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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; and
William 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 nonslave 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.