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Abolition
The movement to abolish slavery that was very important in the 19th century -
Missouri Compromise
Behind the leadership of Henry Clay, Congress passed a series of agreements from 1820-1821 known as the Missouri Compromise which admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. It also split the rest of the Louisiana territory into two parts with the dividing line set at 36'30 North latitude (Mason-DIxon line). North of the line slavery was banned but south of the line, slavery was legal. Madison was president at the time. -
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was a conductor for the Underground Railroad. She escaped slavery in 1849 after her owner died, fleeing to Philadelphia. After the passage of the fugitive slave act, she resolved to help. She then made 19 trips back to the south, helping 300 slaves to escape, including her own parents. -
Manifest Destiny
As westward expansion gripped the country, the phrase "manifest destiny" expressed the idea that the U.S. had been ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory and that these were inevitable. -
Santa Fe Trail
Made from old Native American trails, the Santa Fe Trail was one of the busiest trails west that stretched 780 miles from Independence, MO to Santa Fe in the Mexican-held New Mexico. Every spring, people traveled the first 150 miles individually and then joined with others in groups of up to 100 to protect against attacks from Native Americans until Santa Fe was in view and then it was every man for himself. -
San Felipe de Austin
San Felipe de Austin was the main settlement of the Texas Colony. It was established by Stephen F. Austin in 1821 who had a land grant given to his father by Spain. Once he obtained permission from the Spanish and Mexican governments to establish a colony between the Brazos and Colorado Rivers, he issued 297 land grants to the Texas Old Three Hundred. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 which created a conflict in the Mexican colony of Texas. There were Americans also living there from the south who had brought their slaves with him but when Mexico abolished slavery, the native Tejanos asked the Americans to get rid of their slaves which they refused to do. -
The Liberator
The Liberator was an antislavery paper that called for the immediate emancipation of slaves written by William Lloyd Garrison -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner's rebellion was a slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in which he gained the support of about 50 other slaves who then attacked four plantations, killing about 60 white people before being captured and executed. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Austin had gone to Mexico city in 1833 to petition the Mexican president, Santa Anna for greater self-government for Texas. WHile on his way home, Santa Anna imprisoned Austin for inciting revolution in Texas. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a trail west that stretched from Independence, MO to Oregon City, OR. Established in 1836 by two Methodist missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, it proved that wagons could travel on the Oregon Trail. Many groups followed them, including the Mormons -
Texas Revolution
The 1836 rebellion in which Texas gained its independence from Mexico. This followed the arrest of Austin and the suspension of local powers in Texas. The Alamo was a major battle in this war and the independence was officially confirmed when Texans captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign the Treaty of Velasco. -
Texas enters the United States
Texans hopes the U.S would annex Texas but the U.S was divided. Southerners wanted Texas so they could extend slavery while Northerners feared including Texas, a slave state, would tip the balance of power in the Senate in favor of the south and prompt war with Mexico. James K. Polk, the winner of the 1844 presidency, was a slaveholder and voted in favor of annexing Texas. -
Mexican-American War pt. 1
As a result of the Texas Annexation, events moved towards war. President Polk believed war could bring New Mexico and California into the Union so the he supported Texan claims in border disputes over whether the Texas border extended to the Rio Grande or the Nueces River. Polk tried to secretly negotiate the dispute but the Mexican government refused to receive John Slidell which led Polk to order U.S. troops into disputed territory. When John C. Fremont led an American military exploration... -
The North Star
The North Star was an antislavery paper written by Frederick Douglass who was an escaped slave that spoke out against slavery and hoped to achieve abolition without violence. His newspaper was named after the star that guided slaves to freedom. -
Mexican American War pt. 2
party into California, Mexican soldiers killed 11 U.S. soldiers, leading to war. When Stephen Kearny and his troops marched to Santa Fe, they were greeted openly by upper-class citizens who wanted to join the U.S. and New Mexico fell without a shot. In California, American settlers seized Sonoma, raising a bear flag and declaring California independent. Troops quickly arrived there and gained control of CA. American troops in Mexico gained many victories in a year of fighting, ending the war. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican American war. Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico and ceded New Mexico and California to the U.S in return for $15 million from the U.S. for the cession. This gave the U.S. California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. This, in addition with the Gadsden purchase of some southern territory, established the current borders of the contiguous 48 United States. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was proposed by Henry Clay and supported by Daniel Webster. It made California be a free state to appease the North and called for a more effective fugitive slave law to appease the South. It also said that popular sovereignty should decide the fate of slavery in New Mexico and Utah. Initially rejected, Stephen A. Douglas then proposed it as a series of individual measures to more effectively pass them. Popular sovereignty later became an issue with Kansas and Nebraska. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Passed with the Compromise of 1850, the fugitive slave act said
alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. In addition, anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. In response some tried to send African Americans to Canada for safety. Others helped protect slaves any way they could. -
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a secret network of abolitionists and free African Americans who would help hide fugitive slaves as they escaped. "Conductors" would hide slaves and escort them to their next location, often ending in the North or even Canada. Harriet Tubman was a famous conductor. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a famous novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that stressed that slavery was not just political, but also a huge moral issue which encouraged northern white abolitionists to increase their protests while southerners criticized it for attacking the south. The book expressed her lifetime hatred of slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
A hotly debated act, the Kansas-Nebraska act said Nebraska was in the north and Kansas in the South and opened both states to popular sovereignty over slavery despite the fact that both of them were above the Mason-Dixon line. It effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise and enraged the Northerners. It created great conflict in Kansas as both groups tried to win Kansas for themselves, leading to a period of time known as Bleeding Kansas. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave who sued for freedom when his owner brought him from the slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin and back. He said living in a free state made him free. The court ruled against him, saying Scott couldn't sue because he wasn't a citizen. Also, slaves were property and to release a slave would be to deprive people of their property. Northerners were outraged but Southerners were jubilant because the decision guaranteed the extension of slavery. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
Lincoln and Douglas were debating for the 1858 Illinois senate seat with Douglas as the incumbent. Due to Lincoln's lesser-known status he challenged Douglas to debate about slavery. While neither wanted slavery in the territories, Douglas wanted popular sovereignty but Lincoln believed in abolition with an amendment. Douglas won the senate seat but it caused a rift in the Democratic Party and Lincoln got national attention and people began thinking of him for the presidency. -
John Brown's Raid/Harpers Ferry
John Brown was an abolitionist who wanted to rebel against slavery. With funding from abolitionists, he led a group of men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry to seize the federal arsenal and start a slave rebellion but was stopped by troops there. He was executed and this caused a response from the North, who raged against the south with fiery speeches and the South who rioted and attacked any believed to have antislavery views. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes President
In 1860, Lincoln was selected as the Republican candidate and he pledged to stop the spread of slavery but not to interfere with slavery in the South though many Southerners still disliked him. Lincoln beat out the other three candidates largely because of the split in the Democratic party over slavery though he had less than half the popular vote and with no Southern electoral votes. Many southern states didn't even put him on the ballot. -
Formation of the Confederacy
Lincoln's victory made Southerners angry as they felt they had no voice in national government. After his election, some southern states seceded led by South Carolina. It was followed by Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. Calling themselves the Confederacy, they drew up a constitution similar to the US but that protected slavery and unanimously elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president. -
Income Tax
The Income Tax is a tax that takes a percentage of an individual's income. It was first instituted by Congress to help pay for the war as the Northern economy grew. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
Confederate soldiers seized federal installations, mostly forts, until only 4 southern forts were left under Union control at the time of Lincoln's inauguration. One such fort was Fort Sumter in Charleston.
Lincoln decided to neither abandon Fort Sumter nor reinforce it, only send in food. On April 12, 1861 Confederate soldiers took the fort forcefully. The fall of Fort Sumter marked the start of the American Civil War -
Battle of Bull Run
The first bloodshed of the Civil War occurred at Bull Run creek, outside of Washington D.C. It was a seesaw affair, meaning the North had control in the morning but the South gained control by the afternoon under General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. This was the first Southern victory, causing a surge in morale and many Southern soldiers left the army went home, too exhausted to keep fighting and believing the war was won. Lincoln, however, increased enlistments in response. -
Battle at Antietam
When Robert E. Lee tried to move against Washington, McClellan found Confederate plans by some stroke of luck and ordered the Union troops to pursue Lee. They fought by a creek called Antietam and it was the bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. history with casualties totalling at more than 26,000. McClellan, however did not continue to pursue the Southern army and thus was removed from command. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Lincoln as a way to damage Confederate resources as they used slave labor to help their army. It declared all slaves free, meaning the Union Army could emancipate slaves from the South. It was not just a war weapon but also a moral issue and it strengthened the Union Army as it became a moral cause that they were fighting for. It also made it so compromise with the South was now impossible. -
Conscription
As social upheaval and political unrest increased and fighting intensified, heavy casualties and widespread desertions caused both armies to impose conscription. Conscription is a draft that requires service in the army. Northerners rebelled against this with draft riots which mostly occurred in New York City. -
Battle at Gettysburg
The Battle at Gettysburg was the most decisive battle of the Civil War. Fought in Pennsylvania, the Confederate led by Hill ran into troops led by Buford. The Union first took the field but by the second day the Confederate army had the town and was attacking the Union army on Cemetery Ridge. The Northern artillery continued its barrage and finally Lee was forced to concede and retreat back to VIrginia. It convinced the North that Lee was not invincible. However casualties were more than 30%. -
Battle at Vicksburg
Ulysses S. Grant wanted Vicksburg, one of two remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River, partially because one could control water traffic. In the winter of 1862-63 he tried but he didn't have success until the spring of 1863. He weakened defenses and attacked other places to distract and weaken the troops. He ordered a barrage on Vicksburg and isolated the city until food shortages led the Confederates to surrender. The Confederacy was cut in half and the Union was succeeding. -
Gettysburg address
The Gettysburg address was a speech given by lincoln when dedicating a cemetery in Gettysburg. The speech had a colossal impact and helped to unify the nation. -
Sherman's March
Led by William Tecumseh Sherman, this was a strategy to destroy the South's will to fight. He marched through Georgia to the sea, leaving destruction in his wake. He burned houses and destroyed livestock and railroads trying to make the South sick of war. By mid-november he burned most of Atlanta and when he reached the see, he turned North and went to destroy Lee along with 25,000 former slaves. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The President had abolished slavery in Confederate states but not in border states and he believed the only solution to this problem was an amendment abolishing slavery. The thirteenth amendment states "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" (Constitution). It was ratified at the end of 1865. -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
After Union troops took Richmond, the Confederate Capital, Lee and Grant met in a private home in Appomattox Court House to negotiate surrender. The terms were generous and the Confederate soldiers were paroled and sent home with their possessions and three days of rations. Officers kept their side arms. In a month, all Confederate resistance had collapsed and the Civil War was over. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
5 days after the Confederate surrender, Lincoln and his wife went to Ford's Theatre where he was shot in the back of the head during the third act. This was the first assassination in American history. John Wilkes Booth, a 26 year-old Southern sympathizer was responsible. He escaped but was captured and shot 12 days later. 7 million Americans turned out to mourn their martyred leader as his funeral train went home.
