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Nat Turner Slave Revolt
A slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. Rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, at least 51 being white. -
William Lloyd Garrison Published The Liberator
An influential antislavery newspaper. Its publication initiated the radical abolitionist movement. -
American Anti-Slavery Society Begins
An abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. -
Sarah Grimke’s Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women published
A series of letters written by Sarah Grimke that defended the right of women to speak in public in defense of a moral cause. She responded to Catharine Beecher's defense of the subordinate role of women. -
Henry Highland Garnet’s “Address to the Slaves of the United States of America”
He called for the slaves of the South to refuse to work, to approach their masters and demand their freedom, and to resist their oppressors with force if necessary. -
Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls
The first women's rights convention in the United States. The meeting launched the women's suffrage movement. -
Harriett Tubman Escapes from Slavery
Following the death of her owner, Harriet Tubman decided to escape slavery in Maryland for Philadelphia. She became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, leading slaves to freedom before the Civil War. -
Compromise of 1850
A package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired during the Mexican–American War. -
Fugitive Slave Act
It was passed by Congress as a part of the Compromise of 1850. It called for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another state or territory. -
Creation of the Radical Republicans
It was composed of former Whigs, charitable Northerners, and politicians. -
Sojourner Truth Delivered her “Ain’t I a Woman” Speech
Sojourner Truth delivered this speech after obtaining her freedom, which made her to be renowned as an anti-slavery speaker.
At the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, Truth spoke out about equal rights for black women. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe Published Uncle Tom’s Cabin
An anti-slavery novel that had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
Bleeding Kansas
A small civil war in the United States fought between pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates for control of the new territory of Kansas. -
Republican Party Founded
The first statewide convention that formed a platform and nominated candidates under the name Republican was held near Jackson, Michigan on July 6, 1854. It declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories and selected a statewide slate of candidates. -
Dred Scott Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott who had resided in a free state and territory was not entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States; and that the Missouri Compromise, which had declared free all territories west of Missouri and north of latitude 36°30′, was unconstitutional. -
Lecompton Constitution
The document permitted slavery, excluded free blacks from living in Kansas, and allowed only male citizens of the United States to vote. -
Panic of 1857
A financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois state election campaign. The issues they discussed were important to the sectional conflict over slavery and states’ rights. -
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry
An effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States, beating Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell. He was the first president from the Republican Party. -
Democratic Party Splits into Northern and Southern Halves
In the election of 1860, Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas, while southern Democrats nominated John Breckinridge. This split the Democratic ticket in half, giving the Republicans, who nominated Abraham Lincoln, a huge advantage. -
Confederate States of America Founded
Representatives from the six seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, to formally establish a unified government, which they named the Confederate States of America. -
Firing on Fort Sumter
It was the first shot fired in the American Civil War. The United States Army surrendered to the Confederate States Army. This began the American Civil War. -
Battle of Antietam
A decisive engagement in the American Civil War that halted the Confederate advance on Maryland for the purpose of gaining military supplies. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Considered a turning point of the American Civil War. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil, with up to 10,000 Union and Confederate troops dead and another 30,000 wounded. -
Emancipation Proclamation
It granted freedom to the slaves in the Confederate States if the States did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. In addition, under this proclamation, freedom would only come to the slaves if the Union won the war. -
Gettysburg Address
A speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of Soldier's National Cemetery, a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle Of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. -
General U.S. Grant Assumed Command of Union Troops
President Abraham Lincoln signed a document officially promoting Major General Ulysses S. Grant to the rank of lieutenant general of the U.S. Army, granting him the power to lead all Union troops against the Confederate Army. -
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia to frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. -
Abraham Lincoln Reelected
The 1864 election was the first time since 1812 that a presidential election took place during a war. Lincoln won reelection despite his own doubts of winning. -
Lincoln Assassination
John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. -
Congress Passed the 13th Amendment
It abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. -
Andrew Johnson Became President
Johnson assumed the presidency as he was vice president of the United States at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. -
Arrival of Scalawags and Carpetbaggers in the South
The term “carpetbaggers” refers to Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. Scalawags were white Southerners who cooperated politically with black freedmen and Northern newcomers. -
Ku Klux Klan formed
A group of Confederate veterans formed a secret society called the “Ku Klux Klan.” They rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government’s progressive Reconstruction Era-activities in the South. -
Freedman’s Bureau Established
It was established by Congress to provide practical aid to 4,000,000 newly freed African Americans in their transition from slavery to freedom. -
Lee Surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House
After the Battle of Appomattox Court House, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively bringing the four-year Civil War to an end. -
Johnson Announced Plans for Presidential Reconstruction
President Andrew Johnson implemented a plan of Reconstruction that gave the white South a free hand in regulating the transition from slavery to freedom and offered no role to blacks in the politics of the South. -
Period of “Redemption” after the Civil War
Also known as the Reconstruction era. The nation tried to clear off any leftovers of the Confederate such as states, leaders, and freedmen. -
Civil Rights Act Passed over Johnson’s Veto
A Republican-dominated Congress enacted a landmark Civil Rights Act on this day in 1866, overriding a veto by President Andrew Johnson. The law's main purpose was to offer protection to slaves freed in the aftermath of the Civil War. -
First Congressional Reconstruction Act passed
It split the states into five military districts, each under the control of a Northern General whose responsibility it was to protect life and property, demanded the need for new state delegates and constitutions, the ratification of the Fourteenth amendment, and the provisions of equal rights for each citizen. -
Andrew Johnson Impeached
The House of representatives voted 126 to 47 in favor of impeaching the President for high crimes and misdemeanors. -
14th Amendment Ratified
The amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War. -
U.S. Grant Elected President
As an American hero, Grant was later elected the 18th President of the United States. -
15th Amendment Ratified
The 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote. -
Slaughterhouse Cases (Supreme Court)
The first United States Supreme Court interpretation of the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment. -
U.S. v. Cruikshank
One of the earliest case to deal with the application of the Bill of Rights to state governments, following the adoption of the 14th amendment. Arose from the 1873 Colfax Massacre, in which a group of armed whites killed more than a hundred African Americans. -
Compromise of 1877
An informal settlement between the conflict of the presidential election. It ended the Reconstruction Era as the federal government removed the troops from the South.
