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The American Colonization Society forms
Colonization Society (in full, The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America), founded in 1816, was the primary vehicle to support the return of free African Americans to what was considered greater freedom in Africa. Paul Cuffee, a wealthy mixed-race New England shipowner and activist, was an early advocate of settling freed blacks in Africa. He gained support from black leaders and members of the US Congress for an emigration plan. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory except within the boundaries of the state of Missouri. -
Anti Slavery Society Forms
The American Anti-Slavery Society (1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings.A convention of abolitionists was called to meet in December 1833 at the Adelphi Building in Philadelphia. -
The Lincoln-Douglas debates
The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s. The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause. It broke away from the American Anti-Slavery Society to advocate the view that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document. The party included abolitionists who were willing to work within electoral politics to try to influence people to support their goals. -
Liberty Party Forms
The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s. It broke away from the American Anti-Slavery Society to advocate the view that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document. The party included abolitionists who were willing to work within electoral politics to try to influence people to support their goals. -
The Mexican-American War starts
The Mexican American War was an armed conflict between the United States of America and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Combat operations lasted a year and a half, from spring 1846 to fall 1847. American forces quickly occupied New Mexico and California, then invaded parts of Northeastern Mexico and Northwest Mexico. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmt Proviso was one of the major events leading to the American Civil War. It would have banned slavery in any territory to e acuired from mexico in the Mexican War or in the future. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott first went to trial to sue for his freedom in 1847. Ten years later, after a decade of appeals and court reversals, his case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court. In what is perhaps the most infamous case in its history, the court decided that all people of African ancestry slaves as well as those who were free could never become citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal court. -
The Free Soil Party forms
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. The party leadership consisted of former anti-slavery members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party. Its main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California.The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to the state in late 1848. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, passed in September 1850. It defused four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin is released
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War. The novel shows the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement. The act was designed by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. The initial purpose of the Kansas–Nebraska Act was to open up many thousands of new farms and make feasible a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. -
The Sumner-Brooks Affair
Pro-slavery congressman Preston Brooks attacked antislavery Senator Charles Sumner on floor of Senate. Preston Brooks strode forcefully into the Senate chamber looking for Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner. Without warning, Brooks rushed forward and began beating the unsuspecting Sumner savagely with a gold-tipped wooden cane. -
Election of 1860
By the election of 1860 profound divisions existed among Americans over the future course of their country, and especially over the South's "peculiar institution," slavery. During the presidency of James K. Polk. The campaign of 1860 accurately registered the country's precarious condition after a decade of sectional turmoil. The leading political organization in the North was the Republican party.
