U.S. History Civil War Timeline

Gadsden Purchase

Dec 30, 1853

A treaty singed by the United States that allowed them to purchase present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

Republican Party Formed

Mar 20, 1854

The formation of one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

May 30, 1854

Allowed people from Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.

Lincoln–Douglas debates

Oct 15, 1858

Seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas for the United States Senate.

Abraham Lincoln Elected 16th President of the United States

Nov 6, 1860

Abraham Lincoln served as president from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.

Emancipation Proclamation became effective

Jan 1, 1863

Abraham Lincoln used it to claim all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Sherman's "March to the Sea"

Dec 21, 1864

Campaign of the Civil War through Georgia.

Lee Surrenders

Apr 9, 1865

Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House with the most celebrated Confederate Army.

Lincoln Assassination

Apr 14, 1865

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C.

Thirteenth Amendment Abolishes Slavery

Dec 6, 1865

The Thirteenth Commandment declared that"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." (https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html)

Alaska is Purchased

Mar 30, 1867

Alaska was purchased from Russia by the United States.

Andrew Johnson Is Impeached

Feb 24, 1868

House of Representatives adopted 11 articles explaining his "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Fourteenth Amendment

Jul 9, 1868

Granted citizenship to people " born or naturalized in the United States."

Fifteenth Amendment

Mar 30, 1870

Gave African American men the right to vote.

Rutgers- Princeton Cannon War

Apr 25, 1875

Ten sophomores from Rutgers College (modern-day Rutgers University) steal a one-ton cannon from the campus of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) and start the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War.