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Missouri Compromise
During Madison's presidency, Henry Clay passed a series of agreements. Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri was admitted as a slave state. The rest of the Louisiana Territory was split into two parts; slavery was legal in the south but illegal in the north. -
Abolition
The movement to free African American slaves had taken hold. Some societies advocated that African Americans be resettled in Africa, but others demanded that African American remain in the US as free citizens. -
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman, one of the most famous conductors on the Underground Railroad, was born a slave in Maryland in 1820 or 1821. After her owner died, she made a break for freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. She made 19 trips back to the South to help slaves flee to freedom. -
Santa Fe Trail
One of the busiest routes to the west used by settlers and traders. It stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. -
San Felipe de Austin
Stephen Austin's father, Moses Austin, had received a land grant from Spain to establish a colony between the Brazos and Colorado rivers but died before he was able to carry out his plans. Stephen obtained permission, first from Spain and then from Mexico after it had won its independence, to carry out his father’s project.In 1821 he established a colony where “no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer, and no idler” would be allowed. -
Mexico Abolishes Slavery
Mexico insisted that the Texan settlers free their slaves, intensifying other cultural issues between Anglos and Tejanos. -
Underground Railroad
Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would hide fugitive slaves. The system of escape routes they used became known as the Underground Railroad. -
The Liberator
William Lloyd Garrison, a radical white abolitionist, established The Liberator newspaper to demand immediate emancipation of slaves. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
One of the most prominent slave rebellions was led by Virginia slave Nat Turner. Turner and more that 50 followers attacked four plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventually captured and executed many members of the group, including Turner. -
Stephen F. Austin Goes To Jail
Austin had traveled to Mexico City to present petitions to the Mexican president for greater self-government for Texas. While Austin was on his way home, Santa Anna had him imprisoned for inciting revolution. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail stretched from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. It was blazed by two Methodist missionaries, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, who proved that wagons could travel on the Oregon Trail. -
Texas Revolution
The rebellion in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny
Many Americans began to believe that their movement westward was predestined by God. They believed it was inevitable that the US would expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory. -
Texas Enters the United States
Most Texans hoped the US would annex their republic, but US opinion was divided. The president, James K. Polk, firmly favored the annexation of Texas. -
Mexican-American War
Polk hoped to negotiate the boundary dispute with Mexico, but the Mexican government refused to receive the American congressman. Polk ordered US troops into the territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River that the US claimed as its own. An American military exploration party entered California, and in response, Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and skirmished with US soldiers. Polk called for war and Congress approved. -
The North Star
Frederick Douglass began an antislavery newspaper, and named it The North Star, after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. -
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 US. The US agreed to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession. -
Compromise of 1850
California would be admitted to the Union as a free state, but the compromise proposed a new and more effective fugitive slave law. It also allowed popular sovereignty to decide slavery in New Mexico and Utah territories. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive slaves were not entitled to trial by jury. Anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1000 and imprisonment for up to six months. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this novel to stress that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. It stirred Northern abolitionists to increase their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act, while southerners criticized the book as an attack on the South. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas introduced a bill in Congress that would divide the area into two territories: 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. -
Dred Scott vs. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave whose owner took him from Missouri to free territory and then back to Missouri. Scott appealed to the Supreme Court for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state had made him a free man. The court ruled that as a slave, Scott could not sue in federal court and that being in a free territory did not make a slave free. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
Lincoln and Douglas were running for the Senate for Illinois. Neither wanted slavery in the territories, but disagreed on how to keep it out. Douglas believed in popular sovereignty, while Lincoln believed slavery was immoral and wanted Congress to abolish it with an amendment. Douglas won the Senate seat. -
John Brown's Raid/Harper's Ferry
John Brown secretly obtained financial backing from several prominent Northern abolitionists. He led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harper's Ferry, Virginia to seize the federal arsenal and start a slave uprising. Troops put down the rebellion and put Brown to death. -
Abraham Lincoln Becomes President
Lincoln, the Republican candidate, pledged to halt the further spread of slavery, but also tried to reassure Southerners he would not interfere with their slaves. Lincoln ran against three other candidates, and emerged as the winner with less than half of the popular vote and no electoral votes from the south. -
Formation of the Confederacy
After Lincoln's victory, South Carolina seceded from the Union, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Delegates from the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama and formed the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was unanimously elected president. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
By the time of Lincoln's inauguration, only four southern forts remained in Union hands. Lincoln decided to neither abandon nor reinforce Fort Sumter. Confederate batteries attacked and took the fort. The fort's fall united the north, but caused the upper southern states to secede and join the Confederacy. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first bloodshed on the battlefield occurred near the creek of Bull Run. The Confederates defeated the Union army, but were too exhausted to follow up with an attack on Washington. Confederate morale soared. -
Income tax
Congress passed an income tax to pay for the war effort, angering some citizens. -
Battle at Antietam
Union general McClellan ordered his men to pursue Lee's army, and they fought near a creek called the Antietam. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. The next day, instead of pursuing the battered Confederate army into Virginia and possibly ending the war, McClellan did nothing, so Lincoln removed him from command. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln ordered the Union army to emancipate slaves in the confederate states. The proclamation gave the war a moral purpose and ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Conscription
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. -
Battle at Gettysburg
The union defeated the confederate forces in a bloody three day battle. This marked a turning point for the union forces. -
Gettysburg address
Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address in order to honor the dead from the battle and stir up support for the union's cause. -
Battle at vicksburg
The union, led by Ulysses S Grant, took control of a strategically placed confederate fort near the vicksburg river. -
Shermans march
General William Sherman led his army across the south to the coast, destroying farms and homes from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. -
Surrender at Appomattox courthouse
General Lee finally surrendered to Grant, ending the civil war after four years of fighting. -
Thirteenth amendment
This amendment officially abolished slavery. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while watching a play at fords theater. He supported the confederate cause and was angry at the union.
