From Jefferson to Lincoln:Slavery and the U.S. Civil War

Declaration of Independence (1776)

The final draft of the Declaration did not include Thomas Jefferson’s clause criticizing the King of England for his support of the slave trade. The issue of slavery is not resolved at this time.

The U.S. Constitution (1787)

For the purpose of calculating the population of a state, slaves are counted as 3/5 of a person in the U.S. Constitution, giving the South “slave power.” The Constitution also stipulates that the slave trade will end in 20 years.

In 1803, Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana territory from France doubles the size of the United States, promoting the

movement of people westward.

Abraham Lincoln is born on February 12th, 1809 in Kentucky. Below is the earliest known photograph of Lincoln.

Frederick Douglass is born a slave in 1818 in Maryland. He runs away from his master, and later becomes a leader in the abolitionist movement, a writer

and editor, a powerful orator, and has a strong influence on Lincoln’s attitudes toward blacks.

In the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Congress allows Missouri to enter as a slave state and Maine as a free state.

Slavery in the West will be permitted below 36’30” degrees latitude.

New York becomes the last state in the North to abolish slavery in 1827.

The abolitionist movement begins to spread through the North in the 1830s.

From left to right: Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Henry Highland Garnet, former slave, orator and clergyman; andWilliam Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator.

In 1846, Lincoln is elected to a two-year term in Congress. He spends much of his time reading Jefferson’s books in the Library

of Congress, then returns to Illinois to practice law.

1850: Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, which allows slave owners to claim runaway slaves who have sought refuge in non-

slave states.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 overturns the Missouri Compromise of 1820. New territories will be allowed to choose

if they want to have slavery or not. The new law angers abolitionists in the North.

In 1856, John Brown, a radical abolitionist, and his supporters kill 5 pro-slavery southerners in Kansas. The territory comes to be

known as “bleeding Kansas.”

In 1857, the Supreme Court enforces the Fugitive Slave Act with the Dred Scott decision.

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, faces Stephen Douglas, a Democrat, in a series of seven debates in the state of Illinois.

The two men were candidates for the U.S. Senate.

Knox College in Illinois: site of one of the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858

1859: John Brown organizes an unsuccessful raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown’s plan is to take weapons from the arsenal and distribute them to slaves who want to rebel. Brown is captured and executed. His radical act terrifies the South, but his execution angers the

North.

February 1860: As a Republican candidate for President, Lincoln gives a speech at Cooper Union in New York City.

His photograph is taken by Matthew Brady, and helps create the image of a serious candidate.

Lincoln is elected President in November of 1860 with 40% of the vote. In the South, where his name does not even appear on

the ballot, he receives only 1% of the popular vote.

South Carolina secedes from the Union in December of 1860.

Six more Southern states secede from the Union before Lincoln can be inaugurated in March of 1861 as the 16th President of the United States.

Lincoln faces the greatest political crisis in the country’s history.

On April 12, 1861, South Carolina begins bombardment of Fort Sumter, a federal fort. On April 14, the fort surrenders.

On April 15th, Lincoln calls for 75,000 troops.

In June of 1861, Union troops invade Virginia. Expecting an easy victory, Union supporters gathered on a nearby hillside to watch the battle and have a picnic. However, the South inflicts a terrible defeat on the Northern army, which retreats back to Washington, D.C. This is the first sign that the war will

not be quick and easy as the North anticipated.

On January 1st, 1863, Lincoln officially issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the 11 Confederate States in rebellion. However, the

Emancipation does not affect slavery in the four border states.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1-3, 1863, the Union army defeats Robert E. Lee’s army of Virginia, changing

the course of the war.

After a three-day battle, there was a combined total of more than 50,000 casualties, including more than 10,000 dead.

Because of the July heat, the bodies had to be buried hastily.

After the Battle of Gettysburg, Congress issues a draft for more Union soldiers. People, including many Irish immigrants, riot in

the streets of New York, destroying property and killing and beating blacks. The Union Army has to put down the riot.

On November 19th, 1863, Lincoln delivers his famous Gettysburg Address at the commemoration of the new cemetery to honor

Union soldiers fallen at the Battle of Gettysburg.

In 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman invades the South, destroying farms and property, and leaving much of the

South in ruin.

Lincoln is re-elected President in November of 1864 and inaugurated in March of 1865.

In February 1865, Congress passes the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery.

On April 9th, 1865, General Lee (right) officially surrenders to General Grant in Appomattox, Virginia, ending the U.S. Civil War.

On April 14th (Good Friday), 1865, Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and white supremacist, during a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Booth is captured and killed

12 days later.

Lincoln’s body is returned by train to Springfield, Illinois following the same route by which he first came to Washington, D.C. in 1861. Walt Whitman,

a poet who served as a nurse during the war, pens his famous poem “O Captain! My Captain!”

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.