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WIlliam Lloyd Garrison launches The Liberator
Garrison's Boston-based, abolitionist newspaper became notable for its strong advocacy for emancipation of all slaves and for supporting the rights of women. -
Nat Turner leads a slave revolt in Virginia
This uprising increased the fear of Southern whites of a changing society and led many Southern states to put in even harsher slave laws for more control over free and enslaved blacks. -
American Anti-Slavery founded in Boston
This slavery society, founded by Frederick Douglass and William Henry Garrison, quickly became the most prominent abolitionist group that called for slavery's immediate end, unlike other groups. -
Sarah Grimke's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women
Sarah Grimke, an early abolitionist and women's rights advocate, paved the way for women speakers with her popular speeches and writings that influenced people's thoughts on civil rights, including the letters she wrote to her sister that were published a year later in The Liberator. -
Henry Highland Garnet's "Address to the Slaves of the United States of America"
Garnet is one of the first abolitionists to call for slaves to actively resist slavery in this speech, which was a radical position in 1843, but became a moderate position by the Civil War. -
Frederick Douglass published the North Star
The North Star became the most prominent anti-slavery newspaper in the nation and advocated rights for women and other oppressed groups. -
Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York
This was the first Women's rights convention in the United States and the ideas expressed in The Declaration of Sentiments from the convention became the blueprint for the women's rights movement. -
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery
Tubman escapes form a Maryland plantation by using the Underground Railroad network and later makes 13 missions to help lead other escaped slaves to freedom using the same network, making her an icon for American courage. -
Fugitive Slave Act passed
The Fugitive Slave act allowed for the capture of runaway slaves anywhere within the United States and ignited even stronger anti-slavery sentiments in the North as their states were turned into bounty hunter territory. -
Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech
Sojourner Truth, a former slave and an anti-slavery speaker, delivers her powerful speech for equal rights at a Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" changed the way Americans viewed slavery and added a new energy to the abolitionist movement in the Northeast which led to the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Republican Party founded
Founded as an anti-slavery party, the Republican party openly opposed the spread of slavery into Western territories and gained many followers in the Northeast, allowing them to win the 1860 election and causing the South to seceed from the Union. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act passed
This act passed by Congress allowed for Kansas and Nebraska to vote on whether they wanted to be a free or slave state, allowing for conflicts to arise between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers known as "Bleeding Kansas". -
Civil War in Kansas known as "Bleeding Kansas"
A conflict emerged between pro-slavery citizens and those who favored abolition in Kansas leading to a free state victory, which foreshadowed the events of the upcoming Civil War between the North and the South. -
Charles Sumner beating
Congressman Preston Brooks brutally beats Charles Sumner after Sumner delivered a strong anti-slavery speech, which symolized a "breakdown in reasonable discourse" on the subject of slavery that led to the Civil War. -
Supreme Court's Dread Scott decision
This landmark Supreme Court case ruled that African Americans could never have the same rights as whites and that slaves could be brought anywhere in the U.S. by their masters, which led to outrage from the North and rising regional tensions before the Civil War. -
Lecompton Constitution rejected by Congress
This pro-slavery constitution was written for Kansas' admittance into the Union was rejected by voters leading to Kansas being admitted as a free state. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
While Lincoln lost his run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, his impressive debate performances that criticized slavery against Douglas launched him to prominence within the Republican party and led to his nomination for President in 1860. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown's failed slave rebellion made him a martyr in the eyes of Northerners, but was looked upon with horror and disgust by Southerners, adding to a climate of fear and hostility for the South. -
Election of 1860
The Republican victory in the Election of 1860 over the divided Democrats angered and frightened many Southerners since the Republicans were anti-slavery party, and as a result, Southern states began to seceed.
