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The Election of Abraham Lincoln
The Republican Party nominated for Abraham Lincoln as their candidate in the Election of 1860. Even though Lincoln only had 40% of the electoral votes, he still won the election because there were 4 candidates. -
Secession of the Southern States
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the nation. After three months, seven other states seceded as well. These states that had seceded from the United States of America formed their own nation called The Confederate States of America. The Confederacy elected President Jefferson Davis. -
Civil War
The event that started the war was the Battle at Fort Sumter even though the real fighting began in 1862. By 1864, the original plan of the North was replaced by a tactic called total war. By the spring of 1865, all the principal Confederate armies surrendered. This war was the largest and most destructive conflict in the Western world between the end of the Napoleonic War and Word War I. -
1st African American Elected to Congress
Hiram Revels was the first African American elected to Congress; specifically the Senate. Revels had took the Senate seat from Mississippi that had been vacated by Jefferson Davis. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves in rebellious states forever free. Although this did not actually free the slaves, it was an important turning point in the war. -
13th Amandment
The 13th amendment formally abolished slavery in The United States. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth fatally shot President Lincoln in the head at Ford's Theatre in Washington,D.C. This attack was 5 days after the surrender of the Confederate Army. Lincoln had occupied a private box and at 10:15 Booth slipped in and shot Lincoln in the head. -
Reconstruction
Reconstruction was the rebuilding of the south after the Civil War. During this time, a new set of challenges took place. Who would rebuild the south? Where would the freed African Americans settle? -
Sharecropping
Many of the former slaves had expected the federal government to give them land. General William Sherman encouraged this and granted a number of freed slaves 40 acres of abandoned land. -
Freedman's Buraeu
The Freedmen's Bureau gave food, housing, and medical aid to African Americans. It also established schools and offered legal assistance. -
Radical Reconstruction
The Radical Republicans believed that the Confederate leaders should be punished for their crimes. They opposed Andrew Johnson's policies. Jackson's policies included letting the south come back without punishment; Forgive and Forget. -
14th Amandment
The 14th Amendment gave all people born or naturalized in the United States; including former saves; citizenship. It also gave them the same rights as those who had it before. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote. -
Civil Rights Act 1875
The original bill outlawed racial discrimination. The seven African American Representatives gave their two-cents about it. The Senate struck down the 1875 Civil Rights Bill on the account that the Constitution did not extend to private businesses.
