American troops in Mexico, led by U.S.
generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, scored one military victory after another. After about a year of fighting, Mexico conceded defeat. 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. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The harsh terms of the Fugitive Slave Act surprised many people. Under the law, alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. In addition, anyone convicted 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 work. -
Compromise of 1850
Once again, Henry Clay worked to shape a compromise that both the North and the South could accept. After obtaining support of the powerful Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster, Clay presented to the Senate a series of resolutions later called the Compromise of 1850. Clay’s compromise contained provisions to appease Northerners as well as Southerners. To please the North, the compromise provided that California beadmitted to the Union as a free state. To please the South, the compromise proposed -
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 -
Underground Railroad
The system of escape routes they used became known as the
Underground Railroad. “Conductors” on the routes hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing, and escorted or directed them to the next “station.” Once fugitives reached the North, many chose to remain there. Others journeyed to Canada to be completely out of reach of their “owners.” One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman, born a slave in Maryland in 1820 or 1821. -
Kansas- Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas proposed a bill: 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. Congressional debate was bitter. Some Northern congressmen saw the bill as part of a plot to turn the territories into slave states. Southerners strongly defended the proposed legislation. After months of struggle, the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law in 1854 -
Dread Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott’s slave master had brought him from the slave state
of Missouri to live for a time in free territory and in the free state of Illinois. Eventually
they returned to Missouri. Scott believed that because he had lived in free territory, he
should be free. In 1854 he sued in federal court for his freedom. The court ruled against
him, and he appealed to the Supreme Court.
THE RULING The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not and could never be
citizens. Scott remained enslaved -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
Neither wanted slavery in the territories,
but they disagreed on how to keep it out. 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 slaveryunless Congress abolished slavery with an amendment. Douglas replied that, if the people of a territory were FreeSoilers,
then all they had to do was elect representatives who
would not enforce slave property laws in that territory. Douglas won -
John Brown’s raid/Harpers Ferry
s. On the night of October 16, 1859,
he led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia
(now West Virginia). His aim was to seize the federal arsenal there
and start a general slave uprising -
Abraham Lincoln becomes president
Lincoln’s victory convinced Southerners—who had
viewed the struggle over slavery partly as a conflict between the states’ right of
self-determination and federal government control—that they had lost their
political voice in the national government -
Formation of the Confederacy
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 -
Attack on Fort Sumter
General P.G.T. Beauregard, in command of the Confederate forces around Charleston Harbor, opened fire on the Union garrison holding Fort Sumter. At 2:30pm on April 13 Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander, surrendered the fort and was evacuated the next day. -
Battle of Bull Run
N 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.C. The battle was a seesaw affair. In the morning the Union army gainedthe upper hand, but the Confederates held firm, inspired by GeneralThomas J. Jackson. “There stands Jackson like a stone wall!” another general shouted,coining the nickname Stonewall Jackson. In the afternoon Confederate einforcements helped win the first Southern victor -
Income Tax
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 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. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Confederacy used the labor of slaves to build fortifications and grow food. 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 captured national attention. -
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. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Union general Ulysses S. Grant fought to take Vicksburg, one of the two remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. Vicksburg itself was particularly important because it rested on bluffs above the river from which guns could control all water traffic. he Confederate command of Vicksburg asked Grant for terms of surren- der. The city fell on July 4. The Union had achieved another of its major military objectives, and the Confederacy was cut in two. -
Battle at Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1 when Confederate soldiers led by A. P. Hill encoun- tered several brigades of Union cavalry under the command of John Buford, an experienced officer from Illinois. The three-day battle produced staggering losses: 23,000 Union men and 28,000 Confederates were killed or wounded. Total casualties were more than 30 percent. Despite the devastation, Northerners were enthusiastic about breaking “the charm of Robert Lee’s invincibility.” -
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. -
Sherman's March
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.” -
Abolition
the movement to abolish slavery, became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
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. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Ford’s Theatre in Washington to see a British comedy, Our American Cousin. During its third act, a man crept up behind Lincoln and shot the presi- dent in the back of his head. John Wilkes Booth—a 26-year-old actor and Southern sympathizer— then leaped down from the presidential box to the stage and escaped. Twelve days later, Union cavalry trapped him in a Virginia tobacco shed and shot him dead. The Civil War had ended. Slavery and secession were no more. -
Thirteenth Ammendment
The Emancipation Proclamation freed only those slaves who lived in states that were behind Confederate lines, and not yet under Union control. The government had to decide what to do about the bor- der states, where slavery still existed. The president believed that the only solu- tion was a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.After some political maneuvering, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified at the end of 1865.
