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Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law was passed by Congress in 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850. This law stated that slaves be returned to their slave owners even if they were in a free state, and made the federal government in charge of finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a combination of five bills passed by the U.S. Congress in 1850 that relieved a political conflict between slave and free states on the status of land gained from the Mexican–American War. This allowed the U.S. to expand its territory by gaining California as a state, so it would create wealth and riches for the U.S. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was an anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It had a large impact on the attitudes towards slavery and African Americans in America, and "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War." It impelled the abolitionist movement, and led the outbreak of the war because it was the best-selling book, second to the bible. -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase was an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico in which the U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for part of Mexico that would become part of Arizona and New Mexico. The U.S. gained about 30,00 square miles of land from Mexico. -
Kanagawa Treaty
The Kanagawa Treaty, signed in 1854, was the first treaty between the U.S. and the Tokugawa shogunate, the military government of Japan at the time. This was the result of an encounter between a mission for the U.S. to open Japan and a resolute Japanese policy of forbidding commerce with foreign nations. In this treaty, the two countries agreed to partake in limited trade and agreed to the safe return of American sailors. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was an act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It allowed for the people in Kansas and Nebraska whether or not they wanted to allow slavery in their territory. This served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. -
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the U.S. that was the result of the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Since the world economy was so connected, this panic was coined the first worldwide economic crisis. The depression increased tension among the U.S. which was already on the verge of the Civil War. -
Dredd Scott vs Sanford
Dred Scott v. Sanford was a court case that decided that African Americans, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. They ruled that congress lacked power to abolish slavery in U.S. territory, and that the rights of slaveowners were protected by the fifth amendment because slaves were considered property. -
Crittenden Compromise
The Crittenden Compromise was introduced by U.S. Senator John J. Crittenden in 1860. It was an unsuccessful proposal to preserve slavery in the U.S. Constitution, and thereby make it illegal for future congresses to end slavery. It was an attempt to prevent the secession of the South and to avoid the Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and went into effect on January 1, 1863. This declared that all slaves in states that were rebelling against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 granted adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and 5 years of continuous residence on that land. This gave everybody a "fair chance" during the westward expansion. -
Vicksburg
The Battle of Vicksburg or Siege of Vicksburg, May 18, 1863 – Jul 4, 1863, was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. The Vicksburg campaign was a series of battles in the Western Theater of the Civil War mainly against Vicksburg, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. This was a great victory for the Union and gave them control of the Mississippi River. -
Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. This was considered one of the most important battles considering it had the most deaths of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment states 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, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." This amendment was very significant because it formally abolished slavery in the U.S. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act 1866 was the first U.S. law to define citizenship and declare that all citizens are equally protected by the law. This also made it illegal to deny anybody the right to citizenship based off race. -
Crédit Mobilier
Crédit Mobilier was a fake construction company that was hired to build the Union Pacific Railroad by financing it with unmarketable bonds. The company also provided a way to distribute the immense profits from building the railroad to the board of directors and its shareholders. They hurt the careers of many Gilded Age politicians in a scandal related to the Union Pacific Railroad. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was a law that granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S. and guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws." This amendment was inclusive of former slaves and was passed during the Reconstruction Era to abolish slavery and establish civil rights for African Americans. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This basically just made it to where nobody could be denied suffrage based on race. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public transportation and public accommodations and service on juries. Although, the U.S. Supreme Court declared this unconstitutional during the Civil Rights cases. This would ultimately pave the for segregation, discrimination, and racism. -
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an unwritten deal that settled the intensely debated presidential election of 1876. This resulted in the U.S. federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, and the end of reconstruction. Southern Democrats promised to protect civil and political rights of blacks, but that didn't hold up. Plus, the end of federal interference in southern affairs led to widespread disenfranchisement of blacks voters.
