1850
Compromise of 1850 A package of five laws admitted California as a free state, organized New Mexico and Utah under popular sovereignty, adjusted Texas's border, strengthened fugitive slave laws and banned the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
The Compromise of 1850 settled the slavery question only briefly; the Kansas–Nebraska Act then repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened it.
4 years · AI-written context
1854
Kansas–Nebraska Act Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery north of 36°30' and let territorial residents decide the question by popular sovereignty.
1857
Dred Scott decision The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that people of black African descent could not be U.S. citizens or sue in federal court, and struck down the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional.
1859
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Abolitionist John Brown and 21 followers seized the federal armory at Harpers Ferry; U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee crushed the raid. Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859.
1860
Lincoln elected president Republican Abraham Lincoln won 180 electoral votes, carrying all eighteen free states and no slave states.
1860
South Carolina secedes South Carolina passed its Ordinance of Secession, becoming the first of eleven states to leave the Union.
1861
Fort Sumter attacked Confederate forces under P. G. T. Beauregard bombarded the Union-held fort in Charleston harbor for 34 hours until Major Robert Anderson surrendered. The war had begun.
1861
First Battle of Bull Run A Confederate victory in Virginia that shattered Northern hopes of a quick end to the war and prompted serious Union mobilization.
1862
Battle of Antietam The single bloodiest day in American military history, with about 22,700 casualties. It ended Lee's invasion of Maryland and gave Lincoln the victory he wanted before announcing emancipation.
1863
Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln declared that enslaved people in the ten states still in rebellion were free and opened Union military service to them. A preliminary version was issued on September 22, 1862.
1863
Siege of Vicksburg Ulysses S. Grant besieged the Mississippi River fortress until Confederate General John Pemberton surrendered on July 4, splitting the Confederacy in two.
1863
Battle of Gettysburg George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North in the war's bloodiest battle, with 46,000 to 51,000 casualties.
1864
Sherman's March to the Sea William T. Sherman led about 62,000 troops about 300 miles from Atlanta to Savannah, destroying Confederate infrastructure and resources along the way.
1865
Lee surrenders at Appomattox After a long siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Lee was cut off near Appomattox Court House and surrendered about 28,000 men to Grant, effectively ending major combat.
1865
Lincoln assassinated John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14; he died the next morning at the Petersen House.
1865
Thirteenth Amendment ratified The amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as punishment for crime. It was proclaimed in effect on December 18, 1865.
