-
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was a federal law that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. The Fugitive Slave Act added provisions regarding runaways and levied even harsher punishments for interfering in their capture. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act opening up these territories to let the people decide whether they wanted slavery or not (popular sovereignty). -
The Dred Scott Case
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott, and stated that slaves were not citizens that they were property and owners could take their property wherever they wanted in the U.S. The Supreme Court also struck down the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This decision outraged abolitionists in the North, but pleased southern slave owners. -
1860 Presidential Election
Abraham Lincoln wins the 1860 Presidential election even though he was not on most ballots in the South. -
South Carolina seceded from the Union
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. More southern states will follow and create the Confederate States of America. -
The Civil War begins
The U.S. Civil War begins as the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first major battle of the Civil War was the First Battle of Bull Run. The Confederate victory gave the South a surge of confidence and shocked many in the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped. -
Battle of Shiloh
A major two day battle in the western front of the Civil War that saw a narrow victory for the Union was the Battle of Shiloh. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was the first battle of the Civil War to be fought on northern soil. After a string of Union defeats, this Union victory provided President Abraham Lincoln what he needed to issue his Emancipation Proclamation. This battle remains the bloodiest single day in American history. -
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln soon after the Union victory at Antietam, issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He declared that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” While the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave, it was important transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom. -
Union victory at Gettysburg
After the Confederate victory over the Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On July 3, Lee ordered the assault, known as “Pickett’s Charge" that failed, and Lee was forced to withdraw his battered army toward Virginia on July 4. -
Union victory at Vicksburg
Union forces waged a campaign to take the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which lay on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The capture of Vicksburg divided the Confederacy and proved the military genius of Union General Ulysses S. Grant, and helped turn the momentum of the war. -
South Surrenders
Near the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. But the resulting Battle of Appomattox Court House, which lasted only a few hours, effectively brought the four-year Civil War to an end. -
President Andrew Johnson Impeached
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson because of the removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The House vote made President Johnson the first president to be impeached in U.S. history. President Johnson's impeachment trial began in the Senate and they failed to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary to convict him. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution in 1870.
