-
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a sea fort in Charleston, South Carolina, notable for two battles, the first of which signified the start of the American Civil War. -
Alamo
he site of Texan defeat during the Texan Revolution- Santa Anna's forces laid siege to San Antonio, whose 200 Texan defenders retreated into an abandoned mission, the Alamo. ... definition: a surprise attack by Texas forces on Santa Anna's camp. -
Manifest destiny
Manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the 19th-century United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America. -
“Fifty-four Forty or Fight”
Fifty-four forty or fight, in U.S. history, phrase commonly used by extremists in the controversy with Great Britain over the Oregon country. The rights of the United States, they maintained, extended to the whole region, i.e., to lat. 54°40′N, the recognized southern boundary of Russian America. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a proposal to prohibit slavery in the territory acquired by the United States at the conclusion of the Mexican War. In 1846, David Wilmot a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, proposed the Wilmot Proviso. -
Mexican War 1846-47
When war broke out against Mexico in May 1846, the United States Army numbered a mere 8,000, but soon 60,000 volunteers joined their ranks. -
Treaty Guadalupe Hidalgo
On this day, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed. On February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in Mexico without President James K. Polk's knowledge. The United States acquired about 55 percent of Mexico's territory for $15 million. -
Gold rush
The Gold Rush significantly influenced the history of California and the United States. It created a lasting impact by propelling significant industrial and agricultural development and helped shape the course of California's development by spurring its economic growth and facilitating its transition to statehood. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–American War. -
Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. ... Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law", for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. -
Ostend Manifesto 1852
The Ostend Manifesto proposed a shift in foreign policy, justifying the use of force to seize Cuba in the name of national security. It resulted from debates over slavery in the United States, Manifest Destiny, and the Monroe Doctrine, as slaveholders sought new territory for slavery's expansion. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War". -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase, known in Mexico as Spanish: Venta de La Mesilla, is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854 -
Kanagawa Treaty
On March 31, 1854, the Convention of Kanagawa or Kanagawa Treaty became the first treaty between the United States and the Tokugawa shogunate. -
Free-soil movement
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States. -
“bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in the United States between 1854 and 1861 which emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. -
KS-NE Act 1854
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was an organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin Pierce. -
Pottawatomie Creek
The Pottawatomie massacre occurred during the night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by pro-slavery forces, John Brown and a band of abolitionist -
Sumner-Brooks incident
He is most remembered for his May 22, 1856, attack upon abolitionist and Republican Senator Charles Sumner, whom he beat nearly to death; Brooks beat Sumner with a cane on the floor of the United States Senate in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech in which Sumner verbally attacked Brooks's second cousin -
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the 1850s, the financial crisis that began in late 1857 was the first worldwide economic crisis. -
Dred Scott v Sanford
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court held that the Constitution of the United States was not meant to include American citizenship -
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution (1857) was one of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas. It was drafted by pro-slavery advocates and included provisions to protect slaveholding in the state and to exclude free blacks from its bill of rights. -
Lincoln-Douglas debates
The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It has been called the dress rehearsal for the Civil War. -
Crittenden Compromise
The Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal to permanently enshrine slavery in the United States Constitution, and thereby make it unconstitutional for future congresses to end slavery. It was introduced by United States Senator John J. Crittenden on December 18, 1860. -
Republican Party & Election of 1860
The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860. In a four-way contest, the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin emerged triumphant. -
SC secession
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. ... — Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina, (December 24, 1860). -
Border states
The border states were slave states that did not secede from the Union when the Confederacy formed in 1860-1861. These states included Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. ... If they had joined the Confederacy, their manufacturing abilities would have doubled. -
Morrill Tariff Act 1861
The Morrill Tariff of 1861 was an increased import tariff in the United States, adopted on March 2, 1861, during the administration of President James Buchanan, a Democrat. ... The Morrill Tariff raised rates to encourage domestic industry and to foster high wages for industrial workers. -
Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Battle of Manassas, was the first major battle of the American Civil War and was a Confederate victory. -
Anaconda Plan
The Anaconda Plan is the name applied to a Union Army outline strategy for suppressing the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. -
Suspension of habeas
On April 27, 1861, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia to give military authorities the necessary power to silence dissenters and rebels. Under this order, commanders could arrest and detain individuals who were deemed threatening to military operations -
MS 54th Regiment
54th Regiment, in full Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts infantry unit made up of African Americans that was active during the American Civil War (1861–65). The 54th Regiment became famous for its fighting prowess and for the great courage of its members. -
Morrill Land Grant Act
Morrill Land-Grant Acts. Other short titles. Land-Grant Agricultural and Mechanical College Act of 1862. Long title. An Act donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. -
Pacific Railway Act 1862
The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 were a series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies -
Homestead Act 1862
The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. -
Antietam
The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War, fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate -
Monitor v Merrimac
The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was a famous and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War. -
Gettysburg
It’s known for Gettysburg National Battlefield, site of a turning point in the Civil War, now part of Gettysburg National Military Park. The park also includes the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center, displaying Civil War artifacts, and Gettysburg National Cemetery, where a memorial marks the site of Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address. -
Corpus
a collection of written texts, especially the entire works of a particular author or a body of writing on a particular subject. -
Emancipation Proc.
The Emancipation Proclamation, or Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and effective as of January 1, 1863 -
Vicksburg
It’s known as the site of a key Civil War battle. The Siege of Vicksburg is commemorated at the vast Vicksburg National Military Park, which encompasses the Vicksburg National Cemetery and the restored USS Cairo gunboat. The landmark Old Court House has a museum displaying Civil War artifacts. The Lower Mississippi River Museum features an aquarium and interactive exhibits. -
Sherman’s March
Sherman's March to the Sea was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. -
13th Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. -
Civil Rights Act 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14 Stat. 27–30, enacted April 9, 1866, was the first United States federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law. ... Following passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, Congress ratified the 1866 Act in 1870. -
Credit Mobilier
The Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1867, which came to public attention in 1872, was a two-part fraud by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the eastern portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. -
14th Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. -
15th Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. -
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 until 1877, and even longer in France and Britain. -
Civil Rights Act 1875
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 sometimes called the Enforcement Act or the Force Act, was a United States federal law enacted during the Reconstruction era in response to civil rights violations against African Americans.