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Massacre at Mystic
This was the first defeat of the Pequot people by the English in the Pequot War. It was a three-year war instigated by the Puritans to seize the tribe’s traditional land. -
The Scalp Act
Massachusetts Governor William Shirley issued a bounty to be paid to British-allied Indians for the scalps of French-allied Indian men, women, and children. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
The practice of slavery continued to be legal in much of the U.S. until 1865, and enslaved people continued to be bought and sold within the Southern states, but in January 1808 the legal flow of new Africans into this country stopped forever. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
Fought 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.” -
The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise also proposed that slavery be prohibited above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. This held for 34 years, until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat thought he was called by God to deliver his people from slavery. Turner used preaching to convince people to join his revolt. 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. -
Indian Removal Act
Signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, 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. -
Trail of Tears
Thousands of people died along the way. One Choctaw leader told an Alabama newspaper it was a “trail of tears and death.”In 1836, the federal government drove the Creeks from their land for the last time: 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks who set out for Oklahoma did not survive the trip. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
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. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Dred Scott Decision
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 -
13th Amendment
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." -
14th Amendment
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. -
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. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
It was reached among state delegates during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It determined that three out of every five slaves were counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The battle was a momentary victory for the Lakota and Cheyenne. The death of Custer and his troops became a rallying point for the United States to increase their efforts to force native peoples onto reservation lands. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
This was the slaughter of approximately 150–300 Lakota individuals by United States Army troops in the area of Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Louisiana enacted the Separate Car Act, which required separate railway cars for blacks and whites.