Legislation

Missouri Compromise 1820

A Congressional agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, banning slavery north of latitude 36°30′ in the Louisiana Territory.

Compromise of 1850

A series of laws passed to resolve tensions over slavery in territories gained from the Mexican-American War; admitted California as a free state and allowed popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico.

Fugitive Slave Act 1850

Federal law requiring escaped enslaved people to be returned to their owners, increasing tensions between the North and South.

Kansas–Nebraska Act 1854

Law creating Kansas and Nebraska territories allowing settlers to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty, repealing the Missouri Compromise.

Dred Scott v. Sandford 1857

Supreme Court decision ruling that African Americans were not citizens and Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in U.S. territories.

First Confiscation Act 1861

Union law allowing the federal government to seize enslaved people used by the Confederacy for military purposes.

Second Confiscation Act 1862

Expanded the First Confiscation Act by declaring enslaved people owned by Confederate supporters as free.

Conscription Act 1863

Federal law establishing the first national draft in U.S. history to increase Union army manpower during the Civil War.

Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War that restricted the rights of freed African Americans.

Civil Rights Act (1866)

Federal law granting citizenship and equal legal rights to African Americans and overturning the Black Codes.

Military Reconstruction Act 1867

Law dividing the South into five military districts requiring former Confederate states to guarantee Black voting rights.

Command of the Army Act 1867

Reconstruction law that required the president to issue military orders through the commanding general of the army.

Tenure of Office Act 1867

Law preventing the president from removing certain federal officials without Senate approval.

Enforcement Acts 1870-1871

Series of federal laws giving the national government authority to combat the Ku Klux Klan and protect African Americans’ voting rights.

Civil Rights Act (1875)

Federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations, later weakened by Supreme Court decisions.