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Wilmot Proviso
The amendment that sought to prohibit slavery from territories acquired from Mexico. He was introduced by a Pennsylvania Congressman, David Wilmot. Overall, the amendment did pass. In fact, it started a lot of tension between the North and the South over slavery. -
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Mexcian American War
In 1836, Texas gained its independence from Mexico. Later on, the United States disagreed to make it into a union. The reason they chose this because there were already going against the fact of a new slave state. They conquered at least 500,000 square miles of Mexico. This is when the dispute came in on whether or not Texas ended at Nueces River ( Mexico Border) or the Rio Grande (U.S.) -
Mexican Cession
This means land that was surrendered to the U.S. It was also significant because the question appeared to if this state would have been one of the slave states. The Treaty of Guadalupe help achieve the border that we have now today. It also helps accomplish the states, today, California, Utah and Nevada. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This treaty ended the Mexican-American War. This treaty added an extra 525,000 square miles to the United States territory. This treaty was made by Major General Winfield Scott. -
Fugitive Slave Law
This was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, it set high penalties for anymore who aided escaped slaves and compelled all law enforcement officers to participate in retrieving runaways. It strengthened the antislavery cause in the North. -
Compromise of 1850
California was seen as a free state. During this, they also opened New Mexico and Utah to popular sovereignty. Ended the slave trade, but did not end slavery in Washington D.C. and introduced a more stringent fugitive slave law. It was greatly opposed in the North and the South. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This proposed the issue of slavery which was decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, thus revoking the 1820 Missouri Compromise. It was also introduced by Stephen Douglass in an effort to bring Nebraska into the Union and pave the way for a northern transcontinental railroad. -
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Bleeding Kansas
The Civil War was in Kansas, but was over the issue of slavery in the territory , fought intermittently until 1861, when it merged with the wide national Civil War. -
Dred Scott v. Stanford
The Supreme Court decision that extended federal protection to slavery by ruling that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. Also declared that slaves, as property, were not citizens of the United States. -
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Lincoln Douglas Debates
These were a series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass during the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Douglass won the election but Lincoln gained national prominence and emerged as the leading candidate for the 1860 Republican nomination. -
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Raid on Harpers Ferry
It all started with John Brown which was an abolitionist against slavery. He led a group of abolitionists on a raid to go against the federal armory decision in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The federal armory wanted to continue the idea of keeping slaves, while John brown wanted to free the slaves and destroy the idea of slavery. -
Election of 1860
This election was based on opposing on the expansion of slavery. Abraham Lincoln (Republican) defeated two Southern Democrats, John C.Breckinridge and Stephen A. Douglas. He also defeated the Constitutional Union candidate, John Bell. Abraham Lincoln also was average when it came to the expansion of slavery. You could say, he was basically in between the two different views. -
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The Battle of Fort Sumter
This was the first battle of the Civil War. The bombing of Fort Sumter which was near Charleston, South Carolina. It was caused by the Confederate States Army. It also showed how the U.S. Army surendered. -
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Battle of Antietam
Also known as "The Battle of Sharpsburg." Near Marylands Antiem Creek,Confederate and union troops were in the civil war. This was known to be the bloodiest single day in American history. It also marked Confederate Robert E. Lee's first invasion of Northern states. The Union won this battle. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Declared that all slaves in rebelling states to be free but did not affect slavery in non-rebelling Border States. The Proclamation closed the door on possible compromise with the South and encourages thousands of Southern slaves to flee to Union lines. -
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Battle of Vicksburg
Also called the Siege of Vicksburg(Mississippi), this battle was a naval campaigned by the Union forces who wanted to take and advance a great strategy of the Civil War. This battle also allowed Union forces to have control over the Mississippi River. Well that was the Union's goal, they wanted to not only capture the rivers in the south, but they also wanted to capture the seaports. This is apart of the "Anaconda Plan, as well. -
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Battle of Gettysburg
Was considered most important than any other battles in the civil war. George Meade won this battle, however, Robert E. Lee marched and retreated back into Northern Virgina and also Pennsylvania. This was also called one of the most bloodiest because although the war ended, General Robert went right back in. -
Election of 1864
Lincoln was re-elected as president and he ran under the National Union banner against George B McClellan, a Democratic candidate. -
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Freedmen's Bureau
This was created to aid newly emancipated slaves by providing food, clothing, medical care, education, and legal support. Its achievements were uneven and depended largely on the quality of local administrators. -
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13th Amendment
The 13th amendment was the freedom for all slaves. It was the constitutional amendment prohibiting all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. The former confederate states were required to ratify the amendment prior to gaining reentry into the Union. -
Lincoln's Assassination
At Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C., John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate supporter, fatally shot Lincoln in the back of the head. John Wilkes Booth always had it out for Lincoln because he even planed with six other conspirators to kidnap Lincoln on March 20, 1865. However, Lincoln did not show up to the spot where he was supposed to meet Booth. (I also find it very interesting that on the search for his arrest, it was topped as one of the largest manhunts in history, with more than 5,000 troops.) -
Civil Rights Bill
This bill was passed over Andre Johnson's vert, the bill aimed to counteract the Black Codes by conferring citizenship on African Americans and making it a crime to deprive blacks of their rights to sue, testify in court, or hold property. -
Military Reconstruction Act
In this act, it was planned out the waiting for reconstructing Southern states into the Union. This act helped divide the South into five military districts and also helped form out the new governments. This act also included the 14th and 15th amendment as well. -
14th Amendment
Ratified in 1868, this amendment accepted citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States. This amendment also reached the advantage of equal protection for all citizens of the law. -
Fifteenth Amendment
This prohibited states from denying citizens the franchise on account of race. It disappointed feminists who wanted the Amendment to include guarantees for women's suffrage. -
Election of 1876
Samuel J. Tiden( New York) outpolled Rutherford B. Hayes in Ohio. This election put an end to Reconstruction movement. Both parties did not officially have a great win to victory. There was also a difficulty in the electoral votes of four states. -
Compromise of 1877
The agreement that finally resolved the 1876 election and officially ended Reconstruction. In exchange for the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, winning the presidency, Hayes agreed to withdraw the last of the federal troops from the former Confederate states. This deal effectively completed the southern return to white only, Democratic- dominated electoral politics.