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Missouri Compromise 1820-1821
1818, settlers requested Missouri to be admitted to union. Northeners & Southerners disagreed on whether Missouri should be admitted as a free or slave state. Under leadership of Henry Clay, congress passed series of agreements in 1820-1821, known as the Missouri Compromise, which agreed that Maine would be admitted as free state & Missouri as slave state. Remaning Louisiana territory split into 2 parts. Dividing line set at 3630' N latitude. South of line- slavery legal, north of line-illegal -
Harriet Tubman
One of the most famous "conductors" od the Underground Railroad. Born a slave in Maryland in either 1820 or 1821. In 1849, after Tubmans owner died, she fled in fear of the possibility of being sold. She made a break for freedom and successfully reached Philadelphia. Shortlu after the fugitive act was passed, Harriet became a conductor for the Underground Railroad. Said to have helped 300 slaves. -
Santa Fe Trail
Stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. Each spring from 1821-1860's, American traders loaded their wagons with goods and set of towards Santa Fe. Cooperation between the travelers came to an abrupt end when Santa Fe became visible. After few days of trading, they loaded up and headed back to Missouri. -
San Felipe de Austin
Main settlement of of the colony that Stephen F. Austin created. Established in 1821, in honor of his father, Moses Austin, who had revieved a a land grant to establish a colony. When Moses died, Stephen made the colony to honor his father. -
Mexico Abolishes Slavery
Differences over cultural issues intensified between Anglos and the Mexican government. Many of the settlers were southerners who brought their slaves with them to Texas. Mexico, which had abolished slavery in 1829, insisted that Texas free its slaves. -
The Liberator
Liberator written by William Lloyd Garrison. Published from 1831-1865. Wrote the liberator to deliver an uncompromising demand; immediate emancipation. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Some slaves started to rebel against their condition of bondage. Turner's Rebellion, led by a slave from Virginia, was one of the most prominent rebellions. August 1831, Turner along with over 50 followers attacked 4 plantations and killed around 60 whites. Turner and some followers were later captured and executed by whites. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to Jail
Many of the settlers in Texas were Southerners who brougt their slaves with them. Mexico, who had abolished slavery, urged them to rid of their slaves. Late 1833, Austin travled to Mexico City to present petitions to Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana for greater self-governent for Mexico. While Austin was on his way home the president had him imprisoned for inciting revolution -
Oregon Trail
Stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. Trail was blazed in 1836 by two Methodist missionaries, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. Drove their wagon as far as Fort Boise to prove that the Oregon Trail was travelable. -
Texas Revolution
Revolution in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny
Phrase "manifest destiny" expressed belief that US was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican & Native territory. Many Americans believed this destiny was manifest, or obvious. -
Texas Enters the United States
March 1845, the Mexican government was angered by the US -Texas negotiation on annexation and recalled its ambassador from Washington. December 29, 1845, Texas entered the Union and events moved quickly towards war. -
Mexican-American War
War betwee US and Mexico from 1846-1847. War initiated by Mexico, resulted in defeat of Mexico and loss of around half its territory. -
The North Star
In 1847, Fredrick Douglas started his own antislavery newspaper called the North Star. He named it after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. Believed abolition could be achieved without violence -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
After around a year of fighting, Mexico conceded defeat. February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed between US and Mexico. Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico and ceded the New Mexico and California territories to the US. US agreed to pay $15 million for Mexican cession which included present day California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and parts of Wyoming and Colorado -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay worked to shape a compromise that both the north and south states could agree upon. Clay presented to Senate a series of solutions later called the Compromise of 1850. To please north, California was admitted to the union as a free state. To please south, compromise proposed a new fugitive slave law. To ease both sides, a provision allowed popular sovereignty, the right to vote for or against slavery. Senate rejected the compromise in July but later in September, compromsie became law -
Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive slave act had harsh terms; alleged fugative slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury, anyone convicted of heping a fugative was liable for a fine of $1000 and imprisonment for up to six months. Some northerners resisted the act by organizing "vigilance committies" to send endangered African Americans to safety in Canada. -
Underground Railroad
African Americans and white anolitionists developed a secret network of people who would, at a great risk, hide fugitive slaves. The system of escape routes they used became known as rhe underground railroads. "Conductors" hid fugitives in secret tunnels and fals cupbaords, provided them with food and clothing, and directed them to the next "station". Harriet tubman was one of the most famous conductors. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Novel published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. It stressed that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. The novel expressed her lifelong hatred of slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen A. Douglas introduced a bill in congress on January 23, 1854, which would divide the area (the kansas and nebraska territory north of the Missouri Compromise line) into two territories; Nebraska in the north and Kansas in the south. If passed the bill would repeal the Missouri compromise and establish popular sovereignty for both territories. Kansas-Nebraska act became law in 1854. -
Dread Scott vs. Sandford
Dread Scott was a slave whose owner took him from the slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin and back to Missouri. Scott appealed to Supreme Court for his freedom on grounds that living in a free state, Illinois,and a free territory, Wisconsin, had made him a free man. The case in court for years. March 6, 1857, Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott. According to ruling, Scott lacked legal standing to sue in federal court because he wasnt a citizen. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
Debates in 1858 were for the U.S. Senate seat. To many out siders it must have seemed like uneven match. To counteract Douglas, Lincoln challenged man known as “Little Giant” to series of debates on issue of slavery in the territories. Douglas believed in popular sovereignty. Lincoln believed slavery was immoral. Douglas won the seat. -
John Brown's Raid / Harpers Ferry
John Brown was an abolitionist who studied slavery and slave uprisings. He believed the time was ripe for uprisings in the United States. Brown secretly obtained financial backing from several prominent Northern abolitionists. Night of October 16, 1859, he led 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He aimed to seize federal arsenal there and start a general slave uprising. No such uprising occured. Brown was later tried by authorities and put to death. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes President
As the 1860 presidential election approached, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. Pledged to halt the further spread of slavery and tried to reassure Southerners that a Republican administration would not interfere with their slaves, or with them. Still, many Southerners viewed him as an enemy. Lincoln won spot of president with less than half the popular vote and no electoral votes from the South. He did not even appear on the ballot in most of the southern states. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first bloodshed on the battlefield occurred about 3 months after Fort Sumter fell, near little creek of Bull Run, 25 miles from Washington, D.C. The battle was a seesaw affair. In the morning the Union army gained upper hand, but Confederates held firm. In the afternoon Confederate reinforcements helped win first Southern victory. Fortunately for the Union, Confederates were too exhausted to follow up their victory with attack on Washington. Soldiers confirmed war was over and went home. -
Formation of the Confederacy
In February 1861, delegates from the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed the Confederate States of America, or Confederacy. They also drew up a constitution that closely resembled that of the United States, but with a few notable differences. The most important difference was that it “protected and recognized” slavery in new territories. The Confederates then unanimously elected former senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, only four Southern forts remained in Union hands. The most important was Fort Sumter, on an island in Charleston harbor. Lincoln decided to neither abandon Fort Sumter nor reinforce it. He would merely send in food. At 4:30 A.M. on April 12, Confederate batteries began thundering away to the cheers of Charleston’s citizens. The deadly struggle between North and South was under way. -
Battle at Antietam
September 12, 1862, General George McCellan had his men persue Robert E. Lee. The two sides fought near a creek called the Antietam. The clash proved to be the bloodi- est 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. -
Conscription
War led to social upheaval and political unrest in both the North and the South. As the fighting intensified, heavy casualties and widespread desertions led each side to impose conscription, a draft that forced men to serve in the army. In the North, conscription led to draft riots, the most violent of which took place in New York City. Sweeping changes occurred in the wartime economies of both sides as well as in the roles played by African Americans and women. -
Income Tax
Overall, the war’s effect on the economy of the North was much more positive. The economic boom had a dark side, however. Wages did not keep up with prices, and many people’s standard of living declined. As the Northern economy grew, Congress decided to help pay for the war by collecting the nation’s first income tax, a tax that takes a specified percentage of an individual’s income. -
Gettysburg Address
November 1863, a ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg. There, President Lincoln spoke. For around 2 minutes. The speech helped the country to realize that it was not just a collection of individual states; it was one unified nation. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Union general Ulysses S. Grant fought to take Vicksburg, one of two remaining Confederate strongholds on Mississippi River. Vicksburg itself was particularly important because it rested on bluffs above the river from which guns could control all water traffic. After food supplies ran so low that people were reduced to eating dogs and mules, the Confederate command of Vicksburg asked Grant for terms of surrender. The city fell on July 4, and Port Hudson, Louisiana, also fell. -
Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation did not free any slaves immediately because it applied only to areas behind Confederate lines, outside Union control. Nevertheless, for many, the proclamation gave the war a moral purpose by turning the struggle into a fight to free the slaves. It also ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863, when Confederate soldiers led by A. P. Hill encoun- tered several brigades of Union cavalry under the command of John Buford. The three-day battle produced 23,000 Union men and 28,000 Confederates killed or wounded. Total casualties over than 30 percent. Confederates won. -
Sherman's March
William Tecumseh Sherman was appointed commander of the military division of the Mississippi. In the spring of 1864, Sherman began his march southeast through Georgia to sea, creating wide path of destruction. His army burned almost every house in its path and destroyed live- stock and railroads. Sherman was determined to make Southerners “so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it.” By mid November, burned most of atlanta. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
On April 9, 1865, in a Virginia town called Appomattox Court House, Lee and Grant met at a private home to arrange a Confederate surrender. At Lincoln’s request, the terms were generous. Grant paroled Lee’s soldiers and sent them home with their possessions and three days’ worth of rations. Officers were permitted to keep their side arms. Within a month all remaining Confederate resistance collapsed. After four long years, the Civil War was over. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The president believed that the only solu- tion was a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. After some political maneuvering, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified at the end of 1865. The U.S. Constitution now stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con- victed, shall exist within the United States.” -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife went to Ford’s Theatre in Washington. During its third act, a man crept up behind Lincoln and shot the presi- dent in the back of his head. Lincoln, who never regained consciousness, died on April 15. Twelve days later, Union cavalry trapped the assasin, John Wilkes Booth, in a Virginia tobacco shed and shot him dead. JWB was a Southern sympathizer. -
Abolition
Abolition- the movement to abolish slavery. Became the most important of a series of reform movements in Africa.
