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Massacre at Mystic
On April 23, 1637, 200 Pequot warriors attacked the village of Wethersfield killing six men and three women, all unarmed noncombatants. This was a major turning point in the Pequot war as it enraged the settlers that the warriors would kill civilians and led to increased support for the Pequot War among colonists. -
The Scalp Act
Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
It determined that three out of every five slaves were counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation. Before the Civil War, the Three-Fifths Compromise gave a disproportionate representation of slave states in the House of Representatives. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
The ban of 1808 did basically stop the importation of slaves from Africa or from the West Indies. There was some smuggling of slaves. After that, all the way up to the Civil War, the ban was not totally enforced, but it certainly ended what had been before then an open, legal and fairly large slave trade. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811 between the American forces under the command of William Henry Harrison, and Native American warriors under the leadership of Tenskwatawa, commonly referred to as “The Prophet.” Deemed an American victory, the battle had far lasting implications with Native American policy and the approaching conflict known as the War of 1812. -
The Missouri Compromise
This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
On August 21, 1831, at 2:00 a.m., Turner and his followers started at his master's house and killed the entire family. They marched throughout Southampton County in Virginia, killing at least 55 people until white authorities crushed the revolt. Turner avoided capture for nearly two months before he was caught. -
Trail of Tears
Guided by policies favored by President Andrew Jackson, who led the country from 1828 to 1837, the Trail of Tears (1837 to 1839) was the forced westward migration of American Indian tribes from the South and Southeast. Land grabs threatened tribes throughout the South and Southeast in the early 1800s. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
Passed on September 18, 1850 by Congress, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. -
Dred Scott Decision
Missouri's Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857. In its 1857 decision that stunned the nation, the United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional. The opinion also stated that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a Federal territory. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "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, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It forbids chattel slavery across the United States and in every territory under its control, except as a criminal punishment. -
14th Amendment
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. A major provision of the 14th Amendment was to grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people. -
15th Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States. The battle was a momentary victory for the Lakota and Cheyenne. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
More than 80 years after the massacre, beginning on February 27, 1973, Wounded Knee was the site of the Wounded Knee incident, a 71-day standoff between militants of the American Indian Movement—who had chosen the site for its symbolic value—and federal law enforcement officials. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is the Supreme Court case that had originally upheld the constitutionality of “separate, but equal facilities” based on race. It was subsequently since overturned by Brown v. Board of Education (1954).