Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War

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This is a list of events leading to the American Civil War. See also Origins of the American Civil War.

1787 Northwest Ordinance bans slavery in the Northwest Territory; makes Ohio River the boundary between free and slave territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Mason and Dixon line remains the dividing line in east.
1790 Slave population in Federal Census: 698,000
1798 The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions are written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and are passed by the two states in opposition to the Federal Alien and Sedition Acts.


1801 Gabriel Plot frightens whites in Virginia who believe there was a plot for a slave uprising
1804 New Jersey enacts gradual abolition of slavery, the final northern state to do so
1808 Congress outlaws the international slave trade. U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy enforce the prohibition. Some 250,000 slaves were smuggled in anyway before 1860.
1816 American Colonization Society formed to send freed slaves to Liberia. About 12,000 are sent. Society led by James Monroe, Henry Clay and other prominent slave owners
1820 Slave population in Census: 1,538,000
1820 Missouri Compromise admits Maine as a free state, and Missouri as slave state, but restricts anymore slavery north of 36° 30' line. Abrogated by Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
1822 Vesey Plot frightens whites in South Carolina, who believe there was a plot for a slave uprising
1828 Calhoun's South Carolina Exposition and Protest outlines nullification doctrine. Calhoun threatens secession over tariffs that place South Carolina and the rest of the South at a disadvantage to the North. Twelve years later, Calhoun states that "It is our duty to force the issue [of slavery] on the North. Had the South, or even my own State, backed me, I would have forced the issue on the North in 1835." [1] Calhoun also objected to the use of taxes and tariffs collected in one state being used for internal improvements to another state. [2]
1829 David Walker publishes Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World calling on slaves to revolt.
1830 Daniel Webster delivers a memorable Reply to Hayne on January 27, denouncing the notion that Americans must choose between liberty and union. "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" he cries.
1831
  • William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator.
  • Nat Turner leads a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia.
  • Responding to new Christian sensibilities, the rising importance of slave labor in the Southern cotton economy, the Nat Turner uprising, and the rise of abolitionism, Southern defenders of slavery start seeing it not as a "necessary evil," but a "positive good."
1832 President Andrew Jackson threatens force to end threats of secession in South Carolina caused by the Nullification Crisis.
1833
1834
1836 In response to the petition campaigns of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the U.S. House of Representatives adopts a gag rule, by which all antislavery petitions presented to the House would be immediately tabled, without discussion. John Quincy Adams leads an eight year battle against the gag rule, arguing that slavery, or the Slave Power, as a political interest, threatens constitutional rights.
1837 Mob kills abolitionist and anti-Catholic editor Elijah P. Lovejoy in Alton, Illinois;
1839 Slaves revolt on the Amistad .
1840 Slave population in Census: 2,487,000
1844 The Methodist Episcopal Church, South breaks away on issue of slavery.
1845 The Southern Baptist Convention breaks off; does not formally endorse slavery.
1845 Frederick Douglass publishes his autobiography.
1846 James D.B. DeBow establishes DeBow's Review, the leading Southern magazine warning against depending on the North economically. DeBow's Review emerges as the leading voice for secession. DeBow emphasizes the South's economic underdevelopment, relating it to the concentration of manufacturing, shipping, banking, and international trade in the North.
1848
1850 Compromise of 1850 enacted; California admitted as free state; Texas gets paid for lands; New Mexico Territory formed, allowing slavery; no slave trade allowed in District of Columbia; stiffer fugitive slave law. Proposed by Henry Clay and brokered by Stephen A. Douglas, it reflects solution to slavery of Northern Democrats. Southerners take wait-and-see approach; they are angered by Northern refusal to obey Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
1851 Southern Unionists in several states defeat secession measures; Mississippi's convention denies the existence of the right to secession.
1852
1854
  • Democrat Stephen A. Douglas proposes the Kansas-Nebraska Bill to open good farmland to settlement (and help railroads).
  • The Kansas-Nebraska Act is passed, providing that popular sovereignty in the territories should decide "all questions pertaining to slavery." It effectively repeals the Missouri Compromise.
  • In uproar against Kansas-Nebraska Act, new Republican party is formed with anti-slavery base across North. Includes many former Whigs and Free Soilers, and some Democrats. Sweeps fall elections in northern states. Abraham Lincoln emerges as Republican leader in West
  • Know-Nothing party sweeps state and local elections in parts of North; demands ethnic purification, opposes Catholics (because of Pope), opposes corruption in local politics. The party has no real leaders and soon fades away.
  • The Ostend Manifesto proposing to annex Cuba is denounced by the free-soil press as a conspiracy to extend slavery.
1855-1856 Violence breaks out in "Bleeding Kansas"
1856 Preston Brooks canes Charles Sumner on floor of Senate; North takes the lesson that compromise is harder and violence is near surface. In presidential election Republican John C. Frémont crusades against slavery; the slogan is "Free speech, free press, free soil, free men, Frémont and victory!" Democrats counter-crusade, warning of civil war, and win.
1857-1860
  • Short economic depression in major cities; See Panic of 1857
  • Walker Tariff of 1846 is lowered still more and is supported by both North and South; it reduces protection to northern industry.
  • Southern opposition kills the Pacific Railway Bill of 1860 and homestead laws.
  • Buchanan breaks with Douglas over Kansas; bitter feud inside Democratic party.
1857
1858
  • Proslavery Lecompton constitution defeated by popular referendum in Kansas in August.
  • Lincoln and Douglas debate; Lincoln emerges as nationally known moderate spokesman for Republicans
  • William Yancey advocates a Southern confederacy.
1859
  • James Hammond exclaims, "Cotton is King!", meaning Europe will intervene to protect source of vital raw material
  • John Brown attempts to ignite slave rebellion in Virginia by attack on federal armory at Harper's Ferry; no rebellion; captured, tried for treason to state of Virginia, and hung; becomes martyr to North; alarms South as exemplar of fanatical Yankee abolitionist trying to start bloody race war; Republican Party disavows Brown, who had financial support from Boston abolitionists.
1860 Slave population in Census: 3,954,000
1860
  • Southern "fire-eaters" oppose front runner Stephen A. Douglas' bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Democrats begin splitting North and South.
  • Radicals William H. Seward of New York, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, and Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania are leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, along with Lincoln. Illinois out-maneuvers other states and on May 16, Lincoln wins the Republican nomination at Chicago convention.
  • The Morrill Tariff passes the House of Representatives on a strict sectional vote, supported by the north and opposed by the south; it does not pass Senate.
  • The Democratic party splits. Main group supports Douglas. Southern Democrats support John C. Breckinridge.
  • Former Whigs from the border states form the Constitutional Union Party, nominating John C. Bell for president on a one-issue platform of national unity.
  • Four candidates as parties wage campaigns. Douglas and Lincoln compete for Northern votes. Bell, Douglas and Breckinridge compete for Southern votes.
  • Abraham Lincoln wins the 1860 election.
  • Secession: South Carolina convention declared on December 20 "that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the 'United States of America' is hereby dissolved"
  • Process of secession begins.
1861
  • The six other states of the Deep South declare their secessions, and together with South Carolina form the Confederate States of America. They are not recognized by U.S. government, or any government. Border states refuse to join Confederacy.
  • Last major N-S links broken as Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches split North and South
  • Numerous compromise proposals are rejected; they all involve protection of slavery (none involve tariffs or economic deals); Confederacy demands complete independence and will not negotiate a return to the Union.
  • Confederates capture US arsenals and forts in CSA states; General David E. Twiggs surrenders one-fourth of US Army in Texas, then joins Confederacy.
  • Northern governors quietly buy arms and prepare regiments for war; CSA—apparently unaware—does not do this
  • Virginia leaders negotiate with Lincoln: they will stay out of CSA but he must promise not to send military through Virginia. No promise is made.vague
  • President Buchanan decides not to order Major Anderson out of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor1
  • CSA army fired on Fort Sumter; it surrenders.
  • Northern uprising—mass meetings everywhere to demand Lincoln overthrow the rebellion.
  • Lincoln calls every governor for troops (75,000) to recapture Fort Sumter & other federal properties.
  • Robert E. Lee offered command of Union army April 18. Expecting Virginia to secede, he declines, resigns from U.S. Army April 20, and accepts command of the Virginia state forces on April 23.
  • Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts send troops to Washington.
  • Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas reject Lincoln's order to provide troops; they declare secession and join CSA.
  • Kentucky refuses to send troops, and declares its neutrality. Lincoln seizes control of Missouri and Maryland; thousands of pro-CSA men under military arrest.

Notes

  1. ^ Swanberg, W.A., First Blood: The story of Fort Sumter p. 127. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1957
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American Civil War
 
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Timeline leading to the War · Antebellum · Bleeding Kansas · Border states · Secession · States' rights
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