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Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay worked out a plan to create a compromise that both the North and the south could accept. Clay's compromise contained provisions to appease Northerners as well as Southerners. The North was pleased by California being admitted to the Union as a free state. The South was pleased by proposing a new and more effective fugitive slave law. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe published this Novel to stress that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. Uncle Tom's Cabin expressed her lifetime hatred of slavery. The book stirred Northern Abolitionists to increase their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act. The novel sold 300,000 copies within the first three months. -
Bleeding Kansas
Both supporters and opponents of slavery attempted to populate Kansas in order to win the vote on slavery in the territory. By March of 1855 Kansas had enough settlers to hold an election for a territorial legislature. However, thousands of "border ruffians" fro the slave state of Missouri crossed into Kansas, voted illegally, and won a fraudulent majority for the proslavery candidates. It wasn't long before bloody violence surfaced in the struggle for Kansas -
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave whose owner took him from the slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin back to Missouri. Dred Scott tried to sue and say that he was a free man because he lived on a non slave territory. The supreme court claimed him as property and couldn't take him away from the owner. Dred Scott was still considered a slave. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes President
Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential campaign. Lincoln appeared to be moderate in his views. Although he pledged to halt the further spread of slavery, he also tried to reassure southerners that a republican administration would "not interfere with their slaves." -
Southern Sucession
After Lincoln being elected as president he convinced Southerners that they had lost their political voice in the national government. South Carolina was the first state to secede in December 20, 1860. -
Bull Run
Bull Run was the first bloodshed battle, it occurred just 25 miles away from Washington D.C. The confederates won this battle led by General Stonewall Jackson. -
Antietam
This clash proved to be the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with casualties totaling more than 26,000. The next day, instead of pursuing the battered confederate army into Virginia and possibly ending the war, McClellan did nothing. As a result, Lincoln removed him from command. This was a great victory for the Union. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln's powers as commander in chief allowed him to order his troops to seize enemy resources. Therefore, he decided that, just as he could order the Union army to take Confederate supplies, he could also authorize the army to emancipate slaves. -
Gettysburg Address
A ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg. President Lincoln spoke for a little more than two minutes. Accordingly to some contemporary historians, Lincoln's Gettysburg address remade America. The speech helped the country to realize that it was not just a collection of individual states; it was on unified nation. -
Gettysburg
This war was the most decisive one that was fought. Confederate soldiers were led by A.P. Hill encountered several brigades of Union Calvary. This war last 3 days and resulted in staggering 23,000 union men casualties and 28,000 confederate casualties. This was a great win for the Union -
Vicksburg
Grant had tried several schemes to reach Vicksburg and take it from the confederates. Grant tried weakening the confederate defenses that protected Vicksburg. Pemberton (confederate leader) finally surrendered on July 4th. Grant's Vicksburg campaign was one of the most brilliant of the war. The Union controlled the entire Mississippi River and the Confederacy was effectively split in half. This war last two months from May to July of 1863 -
Sherman's March
In the spring of 1864, Sherman began his march southeast through Georgia to the sea,creating a wide path of destruction. His army burned almost every house in its path and destroyed livestock and railroads. He tried to make southerners so sick of the war. -
The Surrender at Appomattox
On April 3rd, 1865 the union conquered Richmond, the confederate capital. On April 9th, 1865 Lee and Grant met at a private home to arrange a confederate surrender. Which they did surrender -
Lincoln's Assassination
5 days after General Lee surrender to the Union Lincoln and his wife went to Ford's Theatre in Washington to see a British Comedy. During the third act of the comedy, a man crept up behind Lincoln and shot the president in the back of his head. The man was John Wilkes Booth, 12 days later the Union cavalry trapped him in a barn and shot him dead
