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Nat Turner Slave Revolt
A 48 hour slave rebellion in which a group of slaves unsuccessful attempt to overthrow and kill planter families. Lasting impact on whites: fear another slave rebellion could happen again. At the end of the day, the rebellion tightened the grip on slavery -
William Lloyd Garrison Published The Liberator
In production from 1831-1865, it was an abolitionist newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison. The paper gained nationwide notoriety for its uncompromising advocacy for emancipation. The paper was resisted by many legislatures and local groups; such as in S. Carolina. The newspaper ended with the ratification of the 13th amendment, which banned all slavery in the US. -
American Anti-Slavery Society Begins
Founded by local anti slavery societies in 1833. They met in Philly and formed a national organization. -
Sarah Grimke's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women published
The main point of the letters was that women often believe what their culture has taught them about gender, but they should imagine expanded roles for themselves. -
Arrival of Scalawags and Carpetbaggers in the South
“Scalawags” were white Southerners who supported the party, “carpetbaggers” were recent arrivals from the North, and freedmen were freed slaves. Politically, the carpetbaggers were usually dominant; they comprised the majority of Republican governors and congressmen. -
Henry Highland Garnet's "Address to the Slaves of the United States of America"
Henry Highland Garnet lead African American abolitionist and clergyman. He influence of some false religion and a sense of irresponsibility -- to argue that black people cannot rely on white Americans to realize the wrongs of this institution and make a change. He argues that slaves have "a moral obligation to God" to lift themselves from ignorance. -
Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls
The meeting took place in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19th and 20th 1848. 300 Women and 40 men went to the second day to discuss the rights of women. They wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, which among other things, tried to get women the right to vote. -
Harriet Tubman Escapes from Slavery
Born a slave on a Maryland plantation, she escaped to the North in 1849 and became the most renowned conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading more than 300 slaves to freedom. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Following increased pressure from Southern politicians, Congress passed a revised Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. Part of Henry Clay's famed Compromise of 1850—a group of bills that helped quiet early calls for Southern secession—this new law forcibly compelled citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts -
Compromise of 1850
A set of laws, passed in the midst of fierce wrangling between groups favoring slavery and groups opposing it, that attempted to give something to both sides. The compromise admitted California to the United States as a free state but allowed some newly acquired territories to decide on slavery for themselves. Part of the Compromise included the Fugitive Slave Act, which proved highly unpopular in the North. Senator Henry Clay was a force behind the passage of the compromise. -
Sojourner Truth Delivered her "Ain't I a Woman" Speech
Sojourner was giving a speech at a women's convention in Akron Ohio in 1851. The main topic was surrounded women wanting to have rights to vote and to make the country a better place. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe Published Uncle Tom's Cabin
A novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 which portrayed slavery as brutal and immoral. Mentions that slavery "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War". -
Creation of the Radical Republicans
Radical Republicans wanted to democratize the South, establish public education, and ensure the rights or free people; strongly promoted free blacks and black suffrage. -
Bleeding Kansas
This name was given to the time period between 1854 and 1856 marked by civil unrest regarding the Free or Slave state question. It was named "Bleeding Kansas" due to the many lives lost. -
Republican Party Founded
Political party formed in 1854 to stop the spread of the slavery in the west. Anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats, Free Soilers and reformers from the Northwest met and formed party in order to keep slavery out of the territories. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an 1854 bill that mandated "popular sovereignty". Thus allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state's borders. Senator Douglas wanted to divide the territory into the Nebraska Territory and the Kansas Territory. -
Panic of 1857
A notable sudden collapse in the economy caused by over speculation in railroads and lands, false banking practices, and a break in the flow of European capital to American investments as a result of the Crimean War. Since it did not effect the South as bad as the North, they gained a sense of superiority. -
Dred Scott Decision
Legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a slave who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom. -
Lecompton Constitution
Constitution passed by Kansas's pro-slavery legislature. President Buchanan endorsed the constitution to keep his support with Southern Dems. Many northern democrats were against the constitution. The constitution never passed the house. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Slavery is the issue debated by both candidates. Douglas wanted slavery determined by popular sovereignty and Lincoln accepted slavery where it currently was but did not want it to expand into the new territories. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown wanted slaves to fight for their freedom. He tried to arm slaves and get them to fight, but no slave fought. Brown and his men killed four people and succeeded in capturing it. -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
When the ordinance was adopted on December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. The declaration also claims that secession was declared as a result of the refusal of free states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts. -
Democratic Party Splits into Northern and Southern Halves
In the presidential election of 1860, the Democratic Party split in two, with Stephen Douglas running for the Northern Democratic Party, and John C. Breckinridge representing the Southern Democratic Party. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
He gained national attention in 1858 debating a top national Democratic leader Stephen A. Douglas. Although he lost that race he became the western candidate for the 1860 presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. He swept the North and was elected president in 1860. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln -
Confederate States of America Founded
A republic formed in February of 1861 and composed of the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States. -
Firing on Fort Sumter
500 of the confederacy attacked the 80 of the union in Charleston Harbor, found in South Carolina. It was important because the confederacy not attacked Fort Sumter there is a chance that the Confederate States would still exist today, although by now slavery would most likely have been abolished anyway in the south. -
Battle of Antietam
Civil War battle in which the North succeeded in halting Lee's Confederate forces in Maryland. It was the bloodiest battle of the war resulting in 25,000 casualties -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the turning points of the American Civil War. The South lost many of its men, including generals and colonels, and Gen. Robert E. Lee lost all hope of invading the North. He fought the rest of the war on the defensive. https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Gettysburg -
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address to encourage people to take action in improving the nation, honor those who does in the Battle of Gettysburg, and reuniting the north and south. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The emancipation proclamation declared all salves in confederate territory free. This did not free many slaves because they land was under confederate control so the union had trouble freeing them. The plantations were usually located far away from the union. This law also said that that northern slaves were not free. Lincoln didn't want to free all salves because he thought he didn't have the constitutional power to do so. This weakened the south and made the civil war into a war of liberation. -
Abraham Lincoln Reelected
Abraham was reelected as president against a top ranking general of the Civil War, George B. McClellan. The Democratic and Republican party came together to reelect Lincoln. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
General William T. Sherman led 60,000 northern troops over the Georgia countryside south of Atlanta. The consumed or destroyed everything in their way. They marched to sea because it was a railway center and they wanted to cut the supply line. -
General U.S. Grant Assumed Command of Union Troops
In March 1864, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and went east to assume command of all the Union armies. Sherman succeeded him in command of the Military Division of the Mississippi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Theater_of_the_American_Civil_War -
Period of "Redemption" after the Civil War
Reconstruction: A period of U.S. history, from 1865 to 1877, during which the nation tried to resolve the status of the ex-Confederate states, the ex-Confederate leaders, and freedmen (ex-slaves) after the American Civil War. -
Ku Klux Klan formed
The KKK was a group started by 6 civil war officers. The purpose of the group was to kill and intimidate blacks. The direst in white sheets so they would look like the ghosts of dead confederate soldiers. -
Freedman's Bureau Established
An experiment in government social policy. Bureau agents were supposed to establish schools, provide aids to the poor and aged, settle disputes between white and blacks and among the freed people, and secure for former slaves and white Unionists equal treatment before the courts. -
Johnson Announced Plans for Presidential Reconstruction
The reconstruction was a time after the Civil War in which they would try to rebuild the South. Andrew Johnson's plan, which stated that most Southerners would be granted amnesty once they swore loyalty to the Union, high-ranking or wealthy Confederates could be pardoned by appealing to the president, only loyal, pardoned whites were allowed to vote for delegates to the states constitutional conventions. -
Andrew Johnson Became President
Andrew Johnson was vice-president of the United States during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Johnson became the 17th president after Lincoln's assassination. -
Lee Surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House
Grant's large army pursued Lee's in Virginia and engaged in series of running fights. Union forces blocked Lee's retreat at a town called Appomattox Court House. -
Congress Passed the 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments adopted in the five years following the American Civil War. The 13th Amendment, passed by Congress January 31, 1865, and ratified December 6, 1865. Although President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, there were several problems with relying on it to ensure an end to slavery in the U.S. -
Lincoln Assassination
John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln in the Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. He jumped off the box, but his spur was caught on the American flag, so he fell to the stage, shouted something, and ran out. -
Civil Rights Act Passed over Jonson's Veto
The Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress on 9th April 1866 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition. https://spartacus-educational.com/USAcivil1866.htm -
First Congressional Reconstruction Act passed
The Reconstruction Act was the name given to a series of four laws or statutes passed by Congress in 1867 and 1868 that overrode the presidential veto of Andrew Johnson. -
Andrew Johnson Impeached
Andrew Jackson was the 17th president of the United States. His impeachment was caused by political conflict and a rupture of ideologies in the aftermath of the Civil War. -
14th Amendment Ratified
On July 28, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. Known as the "Reconstruction Amendment," it forbids any state to deny any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -
U.S. Grant Elected President
At 46 years old, he became the youngest president of the United States. 18th president, member of the Republican Party. Grant did not campaign but won electorate, including many African Americans in the South, overwhelmingly reelected him. -
15th Amendment Ratified
Despite Democratic opposition, the Republicans steadily won ratification victories throughout 1869. Ironically, it was a Southern state, Georgia that clinched the ratification of the 15th Amendment on February 2, 1870. On March 30, President Grant officially proclaimed the 15th Amendment as part of the Constitution. http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/african-americans-and-the-15th-amendment -
Slaughterhouse Cases (Supreme Court)
The LA legislature, under state police power, grants a slaughterhouse monopoly to protect the health of it's citizens. They grant a corrupt charter to one slaughterhouse which puts over 1,000 small butchers out of business. -
U.S. v. Cruikshank
Following the Colfax Massacre, William Cruikshank argued that his conviction was unconstitutional because the his actions weren't under the authority of federal law. The Supreme Court overturned Cruikshank's conviction, saying that the federal government could only regulate the actions of states regarding civil rights, it was up to the states to regulate the actions of individuals. This limited the power of the 14th and 15th amendments, as well as the Civil Rights Acts. -
Compromise of 1877
An unwritten informal deal between the republican and democrats of congress to recognize this republican president if fallowing action took place.
