1865

Radical Republicans

Abolished slavery; made slavery illegal under US Constitution

1868

Radical Republicans

Made former slaves citizens; guaranteed all citizens due process of law and equal protection of the law. Incorporated most of the Bill of Rights to the states.

1870

Radical Republicans

Gave former male slaves the right to vote. Constitutionally guaranteed right.

1871

US/Britain

Hamilton Fish

Alabama was one of three ships built for the Confederacy by British. US demanded compensation for damages caused by these ships after the war. First use of international arbitration results in the Treaty of Washington in which England expressed regret for sale and paid US $15.5 million in damages.

1861-1865

Union/North

Lincoln

Union strategy to win the Civil War. Plan was to use a naval blockade to block Southern shipping, cut Louisiana and Texas off from the rest of the South by controlling the Mississippi River, then divide the remainng states in half. Plan was to strangle the South's economy.

1862

Sharpsburg,MD

Lee/McClellan

Bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Attempted invasion of Marylnd and attack on Washington from behind halted by Union. North wins. South loses any chance of foreign support. Lincoln uses victory as opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

1863

Pennsylvania

Lee/Meade

Lee invades North/loses at Gettysburg. Meade fails to pursue Lee and fails to end the war here. Lee's army greatly weakened and does not recover. Last major Southern offensive of the war. Occasion of the Gettysburg Address.

1st: 1861, 2nd: 1862

1st: N-McDowell & McClellan, S-Beauregard/Jackson

2nd: N-Pope, S-Lee/Jackson

Defense of Richmond by South. First Bull Run is first major battle of the war. Jackson earns nickname of "Stonewall." South wins both battles of Bull Run. Encourages the South, demoralizes the North.

1854-1860

Kansas

Pro/Anti-slavery forces

Result of "popular sovereignty" provision of Kansas-Nebraska Act. Both sides of slavery issue attempt to convince Kansas territory voers. Violence results. Sometimes called the first battleground of the Civil War. Kansas eventually enters as a free state in 1861.

1865-1877

South

Northern Republicans

Northerners who went South after the Civil War to gain quick political advancement and wealth. They befriended Blacks and in return, Blacks voted them into office and political control of Southern state governments.

1866

South
Radical Republicans

Passed over Johnson's veto. Invalidated the Black codes that were separate laws dealing with former slaves. Gave equal protection of laws to all citizens regardless of race. Later written into Constitution in the 14th amendment.

1881 (1821-1912)

MA/North

Nurse

Aided Union medical effort by setting up efficient methods of sending medical supplies and aid to the sick and wounded soldiers. She established the American National Red Cross in 1881.

Compromise of 1850

1850

Western Territories

Clay/Webster

Tried to delay battle over slavery and maintain balance of power in Congress. Compromise said: California enters as a free state; Popular sovereignty for Utah and New Mexican territories; No mention of slavery for rest of the Mexican-Cession; Slave trade ended in Washington D.C.; Fugitive Slave Law passed; Texas debts assumed in return for Texas lands in present-day Mexico. Union temporarily preserved.

1877
South

Blaine/Hays

Electoral Commission established to decide Presidential election of 1876 selects Hays President. South threatens filibuster. Compromise worked out that Hays would be president; Southerners placed in Hays cabinet; Subsidies to rebuild Southern railroads; Federal troops would be withdrawn from the South. Ends Reconstruction.

1865-1877

South

Radical Repulicans/Thaddeus Stevens/Charles Sumner

Also known as Radical Republican Reconstruction. Based on the idea that the Southern States DID secede and only Congress had the power to admit new states and should control Reconstruction. Plan to severly punish the South included in the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 to 1868 established martial law and divided the South into five military districts. White were not allowed to vote. States must ratify 14th amendment in order to re-enter. This is the plan of Reconstruction used to re-admit the South to the Union.

1860

MD
John Bell

A "fourth" party whose main issue was to preserve the Union on the brink of Civil War. Tried to divert enough votes so that no party would obtain a majority.

1861+

North

Clement Vallandigham

Extreme Northern Democrats who believed the Union would be united if slavery were not attacked. Tried to hinder the war effort by opposing conscription and with slanderous talk against Lincoln. Leader is banished to the Confederacy. Leads to suspension of habeas corpus by executive order (gave the President power to arrest anti-unionists and pro-southerners)

1860

South

John Crittenden (KY)

Proposed an amendment to the Constitution to protect slavery where it already existed, let future states decide slavery themselves and allow no further amendments to the Constitution on the issue of slavery. Fails. Attempt to prevent secession and war.

aka Scott v. Sandford 

1857

MO

Dred Scott/Chief Justice Taney

Test case on whether slavery could be excluded in the territories. Scott was a slave taken into a free state and then a free territory before return to slave state--Missouri. Sued for his freedom based on idea that his residence in a free state had freed him. Supreme Court ruled that Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in court. Declared the Missori Compromise unconstitutional. Brought US closer to war.

1863

South
Lincoln

Issued after Battle of Antietam. Declared slaves freed in areas in rebellion. Made it clear that ending slavery was the aim of the war. Made it impossible for the South to obtain foreign support.

1861

Gen.Cadwalader/Chief Justice Taney

Court ruled that Cadwalader could not hold Merryman in jail. However, Court was unable to enforce against the Commander-in-Chief during wartime and Merryman remained in jail. In another similar case ex-parte Milligan in 1866, the court successfully rules that Milligan cannot be held in a military court when civilian courts were operation. Civil rights can be protected in peacetime, but often suspended during war.

1861

Charleston, SC

N-Anderson, S-Beaureagard

Southern guns bombard Union Fort Sumter when Union ship comes to resupply the fort. South eventually forces surrender of the fort. Spark that began the Civil War.

1817-1898

NY

Black abolitionist

Former slave and abolitionist speaker and humanitarian. Wrote his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass about slavery. Edited abolitionist paper The North star. Effective voice against slavery.

1858

Freeport, IL

Lincoln/Stephen Douglas

In series of debates for the Illinois Senate Lincoln forces Douglas to state his position on slavery. Known as the Freeport Doctrine, Douglas said that slavery could not exist if the people did not pass laws to protect it, even in a territory that was designated "slave." Results in Southern opposition to Douglas for president and divides the Democratic Party leading to a Republican victory in 1860. Lincoln lost the Senate race to Douglas.

1848-54

Western States

Martin Van Buren

Anti-slave elements of Whigs and Democrats combine with the Liberty Party to form this third party. They opposed new slave territories or states and were in favor of free homesteads for settlers. Strong third party and shows slavery on issue of national importance.

1859

West VA/VA

John Brown

Abolitionist John Brown attacks and seizes the US Army arsenal at Harper's Ferry on the Potomac River near Washington DC to obtain weaposn to arm a slave revolt. Captured and hanged. A frustrated attempt to start a slave rebellion shows the emotional and irrational level of sectionalism over slavery. Brown became a martyr/hero for the abolitionists.

1821-1913

MD

Abolitionist

Founder of the Underground Railway, a secret organization to help slaves escape to the North. During the Civil War she acted as a Union spy. After the war she worked to educate the freedmen. She is called the "Moses" of her people.

1850-1889

GA

Newspaper Editor

Editor of the Atlanta Constitution in which he advocated a New South that had an economy based on commerce and industry, not agriculture.

1862

West

Offered 160 acres of free land to any head of family that agreed to improve the land and live on it for at least five years. Speculators grabbed the best land and fraud kept much of the land from going to true homesteaders. However, offered an option to veterans, southerners, freed slaves and immigrants. Opened the west to migration and settlement after the war.

1854

KA/NE

Stephen Douglas

Repealed the Compromise of 1850 by allowing Kansas the right of popular sovereignty--decide issues of slavery for itself. Results in "Bleeding Kansas" and causes split in the Whigs and Democrats which leads to the formation of the Republican Party.

1854

MD
Millard Fillmore

Also called the Native American Party whose secret password was "I Know Nothing." Wanted to unite Americans on issues other than slavery by opposing immigration. Wanted 21 year residence for citizenship. Strong third party that ends with Civil War.

1866-1871

Southern States

Secret organization that intimidated Blacks to keep them from voting or asserting any rights as citizens. Other terrorist groups such as the Boubons (Planter elite) and revived Southern Democrats of the White League and the Knights of the White Camelia performed similar activities. No national organization, but local action was effective in allowing Southerners to regain control of Southern state governments. Die out with removal of federal troops and end of reconstruction when Jim Crow laws legally block exercise of black civil rights.

1857

KA
Pro-Slavery Groups

State constitution written to guarantee slavery in Kansas. Voters turn down this constitution and Kansas enters as a free state.

1763-69

PA/MD

Surveyors: Mason & Dixon

Boundary dispute between the English colonies of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland is settled by two surveryors. This boundary--southern edge of PA and northern edge of MD and DE when connected to the Ohio River marked (accidentally) the dividing line between areas slave and free lands. Symbolic division between North and South.

1862

US
Justin Morrill (VT)

Set up a method for states to organize "land grant" colleges for the study of agriculture, mechanical arts and military science. Each state got 30,000 acres of federal land for each representative in Congress that could be used to establish and support higher education.

1861

US
Justin Morrill (VT)

Raised import tariff to provide revenue for the North in fighting the Civil War. Protective tariff that prevented foreign competition and a great assist to northern industry.

1854

Ostend, Belgium/Cuba

Buchanan/Mason/Soule

A dispatch sent to Pierce's secretary of state Marcy recommending that Spain be offered $120 million for Cuba. If Spain refused to sell Cuba, the US would be justified in taking it. Outraged the anti-slavery people, provoked the Europeans. An attempt to obtain another slave state to maintain the balance of power in Congress and protect slavery. Not adopted.

1862

Omaha, NE to Sacramento, CA

Authorized creation of two railroad companies: Union Pacific RR to build from Omaha west and the Central Pacific RR to build from Sacramento east. Gave subsidies in land and money for the building of the first transcontinental railroad.