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Missouri Compromise
Who: Congress and Henry Clay
What: The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted.
When: March 3rd, 1820
Where: Missouri
Why: In an effort to preserve the balance of power in congress between slave and free states. -
Nat Turners Rebellion
Who: Nat Turner
What: Nat Turner's Rebellion was an organized rebellion against Southern white people, that was organized by Nat Turner.
When: May 16th, 1831
Where: Virginia
Why: Disgusted with slavery and white Southeners, Nat Turner planned to kill every white man he could find. -
Texas annexed by the USA
Who: James K. Polk
What: The Texas annexation was the 1845 incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845.
When: December 29th, 1845
Where: Texas
Why: In 1845, the Republic of Texas voluntarily asked to become a part of the United States, and the government of the United States agreed to annex the nation. -
War with Mexico begins
Who: United States of America, Mexican States of America and Mexico
What: The Mexican American War was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848.
When: April 25th, 1846
Where: Mexico and Texas
Why: The war started with the U.S. annexation of Texas and was the result of disagreement over where the Mexican-American border should be. -
US-Mexican War
Who: US and Mexico
What: Armed conflict between the United States of America and Mexico
When: April 25,1846 - February 1848
Where: US-Mexican border
Why: Fight over border -
Wilmot Proviso
Who: David Wilmot
What: The Wilmot Proviso was an amendment made by David Wilmot to the bill sent to Congress by president James Polk asking Congress to fund the war with Mexico.
When: May 16th, 1846
Where: Pennsylvania
Why: This amendment to the bill stated that of the land acquired, none could allow slavery. -
USA settles dispute with Britain over Oregon
Who: Britain and the USA
What: The Oregon Treaty set the U.S. and British North American border at the 49th parallel with the exception of Vancouver Island, which was retained in its entirety by the British.
When: June 15th, 1846
Where: Vancouver Island
Why: In 1846 the Oregon Treaty was signed between the US and Britain to settle the boundary dispute. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends US-Mexican War
Who: USA and Mexico
What: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States.
When: February 2nd, 1848
Where: Mexico
Why: The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. -
Compromise of 1850
Who: Henry Clay
What: A Fugitive Slave Law was passed, requiring northerners to return runaway slaves to their owners under penalty of law. The Compromise of 1850 overturned the Missouri Compromise and left the overall issue of slavery unsettled.
When: September 17th, 1850 (couldn't find exact date)
Where: Washington D.C. (??)
Why: Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
Who: Harriet Beecher Stowe
What: The book was filled with realistic fictional slave stories that brought about mixed emotions.
When: March 20th, 1852
Where:
Why: Unlce Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe after she had a vision of a slave being cruelly killed by his master. -
The Gadsden Purchase
Who: US and Mexico
What: Agreement between US and Mexico where US pays Mexico 10M for 29,670 square miles of land
When: December 1853 - January 1854
Where: US
Why: Purchase land from Mexico in order to expand -
Formation of the Republican Party
Who: Amos Tuck
What: The Republican party began as a coalition of anti-slavery "Conscience Whigs" and Free Soil Democrats opposed to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, submitted to Congress by Stephen Douglas in January 1854.
When: March 20th, 1854
Where: Wisconsin
Why: Anti-slavery Whigs had begun meeting in the upper midwestern states to discuss the formation of a new party. One such meeting, in Wisconsin on March 20, 1854, is generally remembered as the founding meeting of the Republican Party. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act; Bleeding Kansas (to 1861)
Who: Congress
What: The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´.
When: May 30th, 1854
Where:
Why: It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
Ostend Manifesto
Who: Ostend Circular
What: a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused.
When: October 18th, 1854
Where:
Why: The document urged the Secretary to pressure the president into seizing the country of Cuba if Spain refused to sell it. -
Attack on Sumner in congress
Who: Senator Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks
What: Shortly after that speech, Butler's cousin, Congressman Preston Brooks, assaulted Sumner on the Senate floor.
When: May 22nd, 1856
Where: Massachusetts
Why: In his Crime against Kansas speech, delivered in May 1856, he lambasted southern efforts to extend slavery into Kansas and attacked his colleague, Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina. -
Dred Scott judgement
Who: Roger B. Taney and Dred Scott
What: Dred Scott, an enslaved man of "the negro African race" who had been taken by his owners to free states and territories, attempted to sue for his freedom. In a 7–2 decision written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the court denied Scott's request.
When: March 6th, 1857
Where: Missouri
Why: The United States Supreme Court issues a decision in the Dred Scott case, affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories. -
Treaty of Tianjin with China
Who: US and China
What: Treaty of Tianjin
When: June 1858
Where: China
Why: To end the Opium Wars -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
Who: John Brown
What: Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia)
When: October 16th, 1859
Where: Virginia
Why: In an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. -
Abraham Lincoln elected as President
Who: Abraham Lincoln
What: United States presidential election of 1860, American presidential election held on Nov. 6, 1860, in which Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell.
When: November 6th, 1860
Where: South Carolina
Why: Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the Northern faction of a heavily divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell. -
South Carolina secedes from the USA
Who: James Buchanan
What: When the ordinance was adopted on December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States.
When: December 20th, 1860
Where: Charleston
Why: Although Lincoln's election was fair, it nonetheless pushed the Deep South toward secession. -
Six other states secede from the USA; the Confederacy Established
Who: Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Lousiana
What: Within three months of Lincoln's election, six states had seceded from the Union.
When: January 9th, 1861
Where:
Why: They believed that the newly elected president, Abraham Lincoln, and his Republican majority were a major threat to the institution of slavery. Leaders in the South also wanted to preserve the rights of the states to govern themselves. -
Anaconda Plan
Who: General-in-Chief Winfield Scott
What: A Union blockade of the Southern ports, and called for an advance down the Mississippi River to cut the South in two.
When: Year of 1861
Where: Mississippi River
Why: A cautious approach, aiming to wear down the South without inflicting painful military defeats. -
Lincoln inaugurated as president
Who: Lincoln
What: In his inaugural address, Lincoln promised not to interfere with the institution of slavery where it existed, and pledged to suspend the activities of the federal government temporarily in areas of hostility.
When: March 4th, 1861
Where: Washington D.C.
Why: He also took a firm stance against secession and the seizure of federal property. The government, insisted Lincoln, would “hold, occupy, and possess” its property and collect its taxes. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Who: Union and Confederacy forces
What: Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, the nearly completed federal garrison positioned on a man-made island in South Carolina's Charleston harbor.
When: April 12-14 1861
Where: Charleston Harbor in South Carolina
Why: The fort had been the source of tension between the Union and Confederacy for several months. -
CSA forces take Fort Sumter
Who: CSA and Union
What: First battle of the American Civil War, the CSA attacks Union forces at Fort and Union surrenders next day.
Where: South Carolina, Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter
When: April 12-13 861
Why: President Abraham Lincoln announced plans to resupply the fort, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter. -
Four more sates join the Confederacy
Who: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee
What: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee joined them. The people of the seceded states elected Jefferson Davis as president of the newly formed Southern Confederacy.
When: April 17th, 1861
Where: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee
Why: Abraham Lincoln, ran on a message of containing slavery to where it currently existed, and the success of the Republican Party to which he belonged -
Jefferson Davis elected president of CSA
Who: Jefferson Davis
What: He ran unopposed and was elected to serve for a six-year term. Davis had already been serving as the temporary president for almost a year.
When: November 6, 1861
Where: CSA
Why: Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was a Mexican War hero, U.S. senator from Mississippi, U.S. secretary of war and president of the Confederate States of America for the duration of the American Civil War (1861-1865). -
Trent affair, danger of British intervention
Who: United States and United Kingdom
What: Threatened a war between the United States and the United Kingdom. The U.S. Navy illegally captured two Confederate diplomats from a British ship; the UK protested vigorously.
When: November 8, 1861
Where: United States
Why: The USS San Jacinto commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes captured two Confederate diplomats who were sailing to England on board the British mail ship Trent on November 8, 1861. -
American Civil War
Who: United States and 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.
What: Tensions between the northern and southern US over issues including states' rights vs federal authority, westward expansion, and slavery exploded.
When: 1861-1865
Where: United States
Why: The causes were differences between northern and southern states on the idea of slavery, as well as trade, tariffs, and states rights. -
USA abolishes slavery in Washington, DC
Who: President Lincoln
What: President Lincoln signed an act abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, an important step in the long road toward full emancipation and enfranchisement for African Americans.
When: April 16, 1862
Where: Washington, DC
Why: Compensated Emancipation Act, was a law that ended slavery in Washington, D.C. by paying slave owners for releasing their slaves. Although not written by him, the act was signed by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 16, 1862 -
The Homestead Act
Who: Abraham Lincoln and homesteaders
What: Providing settlers with 160 acres of public land
When: May 20, 1862
Where: United States
Why: To create income and give residence -
Emancipation Proclamation
Who: Abraham Lincoln
What: President Abraham Lincoln signs the final Emancipation Proclamation, which ends slavery in the rebelling states
When: September 22, 1862- January 1, 1863
Where: Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland.
Why: On September 22, 1862, after the battle at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves free in the rebellious states as of January 1, 1863. -
Battle of Gettysburg; USA defeats CSA army
Who: Union and Confederate forces
What: Largest military conflict in North American history when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac as Lee's army moved into Pennsylvania.
When: July 1-3, 1863
Where: Town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Why: After his astounding victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in its second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign. -
US Congress passes Wade-Davis Bill; vetoes by Lincoln
Who:
What: The Wade–Davis Bill of 1864 was a bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South written by two Radical Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland.
When: July 1864
Where: United States
Why: Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 because he felt it imposed a harsh punishment on the Confederate states that rebelled from the Union. -
Atlanta falls to US forces led by sherman
Who: Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman
What: Sherman lays siege to Atlanta, Georgia, a critical Confederate hub, shelling civilians and cutting off supply lines.
When: September 1, 1864
Where: Atlanta, Georgia
Why: To frighten Georgia's civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. -
Sherman's March to the Sea through Georgia
Who: Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army
What: A military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia
When: November 15, 1864
Where: Georgia
Why: Sherman also sent about 2,500 bales of cotton that were captured after Savannah surrendered. Sherman's March to the Sea is important when studying the Civil War because of the impact it had on the South. It served its purpose to demoralize the Confederates. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Who: United States Army and Native Americans
What: American Indian Wars
When: November 29, 1864
Where: Colorado
Why: The United States wanted the land from the Indians and they refused to give it up -
Freedman's Bureau
Who: Lincoln and Congress
What: The U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in 1865 by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War (1861-65).
When: (1861-1865)
Where: US
Why: To help former slaves in various ways -
CSA commander Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Who: Robert E. Lee
What: The final engagement of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
When: April 9, 1865
Where: Appomattox Court house
Why: Lee's army, after the fall of Richmond and Petersburg, had been attempting to escape to the west so that he could link up with another Confederate army under Joseph E. Johnston. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Who: Passed by Congress
What: The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition.
When:April 9, 1866
Where: Congress
Why: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all male persons in the United States "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude." -
14th Amendment to the US consitution
Who: Passed by congress; gave rights to former slaves
What: Addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War.
When: adopted on July 9, 1868, ratified on July 28, 1868
Where: United States
Why: 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. -
15th Amendment
Who: African American men
What: The 15th Amendment ensures the right to vote to all male citizens of the United States, regardless of color or previous condition of servitude.
When: Febuary 26, 1869
Where: United States
Why: Granted African American men the right to vote. -
Ulysses S. Grant becomes US president
Who: Ulysses S. Grant
What: He was entrusted with command of all U.S. armies in 1864, and relentlessly pursued the enemy during the Civil War.
When: March 1869
Where: United States
Why: Grant commanded the victorious Union army during the American Civil War. After the war he became a national hero, and the Republicans nominated him for president in 1868. -
The Great Sioux War
Who: Sioux Indians and US
What: Desire of United States to acquire Black Hills land
When:1876 - 1877
Where: Black Hills
Why: United States wanted to get Black Hills, but indians wanted to keep it -
Compromise of 1877
Who: Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats
What: A secret deal between northern Republicans and Southern Democrats. An agreement that if Republicans could have the presidency, the Democrats, determined to deny African-Americans their newly acquired rights would be allowed to control the southern states
When: March 4, 1877
Where: North and South
Why: This would bring an end to Reconstruction, the Republican attempt to modernize the politics, government and racial attitudes of the South. -
Presidential election leads to inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes
Who: Rutherford B. Hayes
What: 20 of Hayes's Electoral College votes, in three southern states and Oregon, were initially disputed. Both parties accused the other of electoral fraud.
When: March 5, 1877
Where: White House
Why: Hayes earned the party’s nomination on the seventh ballot. His reputation for being honest, loyal and inclusive offered a departure from the charges of impropriety in Grant’s administration. -
The Dawes Act
Who:
What: Authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians
When: February 8, 1887
Where: Congress
Why: Divided american indian lands -
The Oklahoma Land Rush
Who: Boomers and Sooners
What: The first land rush into the Unassigned lands
When: April 22, 1889
Where: Oklahoma
Why: People wanted land -
Acquisition of Cuba, Hawaii, and Philippines
Who: United States
What: Process of acquiring Cuba, Hawaii, and Philippines
When: After Spanish - American War
Where: Guantanamo Bay
Why: To expand -
Spanish-American War
Who: Spanish and US
What: Conflict between US and Spain
When: April 21, 1898 - August 13, 1898
Where: Guantanamo Bay
Why: Spanish sunk USS Maine -
Philippine Organic Act
Who: Philippines
What: Was a basic law for the Insular Government that was enacted by the United States Congress
When: July 1, 1902
Where:
Why: To end the Philippine American War -
President Roosevelt issues the Monroe Corollary
Who: Theodore Roosevelt
What: Prevent European intervention in Western Hemisphere
When: December 6, 1904
Where: US
Why: To expand the Monroe Doctrine -
First World War breaks out in Europe
Who: Britain and Germany
What: The direct cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914
When: June 28, 1914
Where: Europe
Why: Ferdinand assassinated by Germans -
US enters WWI
Who: US
What: US enters the first world war to aid allies and they realized that the allies needed help
When: April 6, 1917
Where: World
Why: Aid allies -
President Wilson issues the Fourteen Points
Who: Woodrow Wilson
What: The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I
When: January 8, 1918
Where: US
Why: End WWI -
Treaty of Versailles
Who: All WWI participants
What: The most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers
When: June 28, 1919
Where: League of Nations
Why: Finally end WWI -
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Who: Victorious WWI allies
What: Peace treaty to try and stop WWI from continuing
When: September 10, 1919
Where: Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Île-de-France, France
Why: End WW1 -
Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine
Who: Bulgaria
What: Bulgaria being defeated in WWI
When: November 27, 1919
Where: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Why: End WWI -
Treaty of Trianon
Who: Kingdom of Hungary
What: The peace agreement of 1920 to formally end World War I
When: June 4, 1920
Where: Hungary
Why: Formally end WWI -
Treaty of Sevres
Who: Central Powers
What: Central Powers surrender due to their defeat
When: August 10, 1920
Where: Sevres, France
Why: The central powers were defeated
