Timeline: Conflict and Compromise Over Slavery

1619	First Africans arrive in Virginia. Historians argue to what extent their status was different from indentured servants which included many whites.
1660’s	First Slave Codes institutionalize black slavery
1776	Declaration of Independence (Jefferson’s original draft tried to blame slavery on the British Crown)
1777	Vermont abolishes slavery by constitutional amendment. Most northern states quickly follow.
1787	Northwest Ordinance outlaws slavery in the Northwest territories (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin)
1789	US Constitution ratified. The Constitution indirectly acknowledged slavery in 3 ways. 1) It permitted Congress to outlaw slave imports after 1808. 2) It counted “others” (slaves) as 3/5 of a person for taxation and representation. 3) It forbade states to harbor slaves who had escaped from another state.
1791	Slave revolt in Haiti lead by Toussaint-Louverture.
1793	First Fugitive Slave Act makes it a crime to interfere with the capture of escaped slaves.
1793	Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, which helps to institutionalize slavery.
1800	Gabriel Prosser gathers nearly 1,000-armed slaves for a failed revolt in Virginia. Thirty-five slaves, along with Prosser, are hanged.
1808	Congress bans the import of slaves.
1817	The American Colonization Society is established to send blacks and freed slaves to Africa
1820	The Missouri Compromise: Missouri is admitted to the Union as a slave state along with Maine as a free state. Slavery is to be excluded north of Missouri's southern border.
1822	Denmark Vesey plans a large slave revolt in South Carolina. Vesey is hanged along with 34 others.
1829	Abolitionist David Walker publishes a pamphlet calling for a slave revolt.
1831	Nat Turner leads about 75 slaves in a violent rebellion in Virginia. Sixty whites are killed before Turner is defeated, captured and hanged.
1833	The American Anti-Slavery Society, the premier abolitionist organization, is founded and lead by William Lloyd Garrison.
1834	Slavery is abolished in the British Empire.
1847	Frederick Douglass first publishes The North Star, an antislavery newspaper. The Republic of Liberia is founded as a haven for freed slaves.
1848	The Free Soil Party is formed to oppose the extension of slavery into the western territories.
1850	Compromise of 1850: California is admitted as a free state. A strict Fugitive Slave Law is passed and enforced. The Underground Railroad expands along widespread resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
1852	Whig Party breaks apart over slavery Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe stirs up more abolitionist sentiment.
1854	Kansas Nebraska Act: explicitly repeals the Missouri Compromise by allowing Kansans to vote whether slavery should be allowed there (Kansas is directly west of Missouri) Republican Party formed to exclude slavery north of the Missouri Compromise line – or, Southerners feared, abolish it all together.
1856	Violence breaks out between abolitionists and pro-slavery forces in Kansas. John Brown leads anti-slavery vigilantes.
1857	The Dred Scott decision: The Supreme Court decided that, because slaves were property, neither Congress nor the states could free them from their masters. This effectively legalized slavery in all US territories making previous compromises irrelevant.
1859	John Brown and supporters temporarily seize the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, VA. They wanted to arm a slave revolt but were captured and hanged.
1860	Abraham Lincoln is elected president. South Carolina secedes from the Union followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Together with Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee, they formed the Confederate States of America.
1861	Confederates open fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The Civil War begins.
1863	President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.
1865	Confederate Forces under Robert E. Lee surrender to the forces of General Grant. The 13th Amendment, which abolishes all slavery in the US, is ratified. Southern states are required to ratify the 13^th Amendment before they can be readmitted to the Union with representation in Congress.
1866	Reconstruction Begins
1868	14th Amendment ratified. It’s wording guarantees equal rights under the law.
1870	The 15th Amendment is ratified. It’s wording guarantees voting rights regardless of race.
1877	Reconstruction Ends. Federal Troops are removed from the South as part of a political compromise. The 14^th and 15^th Amendments would not be enforced for generations.