Secession and Civil War

1820-03-03 00:00:00

The Missouri Compromise

An effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. Missouri would be admitted as a slave state but the state of Maine would be created and admitted as a free state keeping the balance. Enter story info here

1831-08-21 03:50:55

Nat Turner Rebellion

A black American slave who led the only effective, sustained slave rebellion in U.S. history. Spreading terror throughout the white South, his action set off a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of slaves and stiffened proslavery, anti-abolitionist convictions that persisted in that region until the American Civil War

1846-05-13 03:50:55

Mexican-American War and Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The war was initiated by the United States and resulted in Mexico's defeat and the loss of approximately half of its national territory in the north in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1846-08-08 03:50:55

Wilmot's Proviso

Showed just how strongly opposition to slavery was in the north. It was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War. It separated the north and the south because the south feared that as soon as northerners gained control of the Senate, slavery would be restricted, then abolished.

1848-04-15 08:54:44

4 More States succeed

The attack on Fort Sumter prompted four more states to join the Confederacy. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina secede from the Union.

1848-06-05 08:54:44

Publishing of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe's best selling novel of the 19th century changed forever how Americans viewed slavery. It demanded that the United States deliver on the promise of freedom and equality, galvanized the abolition movement and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. It upset northerners and southerners because it was a story of about slavery in the south. Southerners thought that it was a very exaggerated story and depicted a slave's life worse than it really was. Northerners became more aware of the life of a slave and pushed more for abolition.

1848-12-20 08:54:44

South Carolina secedes

South Carolina secedes from the Union before Lincoln takes office

1849-01-09 08:54:44

Mississippi secedes

Mississippi secedes from the Union.

1850-01-29 03:50:55

Compromise of 1850

It consisted of laws admitting California as a free state, creating Utah and New Mexico territories with the question of slavery in each to be determined by popular sovereignty, settling a Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute in the former’s favor, ending the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and making it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves with the Fugitive Slave Act. The Fugitive Slave Act was one of the most controversial acts of 1850, due to dealing with Southern slave holding and Northern free-soilers. The act itself dealt with slaves, especially runaway slaves. This act stated that any captured runaway slaves must be returned to their masters, where they would continue to work. By returning the slaves to their masters, slaves would more than likely be punished by their masters.

1854-05-30 08:54:44

Kansas Nebraska Act

It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. This infuriated many in the North who considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement. In the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported.

1854-12-01 08:54:44

"Bleeding Kansas"

Period of violence during the settling of the Kansas territory. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraksa Act overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory and instead, using the principle of popular sovereignty, decreed that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or a slave state. Proslavery and free-state settlers flooded into Kansas to try to influence the decision. Violence soon erupted as both factions fought for control.

1855-03-20 08:54:44

Formation of Republican Party

Due to northern outrage over "Bleeding Kansas", the Republican party formed firmly on the belief slavery could not be spread. This party developed from the Free-soilers.

1856-05-22 08:54:44

Congressman Preston Brooks Beats Senator Charles Sumner

Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane. Northerners and southerners become even more hostile towards each other because Congressman are supposed to be the examples for others and keep their country civilized. The northerners were even more upset when the southerners celebrated with Preston Brooks and gave him gifts. Preston Brooks acted out because of a personal insult in Charles Sumner's speech.

1857-03-06 08:54:44

Supreme Court Ruling in Dred Scott Case

A landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court held that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States.

1859-10-16 08:54:44

John Brown Revolt Uproar

Attacks on pro-slavery residents. Justifying actions as the will of God, he soon became a hero in the eyes of Northern extremists and was quick to capitalize on his growing reputation. He succeeded in enlisting a small “army” of insurrectionists whose mission was to foment rebellion among the slaves. Brown and 21 of his followers attacked and occupied the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry. Their goal was to capture supplies and use them to arm a slave rebellion. Brown was captured during the raid and later hanged, but not before becoming an anti-slavery icon.

1860-11-06 08:54:44

Lincoln wins Presidential Election

The southerners felt they had to leave the union or face the destruction of their institutions and values after Lincoln, an anti-slavery Republican, won the presidential election. The decision for the southerners to leave the union occurred at the southern convention.

1861-01-10 08:54:44

5 More States Succeed

Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas succeed from the Union

1861-02-04 08:54:44

Confederate States of America are formed

Seceded states held a Convention in Montgomery, Alabama. Convention adopted a Confederate Constitution. Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederate States.

1861-04-12 08:54:44

Fort Sumter

The site of the first shots of the Civil War. U.S. Major Robert Anderson occupied the fort in December 1860 following South Carolina’s secession from the Union, initiating a standoff with the state’s militia forces. When President Abraham Lincoln announced plans to resupply the fort, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. After a 34-hour exchange of artillery fire, Anderson and 86 soldiers surrendered the fort on April 13. Confederate troops then occupied Fort Sumter for nearly four years.

1863-01-01 08:54:44

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln announces, all slaves in the rebelling states would be free. Does not affect border states. Forces European nations to recognize that choosing sides in the Civil War is to take a stand on slavery either for or against.

1863-05-18 08:54:44

Siege of Vicksburg

After a long siege, Vicksburg surrenders to Grant. All of Mississippi River is now in Union control.

1865-04-09 08:54:44

Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House

Lee, refusing to see his troops suffer any further, surrenders to Grant. Southern troops given generous terms of surrender

Secession and Civil War

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