-
Missouri Compromise
Behind the leadership Henry Clay, Congress passed a series of agreements in 1820-1821 known as the Missouri Compromise. Under these agreements, Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri as slave state. The rest of the Louisiana Territory was split into two parts. The dividing line was set at 36*30 ' north latitude. James Monroe was the president during this time. -
Manifest Destiny
Many Americans began to believe that their movement westward was predestined by God. The phrase "manifest destiny" expressed the belief that the United states was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into the Mexican and Native American territory. Many Americans also believed that this destiny was manifest, or obvious and inevitable. -
Santa Fe Trail
The settlers and traders who made the trek west used a series of old native American trails as well as new routes. One of the busiest routes was the Santa Fe Trail, which stretched 780 miles from independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon city, Oregon. It was blazed in 1836 by two Methodist missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. By driving their wagon as far as Fort Boise, they proved that wagons could travel on the Oregon Trail. -
San Felipe de Austin
It was established in 1821. The main settlement of the colony was named San Felipe de Austin, in Stephens honor. Stephen obtained permission from Spain to carry out his father's project. A colony where "no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer and no idler" would be allowed. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Many of the settlers were southerners who spoke English instead of Spanish, also who had brought slaves with them to Texas. Mexico, which had abolished slavery in 1829, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves. -
Stephen F Austin goes to jail
Meanwhile, Mexican politics had become increasingly unstable. Austin had traveled to Mexico city late in 1833 to present petitions to Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna for greater self-government for Texas. While Austin was on his way home, Santa Anna had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution. -
Texas Revolution
the 1836 rebellion in which Texas gained it's independence from Mexico. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was an armed conflict between the United States of America and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 US annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory, despite the 1836 Texas Revolution. Reason for war was United States declined to incorporate Texas into the union, largely because northern political interests were against the addition of a new slave state. -
Abolition
James Forten was joined in his opposition to slavery by a growing number of Americans in the 19th century. Abolition, the movement to abolish slavery, became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
The Liberator
The most radical white abolitionist was a young editor named William Lloyd Garrison. Active in religious reform movements in Massachusetts, Garrison became the editor of an antislavery paper in 1828. Three years later he established his own paper, The Liberator, to deliver an uncompromising demand : immediate emancipation. -
The North Star
In 1847, Frederick Douglas began his own antislavery newspaper. He named it The North Star, after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. He hoped that Abolition could be achieved without violence. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Some slaves rebelled against their condition of bondage. One of the most prominent rebellions was led by Virginia slave Nat Turner. In August 1831, Turner and more than 50 followers attacked four plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventually captured and executed many members of the group, including Turner. -
Compromise of 1850
Once again, Henry Clay worked to shape a compromise that both the North and the South could accept. After obtaining support of the powerful Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster, Clay presented to the Senate to a series of resolutions later called the Compromise of 1850. Clays compromise contained provisions to appease northerners as well as southerners. To placate both sides, a provision allowed popular sovereignty, the right to vote for or against slavery. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The harsh terms of the fugitive Slave Act surprised many people. Under the law, alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. In addition, anyone convincted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. -
Underground Railroad
The system of escape routes they used became known as the Underground Railroad. Conductors on the routes hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing, and escorted or directed them to the next station. One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman. -
Texas enters the United States
In March 1845, angered by US-Texas negotiation on annexation, the Mexican government recalled it's ambassador from Washington. On December 29, 1845, Texas entered the union. Events moved quickly toward war. President Polk believed that war with Mexico would bring not only Texas into the union, but also New Mexico and California. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
On February 2, 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the boarder between Texas and Mexico and ceded the New Mexico and California territories to the United States. The United states agreed to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession, which included presentday California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. -
Harriet Tubman
One of the famous conductors was Harriet Tubman, born a slave in Maryland in 1820 or 1821. In 1849, after tubman's owner died, she heard rumors that she was about to be sold. Fearing this possibility, Tubman decided to make a break for freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. Shortly after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman resolved to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. In all, she made 19 trips back to the south and helped 300 slaves, including her parents freedom -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Meanwhile, another woman brought the horrors of slavery into the homes of a great many Americans. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published her own novel uncle Tom's Cabin, which stressed that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. Uncle Tom's Cabin expressed her lifetime hatred of slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This Act put Nebraska north of Missouri compromise line and Kansas south of the Missouri compromise line. This act became a law in 1854. It was proposed by congressman. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
The two men's positions were consistent. Neither wanted slavery in the territories, but they disagreed on how to keep it out. Douglas believed deeply in popular sovereignty. Lincoln, on the other hand believed slavery was immoral. Douglas won the Senate seat. -
John Browns raid/Harper's Ferry
John Brown. On the night of October 16, 1859, he led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His aim was to seize the federal arsenal there and start a general slave uprising. No such uprising occurred, however. Instead, troops put down the rebellion. Later, authorities tried Brown and put him to death. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes president
As the 1860 presidential election approached, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln appeared to be moderate in his views. He pledged to halt slavery, he also reassured that he would not interfere with the souths slaves. Many southerners viewed him as an enemy. Lincoln emerged as the winner with less than half the popular vote and with no electoral votes from the south. -
Formation of the Confederacy
South Carolina led way, seceding from the union on December 20, 1860. Mississippi soon followed south Carolinas lead, as did Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The confederates unanimously elected former senator Jefferson Davis. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
By the time of Lincolns 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 decidedo to neither abandon Fort Sumter nor reinforce it. He would merely send it food for hungry men. At 4:30 am on April 12, confederate batteries began thundering away to the cheers of Charlestons citizens. The deadly struggle between north and south was under way. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first bloodshed on the battlefield occurred about three months after fort Sumter fell, near little Creek of Bull Run, just 25 miles from Washington DC. The battle was a seesaw affair. Many confederate soldiers confident war was over, left army and went home. -
Battle of Antietam
McLellan ordered his men to pursue Lee, and the two sides fought on September 17 near a creek called the Antietam. The clash provided to be the bloodiest sngle-day battle in Americanew 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, McLellan did nothing. As a result, Lincoln removed him from command. -
Conscription
As fighting intensified, heavy casualties and widespread desertions lead each side to impose conscription, a draft that forced men to serve in the army. -
Income Tax
As northern economy grew, Congress decided to help pay for the war by collecting the nation's first income tax, a tax that takes some specified percentage of an individuals income. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Union General Ulysses S. Grant fought to take Vicksburg, one of the two remaining confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. -
Sherman's march
In the spring of 1864, Sherman began his March south east through Georgia to the sea, creating a wife path of destruction. His army burned almost every house in its path and destroyed livestock and Railroads. -
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 Lincolns request, the terms were generous. Within a month later all remaining confederate resistance collapsed. After four long years, the civil war was over. -
Thirteenth amendment
After some political maneuvering, the Thirteenth amendment was ratified at the end of 1865. The US Constitution now stated " neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United states". -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
During its third act, a man crept up behind Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head. Lincoln, who never regained consciousness, died on April 15. The assassin, John Wilkes booth, a 26 year old actor, leaped from the presidential box and escaped. -
Dread Scott V. Stanford
Dread Scott was a slave whose owner took him from slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin and back to Missouri. Scott appealed to the Supreme Court for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state, Illinois and a free territory, Wisconsin, had made him a free man. On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled against Dread Scott. -
Emancipation proclamation
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation. The following portion captured national attention. The proclamation did not free slaves immediately because it applied only to areas behind confederate lines, outside the union control. Nevertheless, for many, the proclamation gave the war moral purpose by turning the struggle into a fight to free the slaves. It also ensured that the Compromise was no longer possible. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Near the sleepy town of Gettysburg, in southern Pennsylvania, the most decisive battle of war was fought. The battle of Gettysburg began on July 1 when confederate soldiers led by A.P. Hill encountered several brigades of the union cavalry under the command of John Burford, an experienced officer from Illinois. -
Gettysburg address
Ino November 1863, a ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg. There, president Lincoln spoke for a little more than two minutes. According to some contemporary historians, Lincolns Gettysburg address "remade America".
