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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. The proposed amendment narrowly passed through the House of Representatives and was then defeated in the Senate.
Sources: Ohio History Central
Study.com -
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Mexican-American War
A response to America's annexation of Texas in 1845. It was also sprung from a dispute on whether Texas ended at the Rio Grande or the Nueces River. When President James Polk made a war message to Congress, General Zachary Taylor's troops were killed by Mexicans who crossed the Rio Grande. America eventually won the war, resulting in more than 500,000 square miles dominated from Mexican territory from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean.
Source: Britannica -
Mexican Cession
In relation to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Mexican Cession recognized Texas as a state, and a large chunk of land that once belonged to the Mexicans was given to the United States for $15 million. The treaty also said that Mexicans who stayed in these states would become U.S. citizens, but everything was stripped from them by American businessmen.
Source: Annenburg Learner -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
After the Mexican-American War, a treaty was signed in Mexico, allowing 525,000 square miles to United States territory. This territory included landmarks that would be presently known as Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Source: HISTORY -
Compromise of 1850
consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state, potentially upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. Senate. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South.
Source: Library of Congress -
Fugitive State Law
Federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. It began in 1793, with the local governments being allowed to bring back runaway slaves to their owners and punish those who helped them. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was then established with a similar concept, but it would have harsher punishments along with it.
Source: HISTORY -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Residents in the Kansas and Nebraska territories were allowed to decide if they should let slavery be permitted within their borders. The Act was supposed to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The people of the North and South rushed to Kansas for this election, but it soon lead to harsh disagreements and violence.
Source: The History Place -
Period: to
"Bleeding Kansas"
Following the events of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, Kansas was divided because of the tension of the anti-slavery Northerners and the pro-slavers from the South. This event led to both the establishments of the Republican Party and the Civil War.
Source: Enotes -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave who lived in Wisconsin for three years since 1833. In 1840, he moved to Louisiana, where slavery was forbidden under the Missouri Compromise. In 1843, his owner, Dr. John Emerson, died, leaving Scott and his family under the hands of his wife, Eliza Irene Sanford. She refused freedom for them, leaving Scott to sue her because he and his family lived in an area where slavery was prohibited. The ruling was in favor of Sanford.
Source: Thirteen.org -
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Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. Douglas defeated Lincoln, but Lincoln became the spokesperson for the Republican cause.
Source: Britannica -
Period: to
Raid of Harpers Ferry
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. It was a major turning point in the American abolitionist movement, causing many peaceful abolitionists to accept more militant measures to push for the end of slavery.
Sources: History
American Battlefield Trust -
Election of 1860
United States presidential election of 1860, American presidential election held on Nov. 6, 1860, in which Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. This was a victory for the Republican party as they are opposed to slavery.
Sources: Britannica
West Virginia Division of Culture and History -
Period: to
Battle of Fort Sumpter
The first battle of the American Civil War; The Union and the Confederacy have been having tensions within the fort in South Carolina. The Confederates of Major Robert Anderson opened fire on the small garrison of the Union, which caused the Unions to surrender.
Source: HistoryNet -
Battle of Antietam
Another battle that took place during the Civil War. Confederate and Union troops in the Civil War clash near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest single day in American military history. This was Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the Northern states. However, the Union decided to fight back and won the battle. Both sides faced heavy death counts, which in total was 23,000.
Sources: HISTORY
SoftSchools -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln abolishes slavery in the Confederate states if the States did not return to the Union. In this case, the proclamation would come into effect if the Union won the Civil War. Therefore, Confederate States were exempt from this proclamation until the Civil War was over.
Source: American Battlefield Trust
National Archives -
Period: to
Battle of Vicksburg
The Union had complete control over the Mississippi River and other seaports from the South (which they had been planning to do since the beginning of the battle). They also shut down trades, transportation, and military from the Confederacy. The Confederacy was split into two, causing Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas to be isolated from the rest of the South.
Sources: Study.com
Battle of Vicksburg- Prezi -
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Battle of Gettysburg
The largest battle ever fought during the Civil War and in the United States; Confederate commander Robert E. Lee focused on invading the North, and attempted to convinced them to stop supporting the war.
Source: History on the Net -
Election of 1864
President Abraham Lincoln gets reelected and wins against Democrat nominee, George McClellan. Lincoln was seen as a moderate on slavery. The country was war weary and the Democratic Party's nominee, George McClellan, was likely to negotiate a peace treaty with the Confederacy if elected.
Sources: Library of Congress
Britannica -
Freedmen's Bureau
Established by Congress to help millions of black slaves and poor whites in the South to recover from the Civil War. It was the first step to equality, freeing slaves and restoring society. It was formerly known as Bureau of Refugees and Freedom of Abandoned Lands.
Sources: HISTORY
Encyclopedia.com -
Lincoln's Assassination
President Abraham Lincoln gets assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater. This was after General Lee's submission to the Union, signaling the end of the Civil War. He and other conspirators (David Herold, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt were arrested, found guilty, and hanged. -
13th Amendment
“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.” The abolition of slavery was put into effect after the Civil War ended. It took years for the Amendment to pass because many Democrats refused to support it.
Source: HISTORY -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition. As citizens they could make and enforce contracts, sue and be sued, give evidence in court, and inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property. Those who denied those rights to former slaves were fined and guilty of violating this act.
Source:Spartacus Educational -
14th Amendment
Section 1 states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Representative Thaddeus Stevens coined in the idea back in April under President Johnson. Veto proof majorities were established in both Houses in Congress, and the Southerners were required to ratify this Amendment as well.
Source: HISTORY -
Military Reconstruction
The purpose of the Reconstruction was to help the South become a part of the Union again. Federal troops occupied much of the South during the Reconstruction to insure that laws were followed and that another uprising did not occur. The Civil War left a lot of damage with burned plantations and farms and destroyed crops, which resulted in a time period where the nation needed to recover.
Source: Ducksters -
15th Amendment
“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 amendment also granted the right to vote to African American men. It was over the veto under President Andrew Johnson, and divided the South into five districts that depended on how they would run on how to establish suffrage.
Source: HISTORY -
Election of 1867
One of the most controversial presidential elections in United States history. It put an end to the Reconstruction movement. In this election, neither the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, and the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden, gained a clear cut victory. Tilden won the popular vote, but there was a dispute over the electoral votes of four states.
Source: ENotes -
Compromise of 1877
It settle the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election. The secret deal ensured that the Republican Party candidate, Rutherford Hayes, would become the next president and that the Democrats would regain political power in the southern state governments. The compromise had free slaves' rights taken away in the governments of the Southern states.
Sources: American Historama
ENotes