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Events leading up to and after the Civil War
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Missouri Compromise
A series of laws enacted in 1820 to maintain the balance of power between slave states and free states. Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and Maine was a free state. It called for slavery to be banned from the Louisiana territory north of the parallel 36'-30'. -
Wilmot Proviso
This is a law that outlawed slavery in any territory the U.S might of acquired from the War with Mexico. But slaveholders believed that Congress had no right to prevent them from bringing slaves into any of the territories. They viewed slaves as property. Even though the Wilmot Proviso never became a law, it had important effects. it led to the Free Soil Party, a political party created to abolish the expansion of slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of Congressional laws intended to settle the major disagreements between slave states, and free states. To please the North, California was admitted as a free state, and slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C. And to please the South, Congress would not pass laws regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from Mexico, and Congress would pass a stronger law to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe to show immoral and brutal slavery was. The books main character was Uncle Tom an older slave. The book explains Tom's life, and the peculiar institution of slavery. It outraged Northerners by showing what slavery had become and its oppresive nature. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
An 1854 law that established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and gave their residents the right to decide whether to allow slavery using popular sovereignty.Kansas became a slave state while Nebraska was free. This led to the Sack of Lawrence, and the Pottawatomie Massacre. Kansas then became known as Bleeding Kansas. -
Pottawatomie Massacre
John Brown, an extreme abolitionist took seven other men to the cabins of several of his proslavery neighbors and murdered five people.Many Northerners were upset with the outcome of this massacre. In the end John Brown was hung fighting for the abolition of slavery. -
Dred Scott Case
An 1856 Supreme Court case in which a slave, Dred Scott, sued for his freedom because he had been taken to live in territories where slavery was illegal. The court ruled against Scott because he wasn't a U.S citizen, and had no right to sue in U.S courts. He was also bound to the Missouri slave code.Southerners cheered the courts decision. Many Northerners were outraged and looked to the Republican party to halt the growing power of Southern slaveholders. -
Sacking of Lawrence
Pro-slavery activists attacked and ransacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas, which had been founded by anti-slavery settlers. The incident helped ratchet up the guerrilla war in Kansas Territory that became known as Bleeding Kansas. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 was two different races for the presidency, one in the North and one in the South. Lincoln and Douglas were the only candidates with much support in the North. Breckinridge and Bel competed for Southern votes. Lincoln and Douglas had the most extreme views on slavery. Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories. Southerners didn't trust Lincoln because they thought he would abolish slavery in the South. -
South Carolina secedes
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union due to the Election of 1860. Soon after many such as Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded. And it became known as the Confederate States of America. Along with naming Davis president the convention drafted a constitution. The Confederate Constitution was modeled on the U.S Constitution. The Confederate Constitution supported states rights, it also protected slavery. -
Lincoln Introduces Reconstruction Plan
The Ten Percent Plan was 10 percent or more of the population of the voting population of any occupied state who had taken the oath, they were authorized to set up a loyal government. Furthermore, Union troops were kept in the conquered territories and oversaw the states. Lincoln’s focus was to form the Union once-again as quickly as possible. -
13th Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. This amendment was key to a sound end to the Civil War as this amendment settled the issue of slavery. Under this amendment all slavery would be abolished and this would no longer be a controversial issue. -
Election of 1864
Was a crucial and important campaign for Lincoln. Lincoln faced off against his former Union General Mcclellan and his secretary of treasure Chase. With the support of the Republicans and War Democrats Lincoln won the election and continued his presidency. -
Black Codes
Despite the emancipation proclamation adn the 13th amendment southern white supremacist would not allow blacks to have their full freedom. The black codes were implemented to restrict freedom and to compel the blacks to work trivial low wage jobs. These harsh laws allowed the oppression of african americans to continue after slavery. -
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan Enacted
Johnson’s plan was very similar to that of Lincoln’s reconstruction policy. However many moderate and fanatic Republicans thought that Johnson was too lenient to the South.He gave amnesty and pardon to former confederates. He returned all property, except, of course, their slaves, to former Confederates who pledged loyalty to the Union and agreed to support the 13th Amendment. -
The formation of the KKK
Formed in Tenessee by former confederate officers. The goal of the Ku Klux Klan was to restore white supremacy and to terrorize and coerce white republicans and freedmen and women. They would intimidate, mutilate, flog, and murder these people. -
Impeachment of President Johnson-
Johnson was extremely unpopular with the republicans and for good reason. A weak and unconfident leader Johnson’s attempts to reconcile with the South were too generous ad lenient. Steps that Republicans would take to impose harsher restrictions on the South were eagerly vetoed by President Johnson. He was placed on trial and was one short shy of being removed from office. -
14th Amendment
The fourteenth amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person equal protection of the laws.The 14th Amendment helped to protect the rights of African Americans; sadly Southern White supremacist took many efforts to make the lives of the former s -
15th Amendment
The fifteenth amendment granted African American men the right to vote. This amendment granted universal male suffrage. However, the 15th Amendment would have no real effect because of the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, lynchings, violence, and coercion by white southerners to prevent African Americans from voting. -
Enforcement Act of 1870-
Congress was outraged by the KKK. Federal troops were instruct to stamp out as much of the KKK as possible. Once arrested and tried, member s of the KKK were tried as criminal ,murderers, and terrorists.
