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Compromise of 1850
This consisted of laws admitting California as a free state, creating Utah and New Mexico territories. The question of slavery in these states was to be determined by popular sovereignty which settled a dispute with the Texas-New Mexico boundary. -
The Kansas Nebraska Act
This allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act was served to abolish the Missouri Compromise of 1850. This Act was strongly supported in the pro-slavery South and opposed in the North because they considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long standing agreement. -
Bleeding Kansas
Period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act reversed the Missouri Compromise's use of latitude as a boundary between slave and free states and instead used the idea of popular sovereignty. Proslavery and free-state settlers flooded into Kansas to try to influence the decision. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) and was not therefore entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Series of debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for U.S. senate and senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic party candidate. At the time, U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures for their parties to win control of the Illinois General Assembly. Although Illinois was a free state, the main issue Lincoln discussed was slavery in the United States. -
Lincoln's Election
Lincoln's anti-slavery platform made him extremely unpopular with Southerners and his nomination for President enraged them. Lincoln won the election without the support of a single Southern state. He was elected 16th president of the United States. -
Fort Sumter
This was the site of the first shots of the Civil War. U.S. Major Robert Anderson occupied the fort in December 1860 and initiated a standoff with the state's militia forces. When Lincoln announced plans to resupply the fort, General Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter. -
Bull Run
Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in the first major battle of the American Civil War. This began when 35,000 Union troops marched from Washington D.C. to strike a Confederate force along the Bull Run river. Rebels rallied and were able to break the Union. -
Harper's Ferry
Abolitionist John Brown led a small group on an attack against a federal armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. A company of U.S. marines arrived, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart and overran Brown and his soldiers. -
Antietam
The was the first battle of the American Civil War to be fought on northern soil. General George McCellan's army failed to defeat Robert E. Lee's army, but he was able to check the Confederate advance into the north. This was the bloodiest day in American history and ended in a Union victory that strengthens Lincoln's ability to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. -
Emancipation Proclamation
After the victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in rebellious states will be forever free. Although this did not free a single slave, it was an important turning point in the war as it transformed the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom. -
Gettysburg & Gettysburg Address
Speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of Soldier's National Cemetery, a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. He also mentioned principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence. Gettysburg was a battle fought between Union and Confederate forces that resulted in a Union victory that ended Lee's invasion. -
Andersonville Prison
Confederate military prison. The prison, called 'Camp Sumter,' was the South's largest prison for captured Union soldiers and was known for its unhealthy conditions and high death rates. -
Reconstruction
Under Andrew Jackson, new southern state legislatures passed restrictive "black codes" to control the labor of former slaves. This upset the north and reconstruction began. Newly permitted blacks gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and to the U.S. congress. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate supporter, assassinated Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. The attack happened only 5 days after Confederate Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Courthouse, effectively ending the American Civil War. -
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Lee abandoned the Confederate capital days earlier and his goal was to rally the remains of his under-attack troops and meet Confederate troops in North Carolina to resume fighting,
