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The Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a legislative proposal by David Wilmot towards the end of the Mexican War. This proposal would outlaw slavery in any of the territories acquires by this war. Although it never passes, the discussions of this bill included the first serious conversations of secession. -
California Gold Rush
Gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 gold-seekers called "forty-niners", as in "1849" to California. Which helped California become a state in a year. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This treaty officially entitled the Treaty of Peace ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico ceded 55% of its territory, including the present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. -
Seneca falls Convention
Held in upper state New York in 1848,
First convention to discuss the rights and conditions of women. There, they wrote the Declaration of Sentiments which among other things, tried to get women the right to vote. -
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Events that led to the American Civil War
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Uncle Tom's Cabin
A novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, an abolitionist with intentions to show the evils of slavery. Her novel became a best seller and had an immense impact on the northerners views on slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
A term describing the violence during the settling of Kansas. The Kansas-Nebraska used popular sovereignty in deciding if the new state should be slave or free, rejecting the Missouri Compromise's line of latitude as a slave boundary. This caused pro-slave and anti-slave settlers to flood into Kansas trying to influence the vote. As both views fought for control, violence broke out, hence the title Bleeding Kansas. -
Dredd Scott vs. Sandford
Dred Scott, a black man, went to trial arguing that he should be free because he had been held as a slave while in a free state. The Court ruled against him because he did not hold any property. They also stated although his owner brought him to a free state, he was still a slave because slaves are considered property to their owners. This decagon by the Court caused abolitionists to increase their efforts against slavery. -
Lincoln - Douglass Debates
Illinois senatorial campaign between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Slavery was a major issue in the debates. Douglass maintained that popular sovereignty was supported by basic elements of democracy. Lincoln had a moral opposition to slavery's spread and demanded constitutional protection here it existed. Lincoln lost the senate election to Douglas but he stepped into the national time light. -
Harpers Ferry Raid
Was an attempt by John Brown a strong abolitionist to start an armed slave revolt by seizing an Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia in 1859. Brown's raid was defeated by a detachment of U.S. Marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee. Although it failed, inflamed sectional tensions and raised the stakes for the 1860 presidential election. Helped make any further accommodation between North and South nearly impossible and thus became an important impetus of the Civil War. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln- republican John Breckenridge- southern democrat. Set stage for the civil war. Hardly more than a month following Lincoln's victory came declarations of secession by South Carolina and other states, which were rejected as illegal by outgoing President James Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln. -
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Civil War Events
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Confederate States of America Founded
On February 4th 1861 delegates from the states that had seceded (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) met and formed the Confederate States of America. State sovereignty and independence were stressed. Slavery was legalized and the government was forbidden to pass protective tariffs. Jefferson Davis was named the south’s President. -
Fort Sumter (Start of the Civil War)
When Lincoln was elected, only two significant forts in the South flew the Union's flag. One was Fort Sumter, in the Charleston harbor, which needed supplies in order to support its men. Lincoln told the South that the North was sending provisions to the fort, not supplies for reinforcement. Taking the move by Lincoln as an act of aggression, the South Carolinians fired upon Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 thus starting the Civil War. -
Battle of Antietam
First battle to take place on Northern soil and the bloodiest single-day battle in American history with over 23,000 casualties. Ended as a strategic Union victory. The battle gave Lincoln enough confidence to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French from potential plans to recognize the Confederacy. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Lincoln to free all of the slaves in the Confederate states. The slaves in border states loyal to the Union, however, remained enslaved. The Proclamation only applied to Confederate states in rebellion. It also led to slave rebellions and slaves joining the Union army and increased sympathy from Europe. -
Battle of Gettysburg
A Union victory that turned the tides against the Confederates. This battle took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Major General George G. Meade defeated Gen. Robert E. Lee's attacking forces, ending Lee's invasion of the North. Resulted in the loss of 50,000 soldiers. -
Gettysburg Address
Delivered by President Lincoln in November 1863 at the dedication of a national cemetery at the Gettysburg battle field. This speech referenced Declaration of Independence, and delivered Lincoln's message that the best way to honor the dead is to keep fighting and win this war to reunite the union continue the work they gave their lives for. -
Lincoln's 10% Plan
Lincoln's plan for reinstatement of Southern states, called the 10% Reconstruction Plan. The plan decreed that Southern states could be re-admitted to the Union after 10% of the 1860 vote count from the state had taken an oath of allegiance to the US and to abide by Emancipation. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
General William T. Sherman took his troops throughout Georgia, torching the state as he went. Sherman captured and burned Atlanta to the ground for the Union. An important transportation center in the Confederacy. The March to the Sea was now moving the Army to the coast. -
Election of 1864
Lincoln vs. McClellan, Lincoln wants to unite North and South, McClellan wants war to end if he's elected, citizens of North are sick of war so many vote for McClellan result, but Lincoln wins after things improve on the war front for the North -
Appomattox Court House/End of the Civil War
Confederate army surrounded, Robert E. Lee realizing there was little choice but to consider the surrender to General Grant. After a series of notes between the two leaders, they agreed to meet on April 9, 1865, eventually ended the Civil War. -
Andrew Johnson Becomes President
The 17th president, assumed office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson A Democrat, served from 1865 to 1869. Took a moderate approach to restore the South to the Union and clashed with Radical Republicans. In 1868, he was impeached by Congress, but he was not removed from office. He did not run for a second presidential term. -
Andrew Johnson's plan for Reconstruction
His plan clashed with Radical Republicans.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.The Confederate states would be required to uphold the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, swear loyalty to the Union, and pay off their war debt. Then they could re-write their state constitutions, hold elections, and begin sending representatives to Washington. -
13th Amendment
Constitutional amendment prohibiting all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. Former Confederate States were required to ratify the amendment prior to gaining reentry into the Union. Was the first of three amendments known as the Civil War Amendments -
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Reconstruction Era
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Reconstruction Act
Divided the South into five military districts, disenfranchised former confederates, and required that Southern states both ratify the 14th Amendment and write states constitutions guaranteeing freedmen the franchise before gaining readmission to the Union. -
14th Amendment
Extended civil rights to freedmen and prohibited states from taking away such rights without due process. -
15th Amendment
Prohibited any government in the US from denying a citizen the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".
