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Abolition
The movement to abolish slavery. -
Missouri Compromise 1820-1821
The compromise admitted Maine as a free state, Missouri as a slave state, and created a line at the 36 degree 30 minute north latitude line north of which slavery was not allowed. James Monroe was president during that time. -
San Felipe de Austin
The colony founded by Stephen F. Austin in Texas in 1821 where "no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer, and no idler" were allowed. Stephen obtained permission from first Spain then Mexico to carry out his father's project of creating an American colony in Texas with the land grant his father received from Spain. -
Santa Fe Trail
The trail that stretched from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. -
Mexico Abolishes Slavery
Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 and insisted in vain that Anglos (English-speaking Texans) free their slaves. -
The Liberator
The Liberator was an antislavery newspaper written by young radical white abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison in 1831. It delivered an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
The armed rebellion led by Virginia slave Nat Turner where he and over 50 others attacked 4 plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventually captured and executed many members of the group, including Turner. -
Stephen F. Austin Goes to Jail
Stephen F. Austin was imprisoned by Mexican general Santa Anna in late 1833 for inciting revolution. -
Oregon Trail
The trail that stretched from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon blazed 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. -
Texas Revolution
The 1836 rebellion in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny
The belief that American westward expansion to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory was predestined by God. -
Texas Enters the United States
President James K. Polk heavily favored the annexation of Texas into the Union, which happened on December 29th, 1845. He did this with full intention to start war with Mexico because he believed that the U.S. could also annex New Mexico and California if they won. -
Mexican-American War
The war began because of the U.S. annexation of Texas on April 2nd, 1846 and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2nd, 1848. -
The North Star
The antislavery newspaper written by former slave and eloquent critic of slavery Frederick Douglass in 1848. He originally partnered with William Lloyd Garrison, but broke away from him because he believed that abolition could be achieved without violence. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The treaty signed between the United States and Mexico to end the Mexican-American War. Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande River as the border between Texas and Mexico and ceded the New Mexico and California territories to the United States. -
Compromise of 1850
The compromise made first by Henry Clay and then by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois that mandated that California would be admitted to the union as a free state, proposed a new and more effective fugitive slave law, and allowed popular sovereignty, the right to vote for or against slavery, for residents of the New Mexico and Utah territories. The compromise became law in September of 1850. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The part of the Compromise of 1850 that mandated that 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 $1000 and imprisonment for up to six months. -
Underground Railroad
Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would, at great risk to themselves, hide fugitive slaves. -
Harriet Tubman
The most famous "conductor" of the Underground Railroad. She escaped slavery with the help of the network and helped more than 300 slaves escape. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
A novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which stressed that slavery was not just a political contest but also a great moral struggle. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The bill proposed by Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas that repealed the Missouri Compromise and established popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave who was taken from the slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin and back to Missouri. He sued for his freedom because he believed that living in free territory made him a free man. The Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott, saying that he had no legal standing in court because he was not and could not ever become a citizen. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated over slavery to make the 1858 Senate Race more fair. Douglas believed in popular sovereignty while Lincoln believed in complete abolition through an amendment to the Constitution. Stephen Douglas won the Senate seat, but the Republican party began to consider Abraham Lincoln a good presidential candidate. -
John Brown's Raid / Harpers Ferry
White abolitionist John Brown led 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) to attempt to seize the federal arsenal and start a general slave uprising. However, troops put down the rebellion; Brown was tried and put to death. -
Formation of the Confederacy
The Confederacy was established on February 8th, 1861. It was composed of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Former senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected president. Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee seceded after the attack on Fort Sumter. -
Abraham Lincoln Becomes President
Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 with less than half of the popular vote. He was successful against the other presidential candidates because the Democratic Party split into 3 different parties with 3 different nominees. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
The Confederacy successfully seized Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina on April 12th, 1861. -
Battle of Bull Run
The Confederacy attacked near the little creek of Bull Run, just 25 miles from Washington, D.C. on July 21st, 1861. The Union was winning in the beginning, but the Confederacy won in the end. The battle left the Confederate soldiers too exhausted to capitalize off of their victory, but it raised their morale. The battle was the first bloodshed of the Civil War. -
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
General George McClellan of the Union ordered his men to pursue General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy; the two sides fought near a creek called the Antietam on September 17th, 1861. McClellan did nothing the following day instead of moving his troops into the battered Confederate territory to possibly end the war, so President Lincoln removed him from command. This battle was the bloodiest battle in American history, with casualties totaling up to 26,000. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued this proclamation on January 1st, 1863 to authorize the army to emancipate Confederate slaves. The proclamation turned the war into a fight to free the slaves and ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Conscription
A draft that forced men to serve in the army due to increasing casualties and desertion. -
Battle at Vicksburg
General Ulysses Y. Grant led Union troops to siege Vicksburg, one of the remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River which could control all water traffic in May 1863. The siege succeeded, cutting the Confederacy in two. -
Battle at Gettysburg
Confederate General Robert E. Lee rallied 75,000 troops outside the sleepy town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania against 90,000 Union troops led under General George Meade. After a three day battle, the Union successfully drove the Confederates back to Virginia. This battle proved to be the most decisive battle of the war, with 23,000 Union deaths and 28,000 Confederate deaths. -
Gettysburg Address
The address given by President Abraham Lincoln to unify the nation in spirit and mind. -
Sherman's March
William Tecumseh Sherman organized a march from Georgia to the sea in 1864. The troops burned almost every house in their path and destroyed livestock and railroads. The march succeeded, leaving Sherman's forces, along with 25,000 former slaves, to go North and help Grant "wipe out Lee." -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
The Confederate general Robert E. Lee and the Union general Ulysses Y. Grant met in Appomattox to discuss terms for Confederate surrender. At President 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 also permitted to keep their side arms. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth, a Southern sympathizer, on April 14th, 1865. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The amendment created after the end of the Civil War that stated, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States."
