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Underground Railroad
1810-1850
The Underground Railroad, was a vast network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada. Harriet Tubman was a large contributer to its success as she made 19 trips into the south and helped over 300 slaves escape to freedom. Along the way there were people who were preidentified as "safe" to stop and stay at and get food and shelter for a night before continuing on. -
Abolitionist Movement
Abolitionist ideas became increasingly prominent in Northern churches and politics beginning in the 1830s, which contributed to the regional animosity between North and South leading up to the Civil War. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat Turner began an uprising that spread all over southern Virginia. He and his colleges killed about 60 white people before they were suppressed by the militia and artillery after two days. Among all of the slave uprisings, Nat Turners was the bloodiest. Because of this rebellion, the Viriginian government took away what few rights the slaves had in order to discourage such and event from reoccuring. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott among others, tried to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840. Because they were women, they were not allowed to engage in the convention. This inspired them to organize the Seneca Falls Convention where they discussed the social, civil, and religious rights of women during that time. -
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Slavery in the South
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The Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a piece of legislation proposed at the end of the Mexican-American War. The terms of the Proviso were that slavery would be outlawed in territory aquired by the United States as a result of the war. This territory was the Southwest all the way to California. -
The Compromise of 1850
There were 5 parts to the Compromise of 1850. First the Fugitive Slave Act gave federal employees the power to find and return runaway slaves. Second was that California became a free state. Third, New Mexico won the boundary dispute with Texas. Fourth slave trade became illegal in the District of Columbia. Lastly New Mexico and Utah became organized and disovled the issue or slavery and left it to populary sovereignty. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe published the book Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 and it quickly became the second-best-selling book in America in the 19th century, second only to the Bible. It brought more awareness on the issue of Slavery as well as the greatly widening divisiont between the North and the South. -
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
Dred Scott was a Virginia slave to was tried in court becuase he was trying to gain freedom. His case eventually made it to the Supreme Court but becuase he was a slave, he was deemed property not a human being. This case raised issues of slaves rights as well as the restrictions which slave owners placed on their slaves. -
John Brown's Rebellion
John Brown organized a small group of white allies and free blacks to raid a government arsenal in Virginia. His goal was to aquire weapons to distribute to the southern slaves for them to begin uprisings. Although he got into the arsenal, they were quickly surrounded and forced to surrender by Colonel Robert E. Lee. He was then executed. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
In April 1861, the Confederate Soldiers opened fire on the Union who were unprepared to take such a forceful attack. Two days later the Union surrendered. On the 15th, Lincoln called upon 75,000 men to attack the Confederacy for 90 days to force them to surrender. This began the Civil War.
