Compromise of 1850- This was 5 bills that was passed by the United States in 1850 that ended a debate between the Northern and Southern states on what to do with newly aquires land won by the United States after the Mexican-American War.
Bill One- Texas Gave up it's claim to New Mexico and to the North which also transfered it debt to the federal government.
Bill Two- California was admitted as a undivided(which the south was not happy about because they wanted to extend slave territory to southern California and divide it at the 35 parrellel line but this was not approved) free state that prevented the south from expanding to the Pacific Ocean. SInce gold was a big prospect in California at the time they outlawed slavery in California.
Bill Three- Establishing the Fugitive Slave law this bill permitted federal officials and marshals to return runaways slaves back to their owner. Anyone who helped a runaway slave or any public official that did not arrest a fugitive slave could be fined up to a thousand dollars and even face jail time.
Bill Four- Unsettled parts of New Mexico which was the southern part of the state was hoped to be controlled by the south remained apart of the state instead of it becoming it's own territory.
Bill Five- Slave trading in Washington D.C. was banned
Bill One- Texas Gave up it's claim to New Mexico and to the North which also transfered it debt to the federal government.
Bill Two- California was admitted as a undivided(which the south was not happy about because they wanted to extend slave territory to southern California and divide it at the 35 parrellel line but this was not approved) free state that prevented the south from expanding to the Pacific Ocean. SInce gold was a big prospect in California at the time they outlawed slavery in California.
Bill Three- Establishing the Fugitive Slave law this bill permitted federal officials and marshals to return runaways slaves back to their owner. Anyone who helped a runaway slave or any public official that did not arrest a fugitive slave could be fined up to a thousand dollars and even face jail time.
Bill Four- Unsettled parts of New Mexico which was the southern part of the state was hoped to be controlled by the south remained apart of the state instead of it becoming it's own territory.
Bill Five- Slave trading in Washington D.C. was banned
Kansas Nebraska Act- This was an act that allowed white male settlers to determine wheather they wanted their state to allow slavery. Stephen Douglas, who was the one that believed that it should be left up to the people to decide, thought up of this because he did not want to have to take a side on the problem. The porpose behind this whole act was to allow more farms to start growing and to start builing the Transcontinetal Railroad. In the end this led to the Bleeding of Kansas
Bleeding Kansas- This was a conflict between people in Kansas that were left to vote on the decision of having their state be a Free state or a Slave state. People flocked from all over to try and help influence the people of state to chose for their side. Well the matter got so intense between both sides that they almost started a mini civil war in the state. Overall throughout the entire problem approximately of fifty-five people died. John Brown who we have already discussed in Key People was the leader of the anti-slavery movement before his attack on Harpers Ferry.
Dred Scott Decision- One of the most worst cases in the Supreme Court's history for the reason of one man, a slave, not having the same rights as a white. The Dred Scott decision started when a slave named "Dred Scott" was brought up to the northern states by his master. Rules in the north stated that slavery was illegal and that any slave brought here was a free man. Dred Scott knowing this tried sueing for his freedom. His hopes were short lived because just because a slave could be considered free he still did not have equal rights and white men. Meaning he had no right to sue in federal court, and that the federal court could not have any rights to tamper with slavery that came from the south. Dred went back into slavery back in the south.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates- The Lincoln Douglas debates was a series of seven political debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. They were both fighting for the position of Illinois State Senator. Lincoln in the end lost the election but the debates help pave a trail for him to eventually become the President of the United states during the Civil War. The debates took place in seven of the nine Illinois districts, they did not debate in the other two because Stephen Douglas had already spoken in each of them.
Harpers Ferry- John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry happened on October sixteenth throught the eighteenth in 1859. John Brown who was a strong will abolitionist from the north believed the only way to overthrow the slavery happening in the south was to use violent force. So in fall of 1859 Brown led a raid of 20 men to Harpers Ferry where he hoped to take control of it's armory and this would unite slaves to come and join his force. He invited Harriet Tubman and Stephen Douglas but both did not come, Tubman felt ill and said she could not join the fight while Douglas told Brown straight forward that he feared his plan would not work so he would not join his raid. Brown and his men ended up being defeated by a group of U.S. Marines led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee. John brown was captured and later tried for treason and was senteced to ddeath by hanging.
Lincolns Election- In the 1860 Presidential election Abraham Lincoln won the presidentcy becoming the sixteenth President of the United States and the first Republican ever elected President. By the time Lincoln was elected seven states had already seceded from the Union and built their own Condeferacy States of America. After the Civil War had started and things were not looking to be in the Confederate hands, Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclomation whih freed all slaves but the only problem with this was that Lincoln did not yet have control over all Southern states so his law did not apply to them until his troops took control of that state. And a year later in 1864 Lincoln was reelected for President, but one year later he was assasinated by John Wilkes Booth in Fords Theater. Booth was a strong supporter for the confederacy during the war and now that the confederate lost the war Wilkes thought that with Lincoln gone the south would come back to the power that it once was.
Fort Sumter- On April tenth 1961, General Beauregard that was incharge of troops in South Carolina specifically Charleston. South Carolina had recently seceded from the Union which left it to Confederate power but Fort Sumter which was located in the middle of Charleston Harbor was advised to surrender to the Confederates. Its comander General Anderson refused to surrender the fort to the Confederates and on April 12 the COnfederates started to fire cannon rounds at the fort, and the next day Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to COnfederate Forces and even though no body was killed during the cannon fire this attack symbolised the start
Bull Run- The Battle of Bull Run was the first official battles of the Civil War. On July 21 1861 in Virginia the first land battle was held between the Union and Confederate forces. The Union wanted to bring a early end to the Confederate troops to try and stop the war before it got out of hand. They planned on doing this by hitting the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia. Richmond was the Washington D.C. of the Southern rebellion states so a Union defeat there would send a big message to other Confederates on how powerful the Union was.The battle was the bloodiest fight on American soil of to that time and overall a total of approximatly 900 men died and another 4,000 either wounded or missing. With a Union defeat the North was worried that the confederates would lead a raid to Washington D.C. since there were little troops left to stop the Confederate army. At this point both sides knew that this war was going to be more long and violent than they had expected.
Antietnam- Battle of Antietnam is the bloodiest single-day battle in America's history with almost 22,000 deaths between the two sides combined. With the Unions loss during the Battle of Bull Run the confederate troops were able to advance into Maryland which is where the first battle on Union occured. The Confederate General Robert E. Lee was incharge of his southern troops with the Union Army was controlled by General George B McClellan. Even though the Union troops had two times more troops they were unable to "officially" defeat Lee's troop. Lee was able to retreat back to Virginia with his troops and McClellan held the Confederate Army from advancing more north. With a Union victory Abraham Lincoln announced his Emancipation Proclomation
Emancipation Proclomation- What many people don't seem to look at when they view what the Union and Confederates were fighting about most of the time you will hear because of slavery. Lincoln's first objective concerning the war was keeping the Union together and the issue of Slavery came second after that. On September 22 after the Battle of Antietnam Lincoln announced his Emancipation Proclomation that freed all slave in the Confederate States as of January 1st. THis did nothing to help free the slaves in the Confederate states because they still had their own government at the time but as the Union started to gain ground into the South any states they conquered were able to free slaves.
Gettysburg Battle and Gettysburg Address- The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1st though the 3rd in 1863. This Battle is often considered the turning point in the war, because the battle was being fought on Union soil again. During the first two days of the battle Robert E Lee and his men gained much ground on the Union troops but on the 3rd day the Union regain much of it's lost ground. In despiration Lee launched one final wave at the Union and lost many men in large numbers, this was the second battle in the Union and this one the Confederates did not win.
The Gettysburg Address was pretty much Lincoln's speech to motivate his troops and to remind them of what they were fighting this war for. If the Union did not win this battle who knows what could have happened to America, we might not have even become the "United" States at all. In his speech Lincoln talked about how America had been built off the colonization during the revolutionary times and how equality was the backbone of the nation.
The Gettysburg Address was pretty much Lincoln's speech to motivate his troops and to remind them of what they were fighting this war for. If the Union did not win this battle who knows what could have happened to America, we might not have even become the "United" States at all. In his speech Lincoln talked about how America had been built off the colonization during the revolutionary times and how equality was the backbone of the nation.
Andersonville Prison- Andersonville Prison was a prison that was built about a year before the end of the Civil War. The Aprison was ruled under Confederate powers and held captured Union soldiers that were often captured because they were wounded from a battle or very sick with diseases. The camp did nothing to help aid these suffering men and to make things worse many of the men were either dehydrated and starving but much of the water in the camp was undrinkable because it was contaminated. The prison was build on 26 acres so it could hold up to 10,000 prisoners, but much of the time they were over that number by almost double or triple the capacity. Overall a total of around 45,000 Union soldiers were kept prisoner here and 13,000 of them died and were buried in the cemetary outside of the prison.
Surrender at Appomattox Court House- The surrender at Appomattox Court House was not Robert E. Lee's choice really. Lee and his men were moving West away from their Capital which was Richmond, Virginia and had been taken control over. Lee and his men hoped to move west and connect with other troops stationed in North Carolina. Union forces quickly cut off Lee and his men from moving more westward, and Lee believed that he would be able to fight his way through the Union troops but realized he was greatly outmatched. He had no choice but to surrender his troops and at Appomattax Court House on April 9th. AFter his surrender many other troops from the south began surrendering marking the end of the war and a victory for the Union.
Assasination Of Abraham Lincoln- Five days after Robert E Lee surrendered his troops at Appomattox Court House President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Fords Theater by John Wilkes Booth. Booth who had believed in the Confederacy killed Lincoln because he wanted to try and rebuild the south and believed that with Lincoln gone he would be able to carry out his plan. Booth was found and shot while trying to escape from Union soldiers, and a couple of conspirators were all captured and arrested of the assassination of President Lincoln and a couple of other important political men from the North.
Reconstruction- Now that the Civil War had finally come to and end the newly united countyr had a new set of problems it needed to face. With almost 4 million slave now freed new southern legislature laws were passed that restricted what the blacks did. So even thought the slaves we free they still did not have the same freedom or equality as white men. The North did not approve of these new black laws so the people also started a new Presidential Reconstruction which allowed blacks more say in polotics and the government. There was and still is racial problems in America and one of them dates back to this period. A group called the Klu Klux Klan what a white supremises group that originated in the south and is still around today, even though they are much less violent towards the blacks as they were back in the Reconstruction Era, they still believe that blacks cannot have the same rights as whites.