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Harriet Tubman Escapes to Philadelphia
In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
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. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin Published
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820. -
Dred Scott Decision
The Dred Scott decision was the Supreme Court's ruling on March 6, 1857, that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle a slave, Dred Scott, to his freedom. In essence, the decision argued that as a slave Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in a federal court. -
Abe Lincoln Debates Stephen Douglas
When Lincoln and Douglas debated the slavery extension issue in 1858, they were addressing the problem that had divided the nation into two hostile camps and that threatened the continued existence of the Union. -
John Brown attacks Harper's Ferry
John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry was an 1859 effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in Southern states by taking over a United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. It has been called the dress rehearsal for the Civil War. -
Abe Lincoln Elected
Abe Lincoln was elected in 1860. This meant that slavery would be outlawed for sure. -
South Carolina Secedes
South Carolina is the first state to secede from the Union -
The Confederacy Forms
States began seceding after the Election of Abraham Lincoln, even before he was inaugurated. On February 4, 1861, the states farthest south, where slavery and plantations agriculture were dominant, formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as President.