| 1846-7 | Mexican War brings new territory.
Wilmot Proviso to ban slavery (and African Amer.) in Mexican terr. blocked by Southerners |
| 1850 | Compromise of 1850 (Clay, Fillmore, Douglas [IL]): NM and UT popular sovereignty (Dems), CA as free state, new Fugitive Slave Law (denied jury trial and right to testify) |
| 1852 | Party system breaks down. Dems win by default as Whigs lose cross-sectional appeal |
| 1854 | Kansas-Nebraska Act: opens terr. north of compromise line to popular sovereignty (Douglas [Dem]) repeals Missouri Compromise line; Whigs, North. Dems and Free Soilers win in congressional elections; Know-Nothings emerge as Whigs decline; Republicans emerge |
| 1856 | Bleeding Kansas: Free Soilers vs. slavery supporters. |
| 1857 | Dred Scott v. Sandford : MO slave travelled to WI (free by Miss. Compromise). Chief Justice Taney denies Congress’ power to prohibit slavery in territories (MO Comp invalid) |
| 1858 | Lincoln-Douglas debates for Senate in IL |
| 1859 | John Brown raids Harper’s Ferry, VA, tried for treason/ South’s fear of slave rebellions increase |
| 1860 | Lincoln (IL) beats Seward (NY) for Rep. nomination: free soil,
tariff, homestead, int. improv.
Douglas (Northern Dem): popular sovereignty vs. Breckinridge (Southern Dem): slavery in terr. Lincoln carries North, Northwest (WI, MN, IA) and West (CA, OR): Sectional split complete SC secedes Sen. Crittendon (KY) offers 36? 30’ to Pacific, compensation for escaped slaves, prot. of exist. slavery Lincoln as Hedgehog: refuses to support compromise. UNION (as means to liberty)- weakness of divided nation and proof of successful popular gov’t-democracy a failed experiment if minority can secede. Secession as illegal act. Elected on free-soil platform by the majority |
| 1861 | Deep South secedes in Montg. AL: found Confederacy (SC, GA, FL, AL,
MS, LA, TX)
Const. arg: states rights; Union as “compact;” protection of slavery; refute fed power over territory (Dred Scott). Goal was to restore Union to pre-Republican status Population fears (control of House); Territorial fears (control of Senate) Slave revolts/ slave runaways/ poor white discontent (Helperism) Econ threat as industry expands and plantation slavery retreats Fort Sumpter fired on and surrenders to Confederates (April) Civil War stats: four years 200,000+ died in battle (WWI, 120,000; WWII, 300,000) 400,000 died from disease 375,000 wounded North South soldiers: 1,500,000 1,080,000 workers: 1,300,000 110,000 factories: 110,000 1,800 Upper South secedes(VA, NC, TN, ARK): former Whigs support Union; slavery on the decline and free labor rising. But Sumpter and Lincoln’s call for militias forces choice (on Constitutional grounds as much as in support of slavery) four slave states remain (MD, WVA [1863], KY, MO)- sig: Washington, DC, question of abolition Pro-Unionism; Mixed economy; federal intervention (martial law in MD) Confederate forces win at Bull Run Lincoln proposes compensated emancipation to the border states. Refused |
| 1862 | Grant and Farragut successful, McClellan fails on Richmond peninsula
but stops Lee at Antietam
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation: gradual, compensation and colonization; exempts 450,000 slave in Union and 250,000 in occupied LA Was it about moral abolitionism or war goals (Union)?: Gen Butler had protected escaped slaves in 1861: led to Confiscation Act war aims: deprive South of labor/ add to Union army (‘total war’ philosophy) Sec of War Cameron had proposed arming freed slaves. Lincoln replaces w/ Stanton (1861) Abolitionists in Congress; Grant approaches Deep South (1862) Diplomacy and sympathy of British workers most important: now war against, not insurrection within, US. Changes Lincoln’s const. duty 179,000 Blacks enlisted by war’s end enlistment of Black soldiers begins Homestead Act: 160 acres for $10 Question of Lincoln as “conservative revolutionary” (McPherson) 1) blitz of (mostly) Whiggish laws: National banking act, int. improv., Homestead (Dem), Tariff, greenbacks (war necessity), intercon. RR: reshapes postwar economy 2) defend the revolution of the founders 3) abolition of slavery (albeit reluctantly) 4) transforms notions of liberty and power. State active in defending liberty : positive liberty as opposed to negative liberty of Bill of Rights. See 13-20th amendments. Lee victorious at Fredericksburg |
| 1863 | final Emancipation Proclamation
Northern victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chattanooga. Turning point 54th Mass. Colored Regiment leads failed attack on Fort Wagner, SC (Glory) Enrollment Act calls for conscription of white males, but permits paid substitutes Draft Riots 10% Reconstruction Plan (Lincoln): requires oaths from 10% accepting Union and Emancipation |
| 1864 | Grant v. Lee in VA; Sherman takes Atlanta during “march to the sea”
from nashville
Lincoln pocket vetoes Wade-Davis Bill which would req. 50% acc. Union, court enf. emanc., only non-confederate voters (“Radical”) Lincoln re-elected over McClellan |
| 1865 | Creation of Freedmen’s Bureau (Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands)
“40 acres and a mule” 13th Amendment: emancipation; abolishes slavery Grant captures Richmond; Lee surrenders at Appomattox (April) Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth Johnson (anti-planter Dem) begins conciliatory Reconstruction: pardons, Black Codes Congress refuses to seat Southern reps. |
| 1866 | Midterm election gives Republicans 2/3 majority in Congress
Johnson vetoes Freedmen’s Bureau extension, Civil Rights Act (passed over veto) sharecropping becomes predominant labor system for free Blacks; “crop lien” system creates cycle of poverty 14th Amendment: equal rights and protection, citizenship (positive liberty) Black codes established: peonage, segregation, but still intermixing (repealed during reconstruction) first KKK established in TN: use intimidation and murder to limit black voter participation |
| 1867 | First Reconstruction Act (over Johnson veto) leads to anti-discrimination
statutes
beginning of Congressional “Radical Reconstruction:” military rule, confiscation and redistribution of property, aid to schools, vote Republican control of politics; “carpetbaggers,” “scalawags” (Whig planters and merchants), poor white farmers, freedmen. Ends by mid 1870s as result of violence and corruption scandals |
| 1868 | Impeachment Crisis
Grant elected: corruption (Whiskey ring) and Specie Controversy eventually weakens national party |
| 1869 | 15th Amendment: right to vote. Black legislators and “carpetbaggers” fill state legislatures (positive liberty) |
| 1870 | KKK Acts to enforce 15th Amendment (positive liberty) |
| 1872 | Credit Mobilier scandal (siphoning profits from Union Pacific RR) |
| 1873 | Panic/ Depression. Agricultural depressions last through 1880s and 90s |
| 1875 | Whiskey Ring scandal (liquor tax defraud)
Civil Rights Act |
| 1877 | disputed election between Hayes (OH-Rep) and Tilden (NY-Dem) resolved
with
Compromise of 1877 : Home Rule restored, (revival of negative liberty) end occupation. End of “Radical Reconstruction” “Redeemers” lead re-establishment of “home rule” based on white supremacy, but intermixing continues: support laissez-faire and white supremacy Conservative Dems = merchants/capitalists, wealthy, and ex-Whigs: believe in Black suffrage based in vestigial Paternalism Conservative Dems need black vote against remaining Republicans and poor whites Blacks retain suffrage until turn of century, but tide turns Northern liberals retreat: Imperialism (1898 and Spanish American War) “white man’s burden” and racial theories Immigration and Nativism (1880s-) Immigration Restriction League Social Darwinism Jim Crow laws: 1880s-90s Railroads 1890s-1900s Disfranchisement (pioneered in Miss. in 1890s) property and literacy reqs (with loopholes for whites) poll tax white primary (Progressive reform) 1900-20s Public accommodations: law and custom |
| 1880s | Southern Alliance grows in strength (Populist paty in 1890s)
Conserv Dems fear rise of Populism: Hamiltonian policies not popular. Identify Black vote with Populists to play upon lower class white negrophobia (Woodward- recapit. Morgan) Populists turn on Blacks for submitting to vote fraud and intimidation of Conservative Dems Unity of white South restored using Blacks as scapegoats: after 1890 conservative fear and reformist anger lead to exclusion of Blacks from voting |
| 1883 | Civil Rights cases in Supreme Court: limit extent of 14th amendment. Power to restrain states but not individuals from discrimination (Court curtails protections through 70s and 80s) |
| 1884 | Grover Cleveland (first dem since Buchanan in ‘56) |
| 1896 | Plessy v. Ferguson: 7/8ths caucasian tries to ride in ‘whites only’
RR car.
Black: “separate but equal;” Harlan dissents |
| 1902 | John Burgess writes of Reconstruction as “unholy alliance” of corrupt carpetbaggers and ignorant Blacks |
| 1907 | Hoke Smith elected Gov of GA as Progressive segregationist
Progressive oppose bosses, corruption, trusts; institute primary system, labor reform BUT lead disfranchisement of Blacks: Racism as means for cross class unity good government rely upon eliminating Black vote (bought by Conservatives) Middle Class establishes political supremacy with appeal to rural whites thru racism |
| 1915 | Birth of a Nation
Rise of new KKK |