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Section #3 - Turning Point Events

Turning Points Events by Causal Factor

CauseYearEvent
1. Sectional Economics1650Slavery expands to all thirteen American colonies.
1. Sectional Economics1791Alexander Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures calls for a diverse industrialized economy
1. Sectional Economics1794Eli Whitney patents a ‘gin that makes producing short-staple cotton profitable
1. Sectional Economics1801The election of Thomas Jefferson signals a shift in government policies
1. Sectional Economics1808The ban on international slave trading prompts systematic breeding among southern owners
1. Sectional Economics1813The “Great Triumphrate” begin their dominance over the U.S. Congress
1. Sectional Economics1814The New England states threaten secession at the Hartford Convention
1. Sectional Economics1828The so-called “Tariff of Abominations” outrages the South’s cotton producers
1. Sectional Economics1830A Senate debate on The “Value of the Union” captures the growing sectional divide
1. Sectional Economics1833The “Nullification Crisis” threatens the viability of the Union
1. Sectional Economics1837John C. Calhoun delivers his “Slavery Is A Positive Good” speech in the Senate
1. Sectional Economics1841Henry Clay’s “American System” economic vision is set back by the death of President Harrison
1. Sectional Economics1843The Democrat Party begin to be reshaped by the election of Stephen A. Douglas
1. Sectional Economics1847Democrats propose “Popular Sovereignty” elections as an alternative to the Wilmot Proviso
1. Sectional Economics1850A filibustering attempt to conquer Cuba fails
1. Sectional Economics1853The North and South vie over a route for a transcontinental railroad
1. Sectional Economics1858South Carolina Senator John Henry Hammond delivers his Cotton is King speech
1. Sectional Economics1858Expanding slavery into the west is now crucial to the future growth of the Southern economy
2. States’ Rights1789George Washington becomes the United States first President
2. States’ Rights1819The Tallmadge Amendments signals Northern opposition to the extension of slavery in the west.
2. States’ Rights1820Henry Clay’s 1820 Missouri Compromise averts a North-South crisis over slavery
2. States’ Rights1841Henry Clay’s “American System” economic vision is set back by the death of President Harrison
2. States’ Rights1861The Confederate Cabinet agrees to attack Ft. Sumter
3. Racism1784Prince Hall gains formal approval from the Masonry for African Lodge #459
3. Racism1785Thomas Jefferson stereotypes the Black race in his Notes on the State of Virginia
3. Racism1787An allocation compromise satisfies the South while reducing Blacks to 3/5th of a full human
3. Racism1803Northwest Territorial Governor Harrison supports re-opening slavery in Indiana
3. Racism1804The State of Ohio passes its first set of Black Codes
3. Racism1808The ban on international slave trading prompts systematic breeding among southern owners
3. Racism1813James Forten protests a Pennsylvania bill discriminating against Black emigrants
3. Racism1829Black activist David Walker issues his “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
3. Racism1831Nat Turner’s Rebellion terrifies the South and fosters savage reprisals
3. Racism1835The so-called Five Civilized Tribes are driven out of their homelands along the Trail of Tears
3. Racism1837John C. Calhoun delivers his “Slavery Is A Positive Good” speech in the Senate
3. Racism1840Bogus research by Dr. Samuel Morton finds that Negroes are a different and inferior race
3. Racism1841Another violent race riot breaks out in Cincinnati
3. Racism1843Douglass joins Garrison’s “Lecturers” preaching moral suasion to end slavery
3. Racism1843The Democrat Party begin to be reshaped by the election of Stephen A. Douglas
3. Racism1843Preacher Henry Highland Garnet delivers his “Call to Rebellion” speech
3. Racism1845Schisms over slavery divide both the Methodist and Baptist Churches
3. Racism1847Political maneuvering follows General Winfield Scott conquest of Mexico City
3. Racism1849Newly elected Whig President Zachary Taylor surprises the South
3. Racism1850A racist New York mob breaks up an Abolition Conference in New York City
3. Racism1851“General” Harriet Tubman comes to symbolize the Underground Railroad
3. Racism1852Frederick Douglass castigates white complacency in his “What to the Slave is the 4th of July” speech
3. Racism1852Southerners step up their defense of slavery
3. Racism1855The Free State forces in Kansas draft the first of their Topeka Constitutions
3. Racism1858The Lincoln-Douglas Debates capture the nation’s attention
3. Racism1859Oregon is admitted as a Free State while banning all Blacks from residency
4. Slavery Expansion1549Brazil becomes the focal point for the International Slave Trade.
4. Slavery Expansion1619Chattel Slavery comes to America.
4. Slavery Expansion1650Slavery expands to all thirteen American colonies.
4. Slavery Expansion1787The Northwest Ordinance draws the first boundary line dividing Free vs. Slave States
4. Slavery Expansion1794Eli Whitney patents a ‘gin that makes producing short-staple cotton profitable
4. Slavery Expansion1798The Territory of Mississippi is officially organized
4. Slavery Expansion1803Jefferson competes the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon’s France
4. Slavery Expansion1803Northwest Territorial Governor Harrison supports re-opening slavery in Indiana
4. Slavery Expansion1807Aaron Burr is tried for treason over a plot to form his own empire in Mexico permitting slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1808The ban on international slave trading prompts systematic breeding among southern owners
4. Slavery Expansion1813The “Great Triumphrate” begin their dominance over the U.S. Congress
4. Slavery Expansion1819The Tallmadge Amendments signals Northern opposition to the extension of slavery in the west.
4. Slavery Expansion1820Henry Clay’s 1820 Missouri Compromise averts a North-South crisis over slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1821Benjamin Lundy’s paper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation, energizes abolitionists
4. Slavery Expansion1821Mexico gains its independence from Spain in the Treaty of Cordoba.
4. Slavery Expansion1823Mexico makes Empresario land grants to Moses Austin in the Tejas Province
4. Slavery Expansion1835The so-called Five Civilized Tribes are driven out of their homelands along the Trail of Tears
4. Slavery Expansion1836Mexican troops massacre hundreds of American settlers at the Alamo and the town of Goliad
4. Slavery Expansion1836The Republic of Texas is founded after Santa Anna defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto
4. Slavery Expansion1845Schisms over slavery divide both the Methodist and Baptist Churches
4. Slavery Expansion1845Presbyterian Reverend James Henley Thornwell leads the clerical defense of slavery for the South
4. Slavery Expansion1846President James Knox Polk’s election sets the stage for the western expansion of slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1846The fateful Mexican War gets underway
4. Slavery Expansion1846America occupies California after The Bear Flag Revolt
4. Slavery Expansion1846The Wilmot Proviso shocks the South
4. Slavery Expansion1847Political maneuvering follows General Winfield Scott conquest of Mexico City
4. Slavery Expansion1847One term Congressman Abraham Lincoln denounces the war as “a sheer deception.”
4. Slavery Expansion1847Democrats propose “Popular Sovereignty” elections as an alternative to the Wilmot Proviso
4. Slavery Expansion1848William Yancey proposes his Alabama Platform alternative to “popsov.”
4. Slavery Expansion1848Mexico cedes 525,000 square miles of land to America in The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
4. Slavery Expansion1848Abolitionist Salmon Chase founds the Free Soil Party
4. Slavery Expansion1848Joshua Giddings proposes a ban on slavery in the District of Columbia
4. Slavery Expansion1849Newly elected Whig President Zachary Taylor surprises the South
4. Slavery Expansion1849Calhoun’s Address to the Southern Delegates in Congress offers another dire warning
4. Slavery Expansion1850The Biennial Census shows that the Northern states have 60% of the total U.S. population
4. Slavery Expansion1850Henry Clay seeks another North-South Compromise with his 1850 Omnibus Bill
4. Slavery Expansion1850The sides line up for and against Clay’s Bill
4. Slavery Expansion1850William Henry Seward claims “there is a higher law than the Constitution.”
4. Slavery Expansion1850Southerners hold the Nashville Convention to debate the Omnibus Bill
4. Slavery Expansion1850A filibustering attempt to conquer Cuba fails
4. Slavery Expansion1850Douglas passes the 1850 Compromise after Clay exits DC for good
4. Slavery Expansion1852Newly elected President Franklin Pierce owes his victory to the South
4. Slavery Expansion1852The New York Superior Court rules in favor of a “once free, forever free” doctrine
4. Slavery Expansion1853The North and South vie over a route for a transcontinental railroad
4. Slavery Expansion1853Filibusterer William Walker fails in his attempt to set up an empire in Mexico with slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1854Stephen Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska Act upsets the delicate status quo on slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1854The Kansas-Nebraska controversy brings Abraham Lincoln back into national politics
4. Slavery Expansion1854The first test of “PopSov” elections in Kansas turns into a fiasco
4. Slavery Expansion1854President Pierce is embarrassed by another attempt to acquire Cuba
4. Slavery Expansion1854Filibusterer William Walker conquers Nicaragua and re-introduces slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1855Political turmoil continues in Kansas and President Pierce sacks Governor Reeder
4. Slavery Expansion1855The Free State forces in Kansas draft the first of their Topeka Constitutions
4. Slavery Expansion1855A skirmish known as the Wakarusa War foretells violence to come in Kansas
4. Slavery Expansion1856Moderate Georgia Democrat Robert Toombs tells a Boston audience why he supports slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1856President Pierce delivers his State of the Union address about the “disturbances in Kansas.”
4. Slavery Expansion1856The Free State Topeka Constitution arrives at the Senate’s Committee on Territories
4. Slavery Expansion1856The Toombs Bill calls for a fair do-over election in Kansas
4. Slavery Expansion1856Political Party turmoil is evident in the run-up to the 1856 Presidential election
4. Slavery Expansion1856Buchanan’s win guarantees ongoing North-South conflicts over slavery
4. Slavery Expansion1857The Taney Court issues its infamous Dred Scott ruling by 7-2
4. Slavery Expansion1857The Free State forces win a pivotal Legislative election in Kansas
4. Slavery Expansion1857Buchanan sacks Walker while the Pro-Slavery men finally write their Lecompton Constitution
4. Slavery Expansion1858Stephen Douglas publicly opposes the Lecompton Constitution and Buchanan
4. Slavery Expansion1858Kansas voters overwhelming reject the Lecompton Constitution
4. Slavery Expansion1858South Carolina Senator John Henry Hammond delivers his Cotton is King speech
4. Slavery Expansion1858Expanding slavery into the west is now crucial to the future growth of the Southern economy
4. Slavery Expansion1858Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided Speech to launch his Senate campaign
4. Slavery Expansion1858Buchanan suffers another humiliating loss in Kansas
4. Slavery Expansion1858The Lincoln-Douglas Debates capture the nation’s attention
4. Slavery Expansion1858In the mid-term elections of 1858, the Republicans win a majority of seats in the House
4. Slavery Expansion1859Oregon is admitted as a Free State while banning all Blacks from residency
4. Slavery Expansion1860Jefferson Davis announces the Southern demands in Congress
4. Slavery Expansion1860Lincoln wins the Republican Party nomination
4. Slavery Expansion1860The Democrats formally split in half between Stephen Douglas and JC Breckinridge
4. Slavery Expansion1860Lincoln carries the northern states to become the 16th President
4. Slavery Expansion1860Two special Congressional Committees search for, but fail to arrive at a compromise
4. Slavery Expansion1861Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address signals determination along with a plea for reconciliation
6. Abolition1688Germantown Quakers protest against slavery.
6. Abolition1776The Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal
6. Abolition1784Slavery fades away in the North.
6. Abolition1785The New York Manumission Society is founded
6. Abolition1787Ministers Richard Allen and Absalom Jones form the Free African Society in Philadelphia
6. Abolition1791Former slave Toussaint Louverture leads a successful Black revolution in Haiti
6. Abolition1794Reverend Richard Allen founds The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
6. Abolition1819The Tallmadge Amendments signals Northern opposition to the extension of slavery in the west.
6. Abolition1820Henry Clay’s 1820 Missouri Compromise averts a North-South crisis over slavery
6. Abolition1821Benjamin Lundy’s paper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation, energizes abolitionists
6. Abolition1821Mexico gains its independence from Spain in the Treaty of Cordoba.
6. Abolition1825Revival meetings toward the end of the Second Great Awakening fuel social reform movements
6. Abolition1826Quaker Levi Coffin leads early development of the Underground Railroad
6. Abolition1829Black activist David Walker issues his “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
6. Abolition1831The first edition of the Liberator demands an immediate end to slavery in America
6. Abolition1831Nat Turner’s Rebellion terrifies the South and fosters savage reprisals
6. Abolition1831JQ Adams returns to the House and becomes the leading proponent of abolition
6. Abolition1833The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded
6. Abolition1834Parliament officially abolishes slavery in Britain
6. Abolition1835Oberlin College is the first to admit both Black and women students
6. Abolition1836Angelina Grimke writes her “Appeal to Christian Women in the South” to end slavery
6. Abolition1836JQ Adams ignores a Southern “Gag Order” against reading anti-slavery petitions
6. Abolition1837Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy is murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois
6. Abolition1837Calvinist John Brown vows to “consecrate my life to destroying slavery.”
6. Abolition1838Joshua Giddings is elected to House from Ohio
6. Abolition1840New York abolitionists under Gerrit Smith form their Liberty Party
6. Abolition1841Frederick Douglass delivers his first address to a white audience on Nantucket Island
6. Abolition1841The South is alarmed by the Supreme Court ruling in the Amistad Affair
6. Abolition1842The Supreme Court affirms the Fugitive Slave Act in Prigg v Pennsylvania
6. Abolition1842The South suffers another legal setback in the Creole case ruling
6. Abolition1842Joshua Giddings is forced to resign from the House for supporting the Creole decision
6. Abolition1843Garrison reacts to the Prigg ruling by demanding an end to the Union
6. Abolition1843Douglass joins Garrison’s “Lecturers” preaching moral suasion to end slavery
6. Abolition1849Calhoun’s Address to the Southern Delegates in Congress offers another dire warning
6. Abolition1850A racist New York mob breaks up an Abolition Conference in New York City
6. Abolition1851Northerners resist the new Fugitive Slave Act
6. Abolition1851“General” Harriet Tubman comes to symbolize the Underground Railroad
6. Abolition1851Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, builds Northern empathy for the enslaved
6. Abolition1851The Christiana Treason Trial is another blow to the Fugitive Slave Act
6. Abolition1851Abolitionist Sojourner Truth asserts her equality
6. Abolition1852Frederick Douglass castigates white complacency in his “What to the Slave is the 4th of July” speech
6. Abolition1852The New York Superior Court rules in favor of a “once free, forever free” doctrine
6. Abolition1854Boston vigilantes free another runaway
6. Abolition1856Charles Sumner is nearly beaten to death on the floor of the Senate
6. Abolition1856Violence in Kansas escalates as the Free State capital at Lawrence is sacked
6. Abolition1856John Brown responds with his Pottawatomie Massacre
6. Abolition1856Historians refer to The Battle of Black Jack as “the first engagement in the Civil War.”
6. Abolition1857The Taney Court issues its infamous Dred Scott ruling by 7-2
6. Abolition1858The Lincoln-Douglas Debates capture the nation’s attention
6. Abolition1859John Brown arrives in Maryland on his abolitionist mission
6. Abolition1859Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry succeeds before falling apart
6. Abolition1859Brown’s fate is symbolic of the North-South divide
7. Black Experience1784Prince Hall gains formal approval from the Masonry for African Lodge #459
7. Black Experience1785Thomas Jefferson stereotypes the Black race in his Notes on the State of Virginia
7. Black Experience1787Ministers Richard Allen and Absalom Jones form the Free African Society in Philadelphia
7. Black Experience1787An allocation compromise satisfies the South while reducing Blacks to 3/5th of a full human
7. Black Experience1791Former slave Toussaint Louverture leads a successful Black revolution in Haiti
7. Black Experience1794Reverend Richard Allen founds The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
7. Black Experience1802Reverend Absalom Jones heralds the founding of Black churches in America
7. Black Experience1804The State of Ohio passes its first set of Black Codes
7. Black Experience1808The ban on international slave trading prompts systematic breeding among southern owners
7. Black Experience1813James Forten protests a Pennsylvania bill discriminating against Black emigrants
7. Black Experience1815Paul Cuffee transports 38 African-Americans to a new home in Sierra Leone
7. Black Experience1816Clergyman Robert Finley founds the American Colonization Society to return Blacks to Africa
7. Black Experience1829Black activist David Walker issues his “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
7. Black Experience1831Nat Turner’s Rebellion terrifies the South and fosters savage reprisals
7. Black Experience1841Frederick Douglass delivers his first address to a white audience on Nantucket Island
7. Black Experience1841The South is alarmed by the Supreme Court ruling in the Amistad Affair
7. Black Experience1841Another violent race riot breaks out in Cincinnati
7. Black Experience1842The Supreme Court affirms the Fugitive Slave Act in Prigg v Pennsylvania
7. Black Experience1842The South suffers another legal setback in the Creole case ruling
7. Black Experience1843Douglass joins Garrison’s “Lecturers” preaching moral suasion to end slavery
7. Black Experience1843Preacher Henry Highland Garnet delivers his “Call to Rebellion” speech
7. Black Experience1845Schisms over slavery divide both the Methodist and Baptist Churches
7. Black Experience1845Presbyterian Reverend James Henley Thornwell leads the clerical defense of slavery for the South
7. Black Experience1851Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, builds Northern empathy for the enslaved
7. Black Experience1851Abolitionist Sojourner Truth asserts her equality
7. Black Experience1852The New York Superior Court rules in favor of a “once free, forever free” doctrine
7. Black Experience1854Boston vigilantes free another runaway
7. Black Experience1855The Free State forces in Kansas draft the first of their Topeka Constitutions
7. Black Experience1857The Taney Court issues its infamous Dred Scott ruling by 7-2
8. Nullification1776The Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal
8. Nullification1787James Madison agrees to craft a Bill of Rights for citizens and for the sovereign states
8. Nullification1798The Kentucky Resolutions challenge Federal authority to enforce the Alien & Sedition Act
8. Nullification1814The New England states threaten secession at the Hartford Convention
8. Nullification1860South Carolina secedes from the Union
8. Nullification1860An ultimatum to surrender the federal forts at Charleston is sent and retracted
8. Nullification1860Ft. Sumter becomes a North-South flashpoint
8. Nullification1861With the Secession floodgates open, The Confederate States of America are formed
8. Nullification1861President-elect Lincoln badly misreads the Confederate’s intentions
8. Nullification1861Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address signals determination along with a plea for reconciliation
8. Nullification1861Lincoln decides to send an expedition to relieve Ft. Sumter and Ft. Pickens
8. Nullification1861Breakdowns in the chain of command hamper the Union efforts
9. Manifest Destiny1783The Treaty of Paris ends the Revolutionary War.
9. Manifest Destiny1784Slavery fades away in the North.
9. Manifest Destiny1787The Northwest Ordinance draws the first boundary line dividing Free vs. Slave States
9. Manifest Destiny1804The State of Ohio passes its first set of Black Codes
9. Manifest Destiny1819The Tallmadge Amendments signals Northern opposition to the extension of slavery in the west.
9. Manifest Destiny1820Henry Clay’s 1820 Missouri Compromise averts a North-South crisis over slavery
9. Manifest Destiny1843The Democrat Party begin to be reshaped by the election of Stephen A. Douglas
9. Manifest Destiny1854Stephen Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska Act upsets the delicate status quo on slavery
9. Manifest Destiny1854The first test of “PopSov” elections in Kansas turns into a fiasco
9. Manifest Destiny1855The Free State forces in Kansas draft the first of their Topeka Constitutions
9. Manifest Destiny1856President Pierce delivers his State of the Union address about the “disturbances in Kansas.”
9. Manifest Destiny1856The Free State Topeka Constitution arrives at the Senate’s Committee on Territories
9. Manifest Destiny1856The Toombs Bill calls for a fair do-over election in Kansas
9. Manifest Destiny1856Buchanan’s win guarantees ongoing North-South conflicts over slavery
9. Manifest Destiny1857Buchanan sacks Walker while the Pro-Slavery men finally write their Lecompton Constitution
9. Manifest Destiny1858Stephen Douglas publicly opposes the Lecompton Constitution and Buchanan
9. Manifest Destiny1858Kansas voters overwhelming reject the Lecompton Constitution
9. Manifest Destiny1858Buchanan suffers another humiliating loss in Kansas
9. Manifest Destiny1859Oregon is admitted as a Free State while banning all Blacks from residency
10. Territorial Constitutions1787An allocation compromise satisfies the South while reducing Blacks to 3/5th of a full human
10. Territorial Constitutions1787The Northwest Ordinance draws the first boundary line dividing Free vs. Slave States
10. Territorial Constitutions1787James Madison agrees to craft a Bill of Rights for citizens and for the sovereign states
10. Territorial Constitutions1798The Kentucky Resolutions challenge Federal authority to enforce the Alien & Sedition Act
10. Territorial Constitutions1804The State of Ohio passes its first set of Black Codes
10. Territorial Constitutions1820Henry Clay’s 1820 Missouri Compromise averts a North-South crisis over slavery
10. Territorial Constitutions1833The “Nullification Crisis” threatens the viability of the Union
10. Territorial Constitutions1834Parliament officially abolishes slavery in Britain
10. Territorial Constitutions1835The so-called Five Civilized Tribes are driven out of their homelands along the Trail of Tears
10. Territorial Constitutions1836JQ Adams ignores a Southern “Gag Order” against reading anti-slavery petitions
10. Territorial Constitutions1841The South is alarmed by the Supreme Court ruling in the Amistad Affair
10. Territorial Constitutions1842The Supreme Court affirms the Fugitive Slave Act in Prigg v Pennsylvania
10. Territorial Constitutions1842The South suffers another legal setback in the Creole case ruling
10. Territorial Constitutions1846President James Knox Polk’s election sets the stage for the western expansion of slavery
10. Territorial Constitutions1846The Wilmot Proviso shocks the South
10. Territorial Constitutions1848Joshua Giddings proposes a ban on slavery in the District of Columbia
10. Territorial Constitutions1850Douglas passes the 1850 Compromise after Clay exits DC for good
10. Territorial Constitutions1851The Christiana Treason Trial is another blow to the Fugitive Slave Act
10. Territorial Constitutions1852The New York Superior Court rules in favor of a “once free, forever free” doctrine
10. Territorial Constitutions1854Boston vigilantes free another runaway
10. Territorial Constitutions1857The Taney Court issues its infamous Dred Scott ruling by 7-2
11. Legal Verdicts1804Vice-President Aaron Burr kills Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel
11. Legal Verdicts1831Nat Turner’s Rebellion terrifies the South and fosters savage reprisals
11. Legal Verdicts1837Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy is murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois
11. Legal Verdicts1841Another violent race riot breaks out in Cincinnati
11. Legal Verdicts1850A racist New York mob breaks up an Abolition Conference in New York City
11. Legal Verdicts1851Northerners resist the new Fugitive Slave Act
11. Legal Verdicts1851The Christiana Treason Trial is another blow to the Fugitive Slave Act
11. Legal Verdicts1852Frederick Douglass castigates white complacency in his “What to the Slave is the 4th of July” speech
11. Legal Verdicts1854Boston vigilantes free another runaway
11. Legal Verdicts1854The first test of “PopSov” elections in Kansas turns into a fiasco
11. Legal Verdicts1854Filibusterer William Walker conquers Nicaragua and re-introduces slavery
11. Legal Verdicts1855A skirmish known as the Wakarusa War foretells violence to come in Kansas
11. Legal Verdicts1856Charles Sumner is nearly beaten to death on the floor of the Senate
11. Legal Verdicts1856Violence in Kansas escalates as the Free State capital at Lawrence is sacked
11. Legal Verdicts1856John Brown responds with his Pottawatomie Massacre
11. Legal Verdicts1856Historians refer to The Battle of Black Jack as “the first engagement in the Civil War.”
11. Legal Verdicts1856The two sides in “Bloody Kansas” exchange more blows
11. Legal Verdicts1856General John Geary’s arrival quells the violence in the Territory
11. Legal Verdicts1858South Carolina Senator John Henry Hammond delivers his Cotton is King speech
11. Legal Verdicts1859John Brown arrives in Maryland on his abolitionist mission
11. Legal Verdicts1859Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry succeeds before falling apart
11. Legal Verdicts1859Brown’s fate is symbolic of the North-South divide
11. Legal Verdicts1861The Confederate Cabinet agrees to attack Ft. Sumter
12. Public Violence1787At the 1787 Constitutional Convention the Southern states threaten a walk-out.
12. Public Violence1787An allocation compromise satisfies the South while reducing Blacks to 3/5th of a full human
12. Public Violence1787James Madison agrees to craft a Bill of Rights for citizens and for the sovereign states
12. Public Violence1801The election of Thomas Jefferson signals a shift in government policies
12. Public Violence1819The Tallmadge Amendments signals Northern opposition to the extension of slavery in the west.
12. Public Violence1840The North gains seats in the House after the Biennial Census results
12. Public Violence1848Joshua Giddings proposes a ban on slavery in the District of Columbia
12. Public Violence1849Newly elected Whig President Zachary Taylor surprises the South
12. Public Violence1850The Biennial Census shows that the Northern states have 60% of the total U.S. population
12. Public Violence1856The Toombs Bill calls for a fair do-over election in Kansas
13. Voting Power1787The U.S. Senate and North-South factions at Baltimore
13. Voting Power1799George Washington’s Farewell Address warns against partisan political parties
13. Voting Power1804Vice-President Aaron Burr kills Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel
13. Voting Power1807Aaron Burr is tried for treason over a plot to form his own empire in Mexico permitting slavery
13. Voting Power1814The New England states threaten secession at the Hartford Convention
13. Voting Power1843The Democrat Party begin to be reshaped by the election of Stephen A. Douglas
13. Voting Power1846The Wilmot Proviso shocks the South
13. Voting Power1847One term Congressman Abraham Lincoln denounces the war as “a sheer deception.”
13. Voting Power1848William Yancey proposes his Alabama Platform alternative to “popsov.”
13. Voting Power1848Abolitionist Salmon Chase founds the Free Soil Party
13. Voting Power1848Joshua Giddings proposes a ban on slavery in the District of Columbia
13. Voting Power1850Southerners hold the Nashville Convention to debate the Omnibus Bill
13. Voting Power1852Newly elected President Franklin Pierce owes his victory to the South
13. Voting Power1854Stephen Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska Act upsets the delicate status quo on slavery
13. Voting Power1855Former Democrat icon, Francis Blair Sr. of Missouri, helps form the Republican Party
13. Voting Power1856Political Party turmoil is evident in the run-up to the 1856 Presidential election
13. Voting Power1857The Free State forces win a pivotal Legislative election in Kansas
13. Voting Power1858Stephen Douglas publicly opposes the Lecompton Constitution and Buchanan
13. Voting Power1858In the mid-term elections of 1858, the Republicans win a majority of seats in the House
13. Voting Power1860Jefferson Davis announces the Southern demands in Congress
13. Voting Power1860Southern delegates upset the Democrat Party nominating convention in Charleston
13. Voting Power1860Moderates found the Constitutional Union Party to avoid the sectional divide
13. Voting Power1860The Democrats formally split in half between Stephen Douglas and JC Breckinridge
13. Voting Power1860Lincoln carries the northern states to become the 16th President
13. Voting Power1860Buchanan’s administration disintegrates around him
13. Voting Power1860Two special Congressional Committees search for, but fail to arrive at a compromise
13. Voting Power1860South Carolina secedes from the Union
13. Voting Power1860An ultimatum to surrender the federal forts at Charleston is sent and retracted
15. Lincoln1808The ban on international slave trading prompts systematic breeding among southern owners
15. Lincoln1813The “Great Triumphrate” begin their dominance over the U.S. Congress
15. Lincoln1836Angelina Grimke writes her “Appeal to Christian Women in the South” to end slavery
15. Lincoln1837John C. Calhoun delivers his “Slavery Is A Positive Good” speech in the Senate
15. Lincoln1845Schisms over slavery divide both the Methodist and Baptist Churches
15. Lincoln1847One term Congressman Abraham Lincoln denounces the war as “a sheer deception.”
15. Lincoln1854The Kansas-Nebraska controversy brings Abraham Lincoln back into national politics
15. Lincoln1857The Taney Court issues its infamous Dred Scott ruling by 7-2
15. Lincoln1858Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided Speech to launch his Senate campaign
15. Lincoln1858The Lincoln-Douglas Debates capture the nation’s attention
15. Lincoln1860Abraham Lincoln travels east to make his Cooper’s Union Speech
15. Lincoln1860Lincoln wins the Republican Party nomination
15. Lincoln1860Lincoln carries the northern states to become the 16th President
15. Lincoln1861President-elect Lincoln badly misreads the Confederate’s intentions
15. Lincoln1861Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address signals determination along with a plea for reconciliation
15. Lincoln1861Lincoln decides to send an expedition to relieve Ft. Sumter and Ft. Pickens
15. Lincoln1861Breakdowns in the chain of command hamper the Union efforts