Compromise of 1850: A group of 5 separate bills passed in the fall of 1850 that stated for 4 years there would not be a confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North over the territory gained in the Mexican-American War.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act: A bill that authorized popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is giving settlers of a territory the right to decide if it will be a free or a slave state in 1854.
Bleeding Kansas: A political war on the border of Kansas and Missouri, this war was pro-slavery vs. anti-slavery. It occurred for many years with many different confrontations from 1854 to 1861.
Dred Scott Decision: Dred Scott was a slave that went to court to sue for his freedom in 1847. He appealed and had court reverses for 10 years before his case was taken to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided anyone that is African American can not become a citizen, therefore Scott was still a slave.
Lincoln- Douglas debates: This was a series of 7 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas to become Senator of Illinois. These debates were commonly started over slavery issues; in which Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery and Douglas said all the territories should be able to decide if it's going to be slave or free.
Harper's Ferry: This is the area John Brown's raid occurred. He led 18 men to start allowing slaves to be free. 10 of the men that were with Brown were killed and Brown's barricade had been stormed. In December of 1859 Brown was hung for treason. The Civil War was a damaging time for Harper's Ferry because the U.S. Garrison tried to burn it down machinery and the arsenal so the Confederates could not use it anymore. Citizens saved the machines and moved it to a more secure area. Harper's Ferry has never been used to make arms since.
Lincoln's Election: In 1860 Lincoln was the first Republican candidate to become president. His race for senator was a big help to this accomplishment; he only had 40% of the popular vote but beat the 3 other candidates. After Lincoln became president a secession began in the Southern states causing the Confederate States of America. He emancipated Slaves in 1863 when things started to go bad for the Confederacy and was reelected in 1864. Lincoln was assassinated 5 days after the official end of the Civil War.
Fort Sumter: Fort Sumter is located in South Carolina and was used as a third system masonry sea fort. The American Civil War began when Confederate forces shot at the building.
Bull Run: The first major battle between the two sides in Virginia. The Union had been defeated by the Confederates due to lack of communication and synchronization. This shocked the North as they decided the Civil War would not end easily.
Antietam: A battle fought in the Civil War along the Antietam Creek in Maryland. It was the first major battle to occur on Union soil and was apart of the Maryland Campaign. This battle was the bloodiest battle in history that lasted for a day.
Emancipation Proclamation: A presidential proclamation stating the freedom for slaves in 11 states that were still rebelling during the Civil War but didn't include states that were apart of the Union; Thus only applying to about 4 million slaves.
Gettysburg and Gettysburg Address: Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most influential speeches (Gettysburg Address) in history at the official dedication ceremony to the National Cemetery of Gettysburg. This cemetery is located in Pennsylvania and was the location of one of the biggest battles during the Civil War. The Gettysburg battle went on for 3 days and had many casualties on both sides. It was a bad defeat for the Confederacy.
Andersonville Prison: An overpopulated Confederate prison with harsh living conditions including: no protection from weather conditions, drinking water that is also a sewer, very little food causing malnutrition and overcrowding causing over 13,000 men to die.
Surrender at Appomattox Court House: In April of 1865 at a private home called Appomattox Court House Lee and Grant met so the Confederates could surrender; The terms of the surrender were good and fair. Lee was on his way to recruit more help in the fight but was cut off by Grant and his army and was forced to surrender his 28,000 troops.
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: 5 days after the Civil War had ended and Lee had surrendered, on April 14, 1865, Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth while attending a show with his wife at Ford's Theater in Washington. His assassin then jumped off the balcony where Lincoln had been sitting and escaped; he was the killed himself 12 days after the assassination.
Reconstruction: After the Union won in the civil war about 4 million slaves had been freed but rebuilding caused many new struggles. New laws were put in place to keep another rebellion by former slaves from beginning under the authority of President Andrew Johnson. Within a decade of the Civil War's end the Ku Klux Klan had been formed to try and reverse what had been started.