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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta signed
Magna Carta Magna Carta was signed by an organization of 13th-century barons to preserve their rights and property against a totalitarian king. -
Mayflower Compact signed
Mayflower Compact This document was created in response to "mutinous speeches" that had arisen because the Pilgrims had endeavored to settle in Northern Virginia, but the decision was made after landing to instead settle in New England. -
Formation of the New England Confederation
New England Confederation As a result of experience in the Pequot War, in which military action was not well coordinated, and the threat of Dutch expansion, representatives from Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven,meeting at Boston, drew up 12 articles of confederation, which were ratified by the four colonies, four colonies, each of whose territorial integrity was guaranteed. -
Albany Plan of Union announced
Albany Plan of Union Under the Albany Plan of Union, each colonial legislature would elect delegates to an American continental conference advised by a royal governor. -
The French and Indian War begins
French and Indian War The French and Indian War, as it was referred to in the colonies, was the beginning of open hostilities between the colonies and Gr. Britain. England and France had been building toward a conflict in America since 1689. These efforts resulted in the remarkable growth of the colonies from a population of 250,000 in 1700, to 1.25 million in 1750. -
Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris The terms of the Treaty of Paris were harsh to losing France, since all French territory on the mainland of North America was lost. The British received Quebec and the Ohio Valley. The port of New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi were given to Spain for their partnership with the British. -
Royal Proclamation
Royal Proclamation The royal proclamation of 1763 did much to dampen the celebration of the ending of the French and Indian War. The proclamation closed off the frontier to colonial expansion. The King and his council created the proclamation as a way to settle the fears of the Indians, who felt that the colonists would push them back farther and farther into their lands as they spread westward. -
Sugar Act
Sugar Act On April 5, 1764, Parliament modified the Sugar and Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. The Sugar Act lowered the rate of tax on molasses from six pence down to three pence per gallon, while Grenville made sure that this process was strictly enforced. The act also taxed foreign goods, including sugar, some wines, coffee, pimiento, and cambric and printed calico, -
Stamp Act
Stamp Act The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was for all American colonists and made them pay a tax on every piece of paper they printed and used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. -
Stamp Act Congress
Stamp Act Congress The colonists intended to place actions behind their words; it was now more than just the Sugar or Stamp Act. It was obvious that no colony could act alone to successfully send a message to the king and Parliament. The proposals to Parliament by each and every legislature had been overlooked. It was James Otis who came up with an intercolonial conference to compromise with an action that involved every colony together. -
Townshend Acts
Townshend Acts Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea were set up with the intention of raising £40,000 a year for the administration of the colonies. The conclusion was colonial hostilities created by the Townshend Act, a tax on exporting coffee and other things. -
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre was a conflict that happened on a street in Boston and happened on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" crowd, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a group of British soldiers. Some colonists were killed and this was followed by a campaign written by speech-writers to awaken the anger of the citizenry. -
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party At the end of the meeting that decided to keep the East India Company from landing, storing, and selling their tea, the crowd of angry colonitsts headed out onto the street, running after about 50 men with Indian costumes on down to Griffin's Wharf. The men then dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor. -
First Continental Congress
First Continental CongressThe first Continental Congress gathered in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, from September 5, to October 26, 1774, which was also the place of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies beside Georgia sent delegates, whom were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of their own colony. The colonies presented there were united in an effort to show a collective power to Great Britain. -
Patrick Henry, "Give Me Liberty"
"Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!"On March 23, Patrick Henry came up with the idea to collaborate a volunteer organization of cavalry or infantry in every county in Virginia. Henry addressed himself to the Convention's president. His words were not ever written down, but everyone who heard them remembered their expressiveness, or Henry's concluding words, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" -
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Midnight Ride of Paul RevereDuring his journey to Lexington, Revere "alarmed" the countryside, stopping at every household, and came to Lexington at around midnight. As he arrived at the house where Adams and Hancock were staying, a sentry asked him to quiet down and not make so much noise. "Noise!" yelled Revere, "You'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out!" -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Battles of Lexington and ConcordThe first battle of the war, Lexington marked the beginning of the American Revolution. Although Lexington and Concord were considered British military victories, they gave a moral boost to the American colonists. -
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort TiconderogaThis remote post on Lake Champlain guarded the narrow water highway connecting New France with Britain's American colonies. During the American Revolution Fort Ticonderoga was the scene of America's first major victory in its struggle for independence and the United States' northern stronghold protecting New York and New England from British invasion from Canada. -
Second Continental Congress meets
Second Continental CongressWhen the Redcoats shot into the Boston crowd in 1775, the benefit of the doubt was achieved. Now the professional imperial army was trying to arrest the leaders of the patriots, and minutemen had been shot in their defense. In May 1775, with Redcoats storming Boston another time, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Bunker HillFrom Bunker Hill, the rebels could hit the town and British ships in Boston Harbor. But General Artemas Ward's men mistook his instructions. They accidentally went to Breed's Hill, and there, they were even more threatened than before — they were now closer to the British camp. -
"Common Sense" published
"Common Sense"Published in the beginning of 1776, "Common Sense" challenged the power of the British government and monarchy. Paine used plain and simple language, and spoke to the general populace of America and was the first work seen by many people to ask for independence from Great Britain. -
British evacuate Boston
British evacuate BostonIn the beginning of March of 1776, Continental troops successfully attempted to move their cannons to the top of Dorchester Heights. When the British found out, they knew they could not hold the city captive anymore. The meek Continental Army made the British evacuate Boston. -
Declaration of Independence announced
Declaration of Independence announcedOn July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress voted abstrusely to agree with Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Indepedence, and so a new nation was born. It wasn't until July 8th that the Declaration of Independence was announced. The Sherriff of Philadelphia County was sent to announce the document to the crowd that had met in the back of Independence Hall. -
"The Crisis" published
"The Crisis"The American Crisis is a series of articles written by Thomas Paine at the time of the Revolutionary War. The essays collected in it make up Paine's continuous campaign for America to become independent and self-governing.His campaign survived the many serious crises of the Revolutionary War. General Washington found the first article very encouraging, so he directed that someone read it to the soldiers at Valley Forge. -
Washington captures Trenton
Battle of TrentonUsing perceptive war tactics, Washington attacked the Hessians set up in Trenton on Christmas Day, 1776. He directed his troops to cross the Delaware River and take the enemy by surprise. The crossing had wet their gunpowder, so he ordered the patriots to take Trenton at bayonet point. The Americans captured Trenton quickly with few casualties. -
British defeated at Saratoga
Battle of SaratogaThe Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. On October 17, 1777, 5,895 British and Hessian troops gave up their weapons. General John Burgoyne had lost around 86% of his fighting force that had marched with victory into New York from Canada just last summer. -
Articles of Confederation signed
Articles of ConfederationThe Continental Congress affiliated the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. -
Winter at Valley Forge, PA
Winter at Valley ForgeIn December, Washington marched his exhausted, injured, starving, and ill army to Valley Forge, about 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, which was held by the British. From Valley Forge, Washington could watch General Howe's British army layed back in Philadelphia. -
John Paul Jones defeats the Serapis
John Paul Jones defeats the SerapisJohn Paul Jones heads the Bonhomme Richard, an old merchantman not meant for the sea, and assaults the 44-gun vessel Serapis led by Captain George F. Pearson. The far more competent British ship almost defeats Jones when he shouts, “I have not yet begun to fight.” Jones is victorious against the Serapis with much of his soldiers injured while taking captive 500 British men. -
Benedict Arnold plans found out
Benedict Arnold's plans found outWhen the soldiers discovered Benedict Arnold's treason, they planned to seize the traitor when he made his usual nightly visit to the specific house, drag him while knocked out "through the most unfrequented alleys" of New York City, and row him on a hidden boat silently across to soldiers awaiting him on the New Jersey shore. -
Cornwallis surrenders
Cornwallis surrendersWith the assistance of a French military force commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau, General George Washington and his Continental Army trapped and madethe large British army surrender under the command of Lord Cornwallis. This American victory at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781, required the British to negotiate for peace and declare the Americans independent. -
Newburgh Conspiracy
Newburgh Conspiracy
On March 15, Washington stood before his officers in Newburgh and eloquently and emotionally expressed his disapprobation of the actions proposed in the anonymous soldier’s addresses. -
Treaty of Paris signed
Treaty of ParisThis treaty, signed on September 3, 1783, between the American colonies and Great Britain, ended the American Revolution and formally recognized the United States as an independent nation. -
Spain closes the Mississippi River
Spain closes the Mississippi RiverTo meet the situation of territorial claims, Floridablanca adopted three measures. A royal order was issued closing the Mississippi River to all but Spanish ships; a formal statement was drawn up setting forth Spain's position in regard to the navigation of the Mississippi and the boundary of its possessions on the east bank of that river; and Gardoqui was sent to negotiate a treaty with the United States. -
Annapolis Convention
Annapolis Convention In 1784, George Washington's colleague, James Madison, took a positive step toward realizing the general's goal by setting up a meeting at Annapolis in December between Maryland and Virginia (represented by Washington) to discuss the development of the Potomac River as a route to the west. -
Land Ordinance of 1785
Land Ordinance of 1785With the cession of the state lands assured, Congress proceeded to administer the new national domain. An ordinance was adopted on May 20, 1785, which laid the foundations of American land policy until the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862. -
Ordinance of Religious Freedom
Ordinance of Religious FreedomThe Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is a statement about both freedom of conscience and the principle of separation of church and state. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay's RebellionShays' Rebellion, the post-Revolutionary clash between New England farmers and merchants that tested the precarious institutions of the new republic, threatened to plunge the "disunited states" into a civil war. The rebellion arose in Massachusetts in 1786, spread to other states, and culminated in the rebels' march upon a federal arsenal. -
Constitutional Convention opens
Constitutional Convention
Troubles with the existing Confederation of States finally convinced the Continental Congress, in February 1787, to call for a convention of delegates to meet in May in Philadelphia. -
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Northwest Ordinance of 1787The Northwest Ordinance, adopted July 13, 1787, by the Second Continental Congress, authorized a government for the Northwest Territory, provided an approach for introducing new states to the Union from the territory, and arranged a bill of rights approved in the territory. -
The Great Compromise
The Great CompromiseThe framers of the U.S. Constitution, meeting at Independence Hall, had reached a majorly critical agreement. Their nominal Great Compromise (or Connecticut Compromise in honor of its architects, Connecticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth) gave a two-sided system of congressional representation. -
Anti-Federalist articles appear
Anti-Federalist articlesAlthough they said to be the true federalists and the actual
republicans, the men who went against the Constitution's
certain ratification in 1787-1788 were called Anti-Federalists. -
Delaware ratifies Constitution
Delaware ratifies ConstitutionThe first state to ratify was Delaware. The Delaware legislature began its new session in October 1787 and by early November had called for elections for the state ratifying convention to be held on November 9 and 10. -
Massachusetts ratifies Constitution
Massachusetts ratifies ConstitutionThe Massachusetts Ratifying Convention met in Boston from January 9, 1788 to February 5, 1788 to discuss "the adoption of the federal Constitution." -
New Hampshire ratifies Constitution
New Hampshire ratifies Constitution0 Of the 108 delegates in attendance at the New Hampshire convention, fewer than 50 were in favor of adoption. -
Constitution sent to the states for ratification
Ratifying the ConstitutionBefore becoming law, the Constitution needed to be ratified by nine states. Delaware was the first to approve it in December 1787. In the other states – with the exception of Rhode Island – special conventions were held into the following summer. -
Congress meets for the first time
Congress meets for the first timeThe Congress of the United States established by the new Constitution met for the first time at New York City’s Federal Hall on March 4, 1789. -
George Washington elected President
George Washington becomes PresidentOn April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. -
Bill of Rights sent to the states for ratification
Bill of Rights sent to the states for ratificationOn September 25, 1789, the First Federal Congress of the United States proposed to the state legislatures twelve amendments to the Constitution. -
Bill of Rights ratified
Bill of Rights ratifiedArticles 3 to 12, ratified December 15, 1791, by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. -
Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions written
Virginia & Kentucky ResolutionsThe Virginia & Kentucky resolutions were passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. The resolutions stated that the federal government had no authority to administer power not definitely delegated to it in the Constitution. -
Hartford Convention meets during War of 1812
Hartford ConventionA meeting was assembled in Hartford, Connecticut to talk about the problems of New England in the War of 1812. Prior to the war, New England Federalists had disagreed with the Embargo Act of 1807 and other government proposals. Many of them still opposed the government after the fighting had started. -
Missouri Compromise
Missouri CompromiseTrying to maintain the equilibrium of power in Congress among slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri, allowing it to become a slave state and allowed Maine to be a free state. Also, with the exception of Missouri, this law banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory above of the 36° 30´ latitude line. -
Tariff of Abominations passed
Tariff of AbominationsIn 1828, the US Congress passed the first import Tariff, a protective tax. The tariff raised the cost of goods imported to America, therefore protecting a few of the fledgling industries of the North. The South, because its economy was built upon the exportation of the cotton, made large amounts of products frowned upon by the tariff. As a result, the tariff was called the "Tariff of Abominations". -
South Carolina tries to nullify
The South Carolina Nullification ControversyIn 1828, Congress passed a high protective tariff that angered the southern states because they thought it only helped the industrialized north. This tariff helped American cloth producers—mostly in the north. But it shrunk British demand for southern raw cotton and raised the total cost of finished goods to American consumers. -
Abolition of Slavery Act
Abolition of Slavery ActThe enactment of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807 did not halt the British slave trade. Thus, Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. This act provide all slaves in the British Empire their deserved freedom. The British government paid coverage to the slave owners. -
Texas Declares Independence from Mexico
Texan Declaration of IndependenceOn October 2, 1835, radical Texans shot at Mexican soldiers in the town of Gonzales. The battle was the consequence of tensions that had been rising for a long time between the Americans, who had come to live in Texas, and the Mexican authorities. Texas officially declared independence in March of 1836. -
James Polk elected
James K. PolkJames K. Polk's plan, dissimilar to that of his two predecessors, John Tyler and William Henry Harrison, was enormously compelled by foreign policy debates, such as territorial expansion and foreign trade. Those issues, however, foreshadowed ominous domestic consequences, in terms of the slavery problem and what to do about tariff levels. -
Mexican War
Mexican War The tension between the United States and Mexico in 1846-1848 began with the merging of Texas and the westward movement of American settlers. James K. Polk, attempting to become president, tried to secure Mexican agreement to draw the boundary line at the Rio Grande and to buy northern California. -
Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot ProvisoOn August 8, 1846, David Wilmot announced legislation in the House that decreed that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist" in the territory won by the Mexican-American War. Wilmot and other northerners were infuriated by President Polk. They felt that the whole Cabinet and national agenda were led by southern minds and principles. -
California enters the Union
California Enters the UnionOn January 24, 1848, gold had been found on the American River near Sacramento, and the following gold rush quickened California’s admittance to the Union. In 1849, Californians went for statehood and, after much debate in the U.S. Congress, coming out of the slavery issue, California joined the Union as a free, nonslavery state by the Compromise of 1850. -
Fugitive Slave Law enacted
Fugitive Slave LawThe Fugitive Slave Act was one out of a group of laws that was known as the "Compromise of 1850." In this compromise, the abolitionists won the admission of California as a free state, and the outlawing of slave-trading in the District of Columbia. The slavery party received acknowledgement as far as slaveholding in Texas and the passing of this law. -
Publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
"Uncle Tom's Cabin"Harriet Beecher Stowe's most famous novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," altered indefinitely how Americans looked at slavery, The book symbolically demanded that the United States do not break the promise of freedom and equality. It also awakened the abolition movement and led to the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Formation of Republican Party
Republican PartyIn the early 1850s, anti-slavery activists discovered that they had something in common with rough people looking to adventure into the western lands, where there were no government taxes. “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men,” they said. Thus, the animosity for human enslavement and government tyranny led the people to give birth to the Republican Party. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act passed
Kansas-Nebraska ActThe Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed slavery in the territory north of the 36° 30´ coordinate line. Created by Illinois' Senator Stephen Douglas, the Kansas-Nebraska Act contracted that the issue of slavery would be agreed upon by the citizens of each territory, also known as decision by popular sovereignty. -
"Border Ruffians" attack Lawrence
The Sack of LawrenceOn the morning of May 21, 1856 a force of about 800 men stormed the newly formed town of Lawrence in the Territory of Kansas and began to destroy it. Thus, the town of Lawrence became the first casualty in America's Civil War that would officially be declared five years later. -
Charles Sumner attacked
Brooks' Attack on SumnerThree days after Charles Sumner's choleric speech was delivered, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina walked into the nearly deserted Senate Chamber where he found Senator Sumner working at his desk. Saying that the speech was a "libel on South Carolina" Brooks violently hit the senator over and over on the head and shoulders with his cane. -
Pottawatomie Creek
Pottawatomie MassacreJohn Brown and his small group of men marched toward Pottawatomie Creek, to the homes of pro-slavery advocates. On the night of May 24th, 1856, Brown’s men attacked them. They executed them, splitting open heads and cutting off arms. When they were done, he put a bullet into the head of James Doyle. Brown’s army visited two more cabins, dragged out and killed two more. -
Dred Scott decision announced
Dred Scott DecisionAfter 10 years of addresses and court repeals, Dred Scott's case was at last brought before the United States Supreme Court. The court ruled that all people of African ancestry could never become citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal court. It also stated that the federal government could not prohibit slavery in its territories. -
Lecompton Constitution passed
Lecompton ConstitutionThe Lecompton Constitution consisted of clauses allowing slaveholding and a bill of rights not including free blacks, and it added to the tensions leading up to the U.S. Civil War. Though it was refused in a territorial election, President James Buchanan later endorsed statehood for Kansas under its limitations. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln-Douglas DebatesThe Lincoln-Douglas debates were a chain of political debates between the challenger, Abraham Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' United States Senate seats. Although Lincoln failed to win the election, these debates led him to nation-wide notability which was later followed by his election as President of the United States. -
Formation of Constitutional Union Party
Constitutional Union PartyThe Constitutional Union Party was a political party that desired to drum up endorsements for the Union and the Constitution in the pre-Civil War election of 1860 without minding the sectional issues. Formed in 1859 by ex-Whigs and members of the Know-Nothing Party, the party suggested John Bell to become president and Edward Everett be elected vice president. -
Raid at Harper's Ferry
Raid at Harper's FerryOn October 16, Brown set out for Harpers Ferry with 21 men -- 5 blacks. First they took over the federal armory and stockhouse. Then, they captured Hall's Rifle Works, a storage facility of weapons to the government. Brown and his men rounded up 60 popular citizens of the town and held them captive, hoping that their slaves would accompany them in the fight, but no slave came with them. -
Democrats split in 1860
Democrats SplitIn 1860, after argument about the successor to Democratic President James Buchanan, Democrats separated on Northern and Southern lines. The northern Democrats wanted Stephen A. Douglas to be elected President in 1860, but the southern Democrats requested that Douglas approve a federal slave law and dismiss the Freeport Doctrine. -
Election of 1860
Election of 1860Abraham Lincoln, though he did not win the popluar vote, was victorious in the race for presidency against Stephen Douglas. The closing settlements of the election of 1860 did not necessarily assure secession. The result, to some, gave hope for those who wanted to keep the Union as one, and discover a solution to the sectional crisis. -
Abraham Lincoln Announces Plans for Reconstruction
Lincoln's Plans for ReconstructionIn late 1863, Lincoln announced an official plan for reconstruction. The states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee agreed with these terms. Andrew Johnson continued Lincoln's plan for reconstruction when he took office after Lincoln's assassination. -
Wade-Davis Bill Receives Pocket Veto
Wade-Davis BillMany congressional Republicans perceived Lincoln’s 10 Percent Plan as too softhearted. The Wade-Davis Bill made 50% of a state’s white males take a loyalty oath in order to be readmitted to the Union. Also, states were obligated to give blacks the right to vote. Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill, but President Lincoln decided not to sign it, which killed the bill with a pocket veto. -
Lincoln Re-Elected President
Lincoln's Re-ElectionIn 1864, Lincoln was challenged greatly when trying to be re-elected president. The war was now going on for four years, and the South was beginning to look unconquerable. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant mounted a massive campaign to finally defeat the Confederate army. -
Formation of the Freedmen's Bureau
Freedmen's BureauThe Freedmen's Bureau was a federal agency, formed to help and protect the freed blacks in the South prior to the Civil War. Established by an act of March 3, 1865, it was made to function for one year after the end of the war. A bill extending its life indefinitely and greatly increasing its powers was rejected by President Andrew Johnson. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Assassination of Abraham LincolnOn April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, shot and killed Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came soon after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, officially ending the American Civil War. -
President Andrew Johnson Announces Plans for Reconstruction
Johnson's Plans for ReconstructionLincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, was primarily accepted by the radicals when he publicly attacked the planter aristocracy and demanding that the rebellion must be punished. His amnesty proclamation was more harsh than Lincoln's; it disenfranchised all former Confederate military and civil officers. -
Black Codes created in Mississippi
Mississippi Black CodesThe Mississippi Black Code is an example of the manner by which the southern states strove to maintain the old order while limiting the newly acquired rights of African Americans. Many people in the North as well as the Republicans in Congress were alarmed by the Black Codes. Reaction to the codes helped to radicalize Congress and catalyzed its attempt to seize control of Reconstruction from the President Andrew Johnson, ultimately leading to the president’s impeachment. -
Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment
Ratification of the Thirteenth AmendmentThe 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. -
Ku Klux Klan created
Ku Klux KlanThe Ku Klux Klan is a racist, anti-Semitic movement with a commitment to extreme violence to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy. At first, it focused its anger and violence on African-Americans, on white Americans who stood up for them, and against the federal government which supported their rights. -
Civil Rights Act enacted
Civil Rights Act of 1866The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all male persons in the United States "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude." President Andrew Johnson's veto of the bill was overturned by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, and the bill became law. -
Reconstruction Acts enacted
Reconstruction ActsUnder the terms of the Reconstruction Acts, new state constitutions were written in the South. By Aug., 1868, six states (Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida) had been readmitted to the Union, having ratified the Fourteenth Amendment as required by the first Reconstruction Act. -
President Andrew Johnson impeached
Johnson ImpeachedThe impeachment of President Andrew Johnson was a result of political conflict and the rupture of ideologies in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It rose from uncompromised beliefs and a contest for power in a nation stuggling with reunity. -
Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment
Fouteenth AmendmentOn July 28, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. The amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War. The amendment had been rejected by most Southern states but was ratified by the required three-fourths of the states. -
Ulysses S. Grant elected President
Ulysses S. GrantWhen Grant was elected, the American people hoped for an end to turmoil. Grant provided neither vigor nor reform. Looking to Congress for direction, he seemed bewildered. One visitor to the White House noted "a puzzled pathos, as of a man with a problem before him of which he does not understand the terms." -
Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment
Fifteenth AmendmentThe 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
Hiram Revels elected to Senate
Hiram Revels elected to SenateHiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator in 1870. Born in North Carolina in 1827, Revels attended Knox College in Illinois and later served as minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He raised two black regiments during the Civil War and fought at the battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi. -
Ku Klux Klan Act enacted
Ku Klux Klan ActThe Enforcement Act (17 Stat. 13), commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act or the Civil Rights Act of 1871, was a response to extraordinary civil unrest during the Reconstruction period. This unrest threatened the lives and the political and economic rights of all newly freed slaves. Although closely tied to the era in which it was enacted, portions of the statute remain extraordinarily important to modern civil rights enforcement. -
Freedmen's Bureau Abolished
Freedmen's BureauThe Freedman's Bureau, officially known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, was created on March 3rd, 1865 to aid refugees of the U.S. Civil War as part of the U.S. government's effort to aid and assist its meager population. The Bureau also controlled and managed controversial or uncharted U.S. lands, but its main job was as an asset to newly freed slaves. -
Civil Rights Act passed
Civil Rights Act of 1875It protected all Americans, regardless of race, in their access to public accommodations and facilities such as restaurants, theaters, trains and other public transportation, and protected the right to serve on juries. However, it was not enforced, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1883. -
"Jim Crow" enters the American cultural language
"Jim Crow" LawsJim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. -
Rutherford B. Hayes elected President
Rutherford B. HayesThe policies of Rutherford B. Hayes, America’s nineteenth President, began to heal the nation after the ravages of the Civil War. He was well suited to the task, having earned a steadfast reputation for integrity throughout his career as a soldier and a statesman. Upstanding, moral, and honest, Hayes was elected after the most lengthy, bitterly disputed, and corrupt presidential election in history. -
Last National Troops Leave South Carolina
Compromise of 1877After Hayes was elected president, white southern voters were demanding the withdrawal of federal troops stationed in the former Confederacy to enforce Reconstruction, the federal government’s policy for guaranteeing political rights to the ex-slaves and safeguarding Republican state governments imposed after the war. -
Civil Rights Act overturned
Civil Rights Act OverturnedIn 1883, The United States Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights act of 1875, forbidding discrimination in hotels, trains, and other public spaces, was unconstitutional and not authorized by the 13th or 14th Amendments of the Constitution. -
Florida Requires Segregation in Places of Public Accommodation
Florida Follows Jim Crow LawsThe practices of comprehensive racial segregation known as "Jim Crow" emerged, and racial separation becomes entrenched. Florida was the first state to enact a statute requiring segregation in places of public accommodation. Eight other states followed Florida's lead by 1892. -
Case of Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. FergusonHomer Plessy was jailed for sitting in a railroad car designated for whites only. Plessy was in fact seven-eighths white and one-eighth black which by Louisiana law meant he was treated as an African-American and required to sit in the car designated for "colored" patrons. When Plessy lost his initial court case, his appeal made it to the US Supreme Court. The Court ruled 7-1 that the Louisiana law requiring that the races be separated did not violate the thirteenth or fourteenth amendments.
