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Nat Turner Slave Revolt
This was a slave revolt led by a slave named Nat Turner. Although the rebellion was put down quickly, it caused widespread fear and white people retaliated by forming militias. Many slaves were killed in retribution, and State Legislatures passed new laws restricting the rights of free blacks. -
William Lloyd Garrison Published The Liberator
William Lloyd Garrison, a staunch abolitionist, co-founded anti-slavery newspaper "The Liberator" with his friend Isaac Knapp in 1831. The Liberator soon became popular throughout the North, and even became known in Canada and Britain, and it helped to influence the rise of abolitionism. -
American Anti-Slavery Society Begins
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) represented an organized group of abolitionists. This provided a forum to discuss and present to the public on slavery and the personal accounts slaves to curry support for their movement. -
Sarah Grimke's "Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women" published
Sarah Grimke was an activist who advocated for the abolition of slavery, later she also began supporting women's rights as well. In 1838 she published "Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Women". The ideas she expressed were very radical for the time, ergo they found support from only a minority of people. -
Henry Highland Garnet's "Address to the Slaves of the United States of America"
Henry Highland Garnet made an appeal to slaves and claimed “Therefore it is your solemn and imperative duty to use every means, both moral; intellectual and physical that promises success.” This was a clear call for resistance that was not just about physical resistance to use any an all means at ones disposal. -
Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls
This was the first women's rights convention in the United States. -
Harriett Tubman Escapes from Slavery
Harriett Tubman grew up as a slave, but after escaping in 1849, she went on to become famous as a "conductor" of the Underground Railroad. -
Compromise of 1850
This was a package 5 separate bills passed by Congress in an attempt to diffuse the political confrontation between northern free states and southern slave states. The south gained by strengthening of the fugitive slave law, the north gained a new state (California). Texas lost territory but given money as compensation. Slave trade was prohibited in Washington D.C. but slavery was not. -
Fugitive Slave Act
This was one of the bills passed under the Compromise of 1850. The act strengthened enforcement of capture and return of fugitive slaves by requiring governments and residents to act accordingly. This was seen as something to appease southern states. -
Sojourner Truth Delivered her "Ain't I a Woman" Speech
This was an impromptu speech about slavery. Its title is significant because is was a reference to a previous British abolitionist motto "Am I not a man and a brother? In this case, however, Sojourner Truth was also trying to tie into not just slavery of blacks but also of woman by connecting the two in linking the inequality of both. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe Published Uncle Tom’s Cabin
This novel served like political kindling for the fire and had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and helped to ramp up sentiments on both the north and south, perhaps setting the country up for the Civil War. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act was passed by Congress in 1854 and allowed the people of Kansas and Nebraska to decide if they wanted to be a free state or a slave state. This act, served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibiting slavery north of 30 degrees and 30 minutes. This act also led the flooding of settlers into this area in an attempt to sway the states one way or another on slavery and resulted in significant violence also referred to as Bleeding Kansas. -
Bleeding Kansas
Between 1854 and 1861, there were a series of violent civil confrontations in the US over slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. This was a clear indication that the growing division between north and south to point were violence was occurring regularly and serving to further escalate the rancor in the political and ideological debate over the issue of slavery. -
Republican Party Founded
On 20 March of 1854, anti-slavery Whigs met in the upper mid-western states to discuss the formation of a new political party. This is considered the beginning of the Republican Party that we recognize today. -
Dred Scott Decision
This Supreme Court decision fundamentally upheld the right of a slave holder to take their slaves into free state and thus undermine the states right to enforce its choice to be a free state. This decision severely undermined the platform of the newly created Republican Party. -
Lecompton Constitution
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Panic of 1857
This was a financial panic caused by the decline of the international economy. Because of the interdependence of national economies, this had an depressing effect on the US economy which in turn increased the already elevating tension between Northern and Southern states which was already on the verge of war over the issue of slavery. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
These debates highlighted the issue of slavery and established the significant political differences between the republican and democratic positions. Lincoln was for the abolition of slavery whereas the Northern Democratic candidate Douglas was for popular sovereignty, namely the right for states to decide for themselves on the subject of slavery. -
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown led a raid on Harper's Ferry to seize weapons from a federal armory and start an armed slave revolt. The revolt was put down by a company of Marines but demonstrated an ever escalating abolitionist movement that was not content to leave the issue to debate by politicians. -
Democratic Party Splits into Northern and Southern Halves
In 1860 the Democratic Party was so split on the issues of the day that Northern Democrats selected Stephen Douglas and Southern Democrats selected John Breckingridge. This resulted in a split democratic ticket and the result created a huge opportunity for the Republican candidate; Abraham Lincoln, who eventually won the election. -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
This was the first state to secede from the Union. This was a direct result of the states' belief that the victory of Abraham Lincoln spelled the abolition of slavery if they remained in the Union. South Carolina felt it was justified to secede in order to preserve its way of life and culture. It also set an example for other states to follow. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
He was the first republican to be elected president and for many southern states, his election compelled them to fear the worst, that Lincoln would abolish slavery and this hastened the southern states to secede. Indeed, the Emancipation Proclamation validated those concerns. -
Confederate States of America Founded
In February 1861, the six seceded states met and established a unified government and elected Jefferson Davis as its first president. This marks the point where division between the union and the confederacy is sharply drawn and draws the country closer to war. -
Firing on Fort Sumter
Fort Sumpter was in a strategic position to control the Charleston Harbor in South Carolina and was seen as threatening foreign position. The firing on Fort Sumter signaled the beginning of the American Civil War. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was the first full scale battle of the Civil War to take place in the North. As part of Lee's ill-fated Maryland Campaign, it resulted in the Union Army under McClellan successfully repelling the Confederate invasion. -
Battle of Ghettysburg
The Battle of Ghettysburg is considered to be the most important battle of the American Civil War. The Union Army managed to defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Ghettysburg, forcing Lee to retreat south. This is often considered to be the turning point of the war. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, delivered by President Lincoln on January 1st, 1863, proclaimed the liberation of all slaves in the United States. -
Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This was four and a half months after the Union defeated the invading Confederates at the Battle of Gettysburg. It is one of the best-known speeches in American history. -
General Grant Assumed Control of Union Troops
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Lincoln Assassination
Lincoln's assassination was part of a larger plot by conspirators to revive the Confederate cause by plotting to remove the three most important heads of the US government; the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of State. John Wilkes Booth was the only successful assassin. The failure of the plot further signaled the end of the Confederate cause and the war. -
Congress passed the 13th Amendment
Congress passed the 13th Amendment on January 31st, 1865. With its passage, the practice of slavery was abolished in the United States, thus ending its legal practice.
