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Massacre at Mystic
The Mystic massacre – also known as the Pequot massacre and the Battle of Mystic Fort – took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War, when a force from the Connecticut Colony under Captain John Mason and their Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to the Pequot Fort near the Mystic River. -
The Scalp Act
Instead, the money was set up as a fund to remove the Indians from the border. On April 8, 1756, Governor Robert Morris enacted the Scalp Act. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
The Three-Fifths Compromise stated that for every five slaves in a state, three would be included in the population census. James Wilson and Roger Sherman first introduced the idea of the Three-Fifths Compromise on June 11, 1787. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
The practice of slavery continued to be legal in much of the U.S. until 1865, of course, and enslaved people continued to be bought and sold within the Southern states, but in January 1808 the legal flow of new Africans into this country stopped forever. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, between the American forces under the command of William Henry Harrison, and Native American warriors under the leadership of Tenskwatawa, commonly referred to as “The Prophet.” Deemed an American victory, the battle had far-lasting implications with Native -
The Missouri Compromise
It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state and declared a policy of prohibiting slavery in the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of the 36°30′ parallel. The 16th United States Congress passed the legislation on March 3, 1820, and President James Monroe signed it on March 6, 1820. -
Trail of Tears
Between 1830 and 1850, about 100,000 American Indians living between Michigan, Louisiana, and Florida moved west after the U.S. government coerced treaties or used the U.S. Army against those resisting. Many were treated brutally. An estimated 3,500 Creeks died in Alabama and on their westward journey. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
On the evening of August 21–22, 1831, an enslaved preacher and self-styled prophet named Nat Turner launched the most deadly slave revolt in the history of the United States. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
Passed on September 18, 1850, by Congress, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. -
Dred Scott Decision
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney read the Court's majority opinion, which stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
13th Amendment
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. -
14th Amendment
Passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provision -
15th Amendment
Passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and ratified on February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
June 25th (afternoon/evening): Battle of the Little Bighorn. 268 7th cavalry soldiers, civilians, and Indian scouts will be killed along with an estimated 60-100 Lakota and Cheyenne. Major Reno and Captain Benteen's forces, along with the pack train, will remain under siege that evening into the following day. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee Massacre, (December 29, 1890), the slaughter of approximately 150–300 Lakota Indians by United States Army troops in the area of Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
The U.S. Supreme Court changed history on May 18, 1896! The Court's “separate but equal” decision in Plessy v. Ferguson upheld state-imposed Jim Crow laws on that date. It became the legal basis for racial segregation in the United States for the next fifty years.