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Massacre at Mystic
A pre-dawn attack on Mystic Fort that left 500 adults and children of the Pequot tribe dead, the Pequot Massacre (or the “Mystic Massacre”) was the first defeat of the Pequot people by the English in the Pequot War, a three-year war instigated by the Puritans to seize the tribe's traditional land.
The Mystic Massacre is considered a decisive event, not only in New England history but also in shaping the later colonial and then United States policy toward Native Americans. -
The Scalp Act
On April 8, 1756, Governor Robert Morris enacted the Scalp Act. Anyone who brought in a male scalp above age of 12 would be given 150 pieces of eight, ($150), for females above age of 12 or males under the age of 12, they would be paid $130. The act turned all the tribes against the Pennsylvania legislature.
The act legalized the taking of scalps for money, paid by the Pennsylvania government. The Scalp Act passed as a means to get rid of the Delaware once and for all. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
The Three-Fifths Compromise determined that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation.
It was an early American effort to avoid the intersectionality of race, class, nationality and wealth for political control. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe, on 7 November 1811, was an American victory over First Nations during Tecumseh's War in the War of 1812. The Old Northwest, incorporating the region north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi.
The defeat at Tippecanoe prompted Tecumseh to ally his remaining forces with Great Britain during the War of 1812, where they would play an integral role in the British military success in the Great Lakes region in the coming years. -
The Missouri Compromise
This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory.
It maintained a balance between free and slave states. On the single most divisive issue of the day, the U.S. Senate was equally divided. -
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.
The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail commemorates the removal of the Cherokee and the paths that 17 Cherokee detachments followed westward. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi."
More than 46,000 Native Americans were forced— by the U.S. military—to abandon their homes and relocate to “Indian Territory” that eventually became the state of Oklahoma. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nathanial “Nat” Turner (1800-1831) was an enslaved man who led a rebellion of enslaved people on August 21, 1831. His action set off a massacre of up to 200 Black people and a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of enslaved people.
It ignited a culture of fear in Virginia that eventually spread to the rest of the South, and is said to have expedited the coming of the Civil War. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
Passed on September 18, 1850 by Congress, The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise that required 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.
The Fugitive Slave Law made hunting down of escaped slaves, even in free states, fully legal. Not only had the federal government endorsed slavery, but it had also committed to preserving the institution indefinitely. -
Dred Scott Decision
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that African Americans, whether they were slaves or had ancestors who were slaves, had no legal view in court. They felt that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. In the eyes of the court, Dred Scott had no legal right to request his freedom.
The Dred Scott case was one of the most influential—if not the most—factors that led to the Civil War just a few years later. -
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."
"It is my greatest and most enduring contribution to the history of the war,” Lincoln said two months before his assassination “It is, in fact, the central act of my administration, and the great event of the 19th century." -
13th Amendment
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
The thirteenth amendment is a step on the journey to ending enslavement. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides 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.
Abolishing slavery made America a much more productive, and hence richer country. -
14th Amendment
When originally passed, the 14th Amendment was designed to grant citizenship rights to African-Americans, and it states that citizenship cannot be taken from anyone unless someone gives it up or commits perjury during the naturalization process.
It established birthright citizenship, required 'due process' and 'equal protection' of the law for everyone, and put the federal government in the business of policing liberty. It removed race and ethnicity from the legal definition of American identity -
15th Amendment
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote.
The 15th Amendment guaranteed African-American men the right to vote. Almost immediately after ratification, African Americans began to take part in running for office and voting. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to Native Americans as the Battle at Greasy Grass and known to others as Custer's Last Stand, 1876. It was a victory for the Plains Indians of the Great Sioux Nation as they defeated General George A. Custer and 276 of his men. It marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
What happened at 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.
The massacre at Wounded Knee, during which soldiers of the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment indiscriminately slaughtered hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children, marked the definitive end of Indian resistance to the encroachments of white settlers. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal".
The Plessy v. Ferguson verdict enshrined the doctrine of “separate but equal” as a constitutional justification for segregation, ensuring the survival of the Jim Crow South for the next half-century.