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First Bought Slaves
English settlers in Virginia purchase 20 Africans from a Dutch ship. The Africans were sold as indentured servants, not slaves. The distinction being an indentured servant may ultimately become free for working for some number of years. It was not long before all Africans arriving were treated as slaves, bought and sold into a lifetime of slavery for them and their descendents. -
Maryland
Maryland becomes the first colony to enact laws that recognize slavery for life. Under prior English law slaves who became Christians were granted freedom. -
First Organized Protest
The first organized protest against slavery in the new world was drafted by a group of Quakers in Germantown, PA. Known as the Germantown Protest, it argued that Christians should do as they would want to be done to them, that slavery was essentially theft as you were buying something stolen and that adultery is wrong yet slave traders/owners forced adultery on men and women by breaking up marriages when they resold husbands and wives to different owners. How could as Christians, could such acti -
Southerns Loss
All of these problems kept the war going on and on until General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army after four long and painful years. -
Independance
The colonies declare independence from English rule with the adoption of The Declaration of Independence. Written largely by Thomas Jefferson, the document declares "all men are created equal." Jefferson and many of the signers of the document are slave holders. -
First Census
The results of the first national census as ordered by Congress show a total population of 3,893,874 including 694,207 slaves or 18% of the population. Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont have no slaves. 43% of the population in South Carolina are slaves and 39% for Virginia and 35% for Georgia. -
Slave Act Passed
Congress passes the first Fugitive Slave Act. The act allowed for the recovery of runaway slaves and authorized the arrest or seizure of fugitives. The act also created a fine of $500 for any person who aided a fugitive -
Band Of Slaves
In the town of Stono, South Carolina a band of slaves starts an insurrection. Previous runaway slaves had made their way to Florida, where they had been given freedom and land. The Spanish had issued a proclamation stating that any slave who deserted to St. Augustine, Florida would be given freedom. -
Economic Differences Between North & South
The Northern people were starting to mature with trying to ban slavery as the Southerners were still with slavery. -
Eli's Invention
Eli Whitney receives patent for the Cotton Gin. The machine greatly increased the production of cleaned cotton thus making cotton a profitable crop for the first time and increasing the need and production value for slaves. -
Armed Slave Rebellion
August - Slave Gabriel Prosser leads a group of armed slaves in rebellion. His plan involved seizing Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia and taking Governor James Monroe as a hostage, in order to bargain with city authorities for freedom. Ultimately Gabriel, along with many followers, were captured and executed. -
Ohio's Free State
Ohio becomes the seventeenth state and enters the Union as a free state based on the terms of the Northwest Ordinance. -
Southerns Struggle
The Confederates fought for recognition as an independent nation. In other words the Confederates wanted to break away from the Union. Also they said they had to win the American Civil War in order to stay independent. -
Tariff Compromise
A Compromise Tariff Act is passed as a means of gradually reducing the tariffs of concern in the southern states. Confrontation is averted with this compromise. -
New York Aboloshing Slavery
The state of New York abolishes slavery. -
Harriet
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland. She reportedly returned to the South 19 times and brought out more than 300 slaves. -
Recongnition
The results of the 1850 census show a total population of 23,054,152 including 3,200,600 slaves or 14% of the population. Slaves are virtually non-existent in northern states and as high as 58% in South Carolina and 51% in Mississippi. September - Congress implements several measures forming the Compromise of 1850. The measures included California joining the Union as a free state, the territories of New Mexico and Utah are organized with no restrictions on slavery, slave trading is abolished -
Lincoln's Try
On April 15, 1861 Lincoln called out for black troops to enforce the law and force the Confederates to return to the Union. Then Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee seceded. Then the Confederates were called the Confederates states of America. That meant the Confederates got what they wanted but the war was not over yet. -
Southern Rebellion
The American Civil War started its painful years on 4:10 a.m. April 12, 1861 when Fort Sumter was attacked. The Civil War ended April 9, 1865. The war led to many changes in Americas history like the war ended slavery in the United States of America, it settled the question of whether a state can secede from the United States of America, and the war kept the United States together. -
Vermonth 14th Free State
Vermont becomes the fourteenth state and enters the Union as a free state. It was the first state to be admitted after the adoption of the Constitution by the 13 original states.
