Time Line USA part 1
Set forth as a timeline.
1510 Portuguese gain a license to acquire and sell slaves from the Pope
1619 First African indentured hereditary lifetime servants arrive in Jamestown VA.
1660 Slavery or lifetime indenture becomes a legally recognized institution in British
America.Colonial Assemblies enact slave codes.
1752 Switch from Julian to Gregorian Calander
1776 - The Declaration of Independence declares All men are created equal.Slavery remains
a legal institution in all thirteen of the newly-established States.
[1777 Vermont amends its constitution to ban slavery followed by Pennsylvania, 1780;
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 1783; Connecticut and Rhode Island, 1784; New York, 1799;
and New Jersey, 1804. Some of the state laws. Many, notably Pennsylvania stipulate gradual
emancipation. Last freed in the north 1847.
1787 The Northwest Ordinance bans slavery in the Northwest Territory (Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.With state emancipation laws create a free North.
1787 With the Articles of Confederation as a temporary document of auhority and after ten
years of discussion and thought the United States 'Sitting In Congress' Constitution was
drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788, the United States Constitution does not directly
mention the institution of slavery, but it addresses it indirectly in three places:
It grants Congress the authority to prohibit the importation of slaves after twenty years.
The "three-fifths" clause in Article I settles the debate over whether or not to count
slaves for determining taxation and representation. For those purposes, all free persons
in the districts, including indentured servants, are counted. To that total is added the
number of "three fifths of all other persons"; i.e., slaves. A requirement of the Northern
States to restrict number of Southern Representatives.)
Article IV, Section 2 required that a "person held to service or labor"in one state, who
escapes to another state,"shall be delivered on claim of the party to whom such service or
labor shall be due." Enforcement is not specified
1793 U.S. Congress enacts the Fugitive Slave Law. Allows slaveowners to cross state lines
to recapture slaves, must then prove ownership. Northern states pass laws granting alleged
fugitive slaves the rights to habeas corpus, jury trial and passed anti-kidnapping laws to
punish slave-catchers who kidnap free blacks.
1808 In 1807 Congress bans the importation of slaves, effective January 1, 1808, the
earliest date allowed by the Constitution. The internal slave trade continues.
1820-1821 Missouri Compromise, Congress admits slave state of Missouri and free state of
Maine, bans slavery north of latitude 36° 30'(roughly South Border of Kansas, Colorado) in
the Louisiana Territory.
1842-1850 U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, Slaveowners have a
right to retrieve their "property." Pennsylvania's anti-kidnapping law declared
unconstitutional. Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law is a federal responsibility.
States are not compelled to participate. Nine Northern states forbid official cooperation
in the return of alleged fugitive slaves and bar use of facilities for that purpose..
1850 The Compromise of 1850 settles disputes of Mexican War.California enters as a free
state; slave trade (but not slavery) abolished in Washington DC; Utah and New Mexico
Territories opened to slavery on basis of popular sovereignty (allows territorial voters
to decide).
1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act. Slavery in the territories will be decided by popular
sovereignty. Thus repealing the Missouri Compromise ban.
1857 Dred Scott case. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Roger Taney rules that Scott
is still a slave with no standing to sue;black Americans (slave or free) are not citizens
and do not have civil rights protected by the U.S. Constitution;the Northwest Ordinance
and Missouri Compromise bans ruled unconstitutional.
1858 Illinois Republicans nominate Abraham Lincoln for U.S. Senate. Lincoln delivers
"House Divided" speech asserts the nation can not endure half-slave half-free. Democrats
win control of the state legislature. Lincoln gains notoriety and becomes a contender for
the 1860 presidential nomination.
1860 - Republicans nominate Lincoln. The party takes a free-soil stance on slavery by
opposing expansion into the territories. However ecognizes the institution's legality in
the South.
(Democrats split into three sectional factions over slavery in the territories. Southern
Democrats endorse and want Congress to enact a slave code toi protect the institution in
the territories. Copperheads were Northern Democrats who favored a negotiated settlement,
supported slavery, and held the Civil War revolved around what they viewed as Lincoln’s
violations of the constitution. “Lincoln assumed strong executive powers in suppressing
[anti-war sentiment], including arrests, suppression of the press, suspension of habeas
corpus, and censorship.” Thus the tradition of ignoring the Constitution began followed
by Wilson, FDR, Lyndon Johnson, and Obama along with the majority of both the Government
Party's - the Patriot Act which suspends Civil Rights.
These things are not points of dispute–they happened. And the Copperheads refused to
support the Union’s war effort because of it just as the Democrats refused to support
troops in the middle east they themselves had voted to send. After the Civil War Southern
Democrats, Copperheads and some Northern Democrats banded together eventually emerging as
the Democratic Party and providing strong support against reconstruction, the Jim Crow
laws, and women's rights culminating in the Patriot Act's suspension of civil rights.)
Northern Democrats oppose prefer territorial residents decide without interference.
Northern Democrats nominate Sen. Stephen Douglas for president, Southern Democrats
nominate VP John Breckinridge.John Bell nominated by the Constitutional Union party.
Abraham Lincoln wins a plurality of popular vote, an electoral college majority.
Feb 1861 -Seven states of the Deep South, those in which the slavery system is most
entrenched, leave the Union to form the Confederate States of America.
April 1861 Fort Sumter fired upon unarmed ships. President Lincoln calls for Union
volunteers and the Civil War begins. Four more states, from the Upper South, leave the
Union in April and May.
August 1861 Congress passes a law which declares that runaway or captured slaves can not
be returned to their masters if they are used by their masters for military purposes. Thus
blocking any return without saying so.
September 1861 Lincoln overturns an emancipation order for Missouri issued by General John
C. Frémont.
December 1861 - Lincoln urges the border states (slaves states still in the Union) to
voluntarily emancipate their slaves.
March 1862 - Lincoln proposesa formal plan of gradual, compensated emancipation. Congress
passes a resolution in favor. None of the border states.
April 1862 Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia, with financial
compensation to former slaveowners.
June 1862 - Congress bans slavery in the territories, no compensation citing cost
1510 Portuguese gain a license to acquire and sell slaves from the Pope
1619 First African indentured hereditary lifetime servants arrive in Jamestown VA.
1660 Slavery or lifetime indenture becomes a legally recognized institution in British
America.Colonial Assemblies enact slave codes.
1752 Switch from Julian to Gregorian Calander
1776 - The Declaration of Independence declares All men are created equal.Slavery remains
a legal institution in all thirteen of the newly-established States.
[1777 Vermont amends its constitution to ban slavery followed by Pennsylvania, 1780;
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 1783; Connecticut and Rhode Island, 1784; New York, 1799;
and New Jersey, 1804. Some of the state laws. Many, notably Pennsylvania stipulate gradual
emancipation. Last freed in the north 1847.
1787 The Northwest Ordinance bans slavery in the Northwest Territory (Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.With state emancipation laws create a free North.
1787 With the Articles of Confederation as a temporary document of auhority and after ten
years of discussion and thought the United States 'Sitting In Congress' Constitution was
drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788, the United States Constitution does not directly
mention the institution of slavery, but it addresses it indirectly in three places:
It grants Congress the authority to prohibit the importation of slaves after twenty years.
The "three-fifths" clause in Article I settles the debate over whether or not to count
slaves for determining taxation and representation. For those purposes, all free persons
in the districts, including indentured servants, are counted. To that total is added the
number of "three fifths of all other persons"; i.e., slaves. A requirement of the Northern
States to restrict number of Southern Representatives.)
Article IV, Section 2 required that a "person held to service or labor"in one state, who
escapes to another state,"shall be delivered on claim of the party to whom such service or
labor shall be due." Enforcement is not specified
1793 U.S. Congress enacts the Fugitive Slave Law. Allows slaveowners to cross state lines
to recapture slaves, must then prove ownership. Northern states pass laws granting alleged
fugitive slaves the rights to habeas corpus, jury trial and passed anti-kidnapping laws to
punish slave-catchers who kidnap free blacks.
1808 In 1807 Congress bans the importation of slaves, effective January 1, 1808, the
earliest date allowed by the Constitution. The internal slave trade continues.
1820-1821 Missouri Compromise, Congress admits slave state of Missouri and free state of
Maine, bans slavery north of latitude 36° 30'(roughly South Border of Kansas, Colorado) in
the Louisiana Territory.
1842-1850 U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, Slaveowners have a
right to retrieve their "property." Pennsylvania's anti-kidnapping law declared
unconstitutional. Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law is a federal responsibility.
States are not compelled to participate. Nine Northern states forbid official cooperation
in the return of alleged fugitive slaves and bar use of facilities for that purpose..
1850 The Compromise of 1850 settles disputes of Mexican War.California enters as a free
state; slave trade (but not slavery) abolished in Washington DC; Utah and New Mexico
Territories opened to slavery on basis of popular sovereignty (allows territorial voters
to decide).
1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act. Slavery in the territories will be decided by popular
sovereignty. Thus repealing the Missouri Compromise ban.
1857 Dred Scott case. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Roger Taney rules that Scott
is still a slave with no standing to sue;black Americans (slave or free) are not citizens
and do not have civil rights protected by the U.S. Constitution;the Northwest Ordinance
and Missouri Compromise bans ruled unconstitutional.
1858 Illinois Republicans nominate Abraham Lincoln for U.S. Senate. Lincoln delivers
"House Divided" speech asserts the nation can not endure half-slave half-free. Democrats
win control of the state legislature. Lincoln gains notoriety and becomes a contender for
the 1860 presidential nomination.
1860 - Republicans nominate Lincoln. The party takes a free-soil stance on slavery by
opposing expansion into the territories. However ecognizes the institution's legality in
the South.
(Democrats split into three sectional factions over slavery in the territories. Southern
Democrats endorse and want Congress to enact a slave code toi protect the institution in
the territories. Copperheads were Northern Democrats who favored a negotiated settlement,
supported slavery, and held the Civil War revolved around what they viewed as Lincoln’s
violations of the constitution. “Lincoln assumed strong executive powers in suppressing
[anti-war sentiment], including arrests, suppression of the press, suspension of habeas
corpus, and censorship.” Thus the tradition of ignoring the Constitution began followed
by Wilson, FDR, Lyndon Johnson, and Obama along with the majority of both the Government
Party's - the Patriot Act which suspends Civil Rights.
These things are not points of dispute–they happened. And the Copperheads refused to
support the Union’s war effort because of it just as the Democrats refused to support
troops in the middle east they themselves had voted to send. After the Civil War Southern
Democrats, Copperheads and some Northern Democrats banded together eventually emerging as
the Democratic Party and providing strong support against reconstruction, the Jim Crow
laws, and women's rights culminating in the Patriot Act's suspension of civil rights.)
Northern Democrats oppose prefer territorial residents decide without interference.
Northern Democrats nominate Sen. Stephen Douglas for president, Southern Democrats
nominate VP John Breckinridge.John Bell nominated by the Constitutional Union party.
Abraham Lincoln wins a plurality of popular vote, an electoral college majority.
Feb 1861 -Seven states of the Deep South, those in which the slavery system is most
entrenched, leave the Union to form the Confederate States of America.
April 1861 Fort Sumter fired upon unarmed ships. President Lincoln calls for Union
volunteers and the Civil War begins. Four more states, from the Upper South, leave the
Union in April and May.
August 1861 Congress passes a law which declares that runaway or captured slaves can not
be returned to their masters if they are used by their masters for military purposes. Thus
blocking any return without saying so.
September 1861 Lincoln overturns an emancipation order for Missouri issued by General John
C. Frémont.
December 1861 - Lincoln urges the border states (slaves states still in the Union) to
voluntarily emancipate their slaves.
March 1862 - Lincoln proposesa formal plan of gradual, compensated emancipation. Congress
passes a resolution in favor. None of the border states.
April 1862 Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia, with financial
compensation to former slaveowners.
June 1862 - Congress bans slavery in the territories, no compensation citing cost
