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US declares independence
US becomes a country -
Louisiana Purchase
doubles the size of the United States -
Underground railroad
slaves by the thousands escape to the north -
Missouri Compromise between North and South
The compromise limits slavery to the South -
Trail of Tears
Andrew Jackson ignores the Supreme Court and forces Indians to give up their lands and march 2,000 miles west. The Cherokee lands were given to American farmers to grow cotton, which required more slave labor. -
War with Mexico
The US takes all western states from Mexico. The fight begins over slavery in the new states gained from Mexico. -
Harriet Tubman escapes
Tubman becomes a conductor helping others escape and a voice for the enslaved -
Fugitive slave law
The South forces a law which allows slaves to be pursued anywhere they escape to. -
Dred Scott loses case
Supreme Court rules that slavery is permanent, cannot be banned, and African descent have no inherent rights -
Lincoln vs Douglas debates
Lincoln becomes a senator after debates with pro-slavery opponent -
Lincoln Elected President
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South Carolina secedes
The state is the first to leave the United States over slavery after Lincoln elected -
Eleven Southern states secede
All Southern states declare they have left the United States and are now a separate country called the Confederacy. -
The Picnic Battle of Bull Run
Lincoln declares a 90-day war to keep the country together, but the North loses the first battle while politicians watch and picnic -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln states that all enslaved persons are now free -
Robert E Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant
the Civil War ends -
Last slaves freed in Texas
US army arrives in Texas and tells slaves they are free Texas kept slavery even after it was illegal. Juneteenth celebrates the day the last persons were freed. -
Sherman’s march to the sea
General Sherman invents “total war” as he destroys everything in his path