History 10 Unit 7 - The Civil War timeline

1787: The Founding Fathers put slavery in the Constitution 3 times

• Founding fathers didn’t want to alienate southern states or Northern states by having the constitution take an explicit position on slavery

• Purposefully left it open and ambiguous hoping in would fizzle out in the future

1793: Cotton gin invented

• Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin with the aim of making cotton picking easier on Southern slaves, decreasing the problem overall.

• Its invention has the inverse effect on slavery, causing a huge boom in the slave population and cementing it as part of not only the southern economy but culture as well

1808: Slave trade (with Africa) is abolished

Congress votes to abolish slave trade, but as a result of the invention of the cotton gin, and its effect on cotton production speeds, slavery still remains an economic necessity for the South.

1815: There’s a balance of power in Congress

11 free states, 11 slave states

• Balance of power between free and slave states stops either side from imposing its will upon the other

1820: Missouri Compromise

• Admits Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state to keep balance in congress

• Sets precedent of admitting one free state and one slave state at a time

1831: William Lloyd Garrison publishes *The Liberator.*

Nat Turner’s Rebellion kills over 60 whites, and Turner and his accomplices are executed.

• William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator, widely popular abolitionist newspaper

• Turner’s rebellion increased fears of slave uprisings across the South, also led to increased calls for total abolition

1838: Underground Railroad organized

• Network of safe houses and secret routes which escaped slaves could use to make it to the North

• Members include congressional representatives, and notable business owners up and down the East united states

• The Underground Railroad also included conductors who would help and lead escaped slaves to safe houses, one such conductor was Harriet Tubman

1845: Admission of Texas into the Union

• Texas’s admission into the union angers Mexico who believes the territory is theirs

• Sets stage for Mexican-American war

1846: Purchase of the Oregon Territory by President Polk from Great Britain

• Greatly expands U.S. northwestern border

• 2nd to last step to complete the territory forming the continental U.S.

1848: Mexican-American War ends with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

A huge amount of new western territory is added to the Union. Gold is found in California.

• Combatants in the Mexican-American War included many of those who would become commanders in the Civil War

• Essentially finished the borders of the continental U.S.

• California gains become hotbead of debate for the question of what type of labor will be used to mine for newly discovered gold

1850: Compromise of 1850 passed

• Admitted California as a free state, abolishes slave trade in Washington D.C.

• allows New Mexico and Utah territories to decide the question of slavery through popular election

• Stricter Fugitive Slave Act

1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• First time world has seen the horrors of slavery

• Disgusts northern populous who begin to call in greater numbers for abolition

• Enerages South who sees it as a direct threat to their way of life

1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act passed

The Republican Party forms in direct opposition to the act.

• Repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing slavery to spread into territory above the the 36/30 parallel republican party formed in direct opposition to the act

• Causes pro and anti slavery citizens to flow into kansas and Nebraska to sway the popular vote on slavery

1855; beginning of “Bleeding Kansas”

Violence from pro and Anti-slavery factions in Kansas kicks off years of fighting and retaliatory bloodshed

1856: Pro-slavery Senator Preston Brooks attacks Anti-slavery Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor.

• Brings the violence around the question of slavery to the senate chamber

• Demonstrates that americans are ready and willing to fight each other over the question of slavery

1857: *Dred Scott* Supreme Court case

• Enslaved man Dredd Scott is taken to a free state by his master, and sues for his freedom based on the fact that he now resides in a place where slavery is illegal

• Case goes to the supreme court where it is ruled, that in addition to Dredd Scott not being allowed his freedom, non-white people cannot be, and are not citizens, and cannot sue for their freedom in federal court

• SCOTUS also decides that congress cannot legislate on the issue of slavery since it is absent from the constitution

1859: John Brown attacks Harper’s Ferry

• It fails and he is executed.

• intended to rally all Southern slaves in a revolt

• John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry frightens South and raises tensions between slavers and abolitionists

• Robert E. Lee is the general who puts down the insurrection and captures Brown

1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected President. He is the first Republican president.

Not a single Southern state votes for him.

• Lincoln's election puts the south’s anger and fear at an all time high, even though he states many times that he will not outlaw slavery

• Many Southern states don't even put Lincoln on the ballot

1860: South Carolina secedes from the Union

Lincoln’s election, and fears over his position on slavery, cause South Carolina to secede, followed by Mississippi and Florida a few days later

1861: Battle of Fort Sumter.

Confederate army fires on Fort Sumter, a federal fort. Instead of accepting secession, Lincoln sees this as an act of war and declares war against the rebels.

By 1861, all Confederate states have seceeded: (in order of secession) South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.