American Civil Wars Since 1619

 Slaves brought to Jamestown (1619)

The first Africans arrived in Jamestown because of the transatlantic slave trade, the first ship with slaves brought to the new world had an estimate of 20 slaves. These slaves were born in Angola, then stolen from a Portuguese slave ship, than sold to colonial settlers in the new world. These slaves were presumably indentured servants. This concept of slavery spread rapidly in the American colonies, by the time Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which ended slavery in the colonies, there were around 4 million slaves.

Invention of the Cotton Gin (1793)

The Cotton gin helped start the civil war by altering the economics of the cotton industry. The cotton gin was an invention that took the seeds out of the cotton so it could be sold, this changed the time consuming process of taking the seeds out of the cotton manually. Being able to produce cotton at a significantly higher rate gave farmers the incentive to expand their operation.

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This process also called for an increase in the amount land needed which than called for the increase of slave labor. Cotton became a key part in the south's thriving economy, which made them mad about the North going against slave labor.

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

The Louisiana purchase was a deal between the United States and France, in which the United States acquired about 827,000 square miles of land, West of the Mississippi River for 15 million dollars. This deal was orchestrated by Thomas Jefferson, he made this deal without the approval of congress.

Some United States citizens believed that this was an unfair purchase that greatly reduced the political strength of the United States. This caused division between citizens of the United States. The Louisiana purchase also made the issue of whether the new western land would be a slave territory or a no slave territory. This broughy major tension between the North which was opposed to slavery, and the South, which depended on slavery. These to oppositions led up to the civil war.

The Missouri Compromise (1820)

Missouri's application to become a slave state caused a major debate between pro-slavery people and Anti-slavery people. To keep peace among the North and the South Missouri's request was granted but also admitted Maine as a free Slave state. The Missouri Compromise also helped with established new free slave state, and slave state territories, they did this by implementing a boundary across the former Louisiana territory.

Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831)

Nat Turner was a slave who plotted an uprising against white people, he managed to assemble around 70 African Americans. They eventually started their massacre and killed around sixty white people including women and children. Although small scale uprising were common, Nat Turner's rebellion was by far the bloodiest. Virginia lawmakers reacted to this rebellion as a major threat against white people, so the Virginia lawmakers revocated some of the few civil rights African American slaves had at this time. Education became prohibited for all slaves, and the right for slaves to assemble became very limited.

Mexican American War (1846-1848)

The Mexican-American war was a battle fought between Mexico and America. This battle was fought over the ownership of what was Mexican land, The US desired the ownership of Texas, and wanted more of Mexico's Northern land. The main reason why the South wanted to take this land is because the South wished to gain more slave states, they did this in order to increase their political power over the North. The United States won the war, and Mexico signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

The Wilmot Proviso (1846-1850)

The Wilmot Proviso was a legislation proposed by David Wilmot when the Mexican American war had ended. If this piece of legislation were to be passed, slavery in the new area acquired by the war would be outlawed. David Wilmot spent two years fighting for this plan. He made many attempts to appeal his plan to congress, sadly all of his attempts failed. Though, the intensity of the debate surrounding whether the new area should be a free state or not prompted many serious discussions of secession.

Fugitive Slave Act (1850)

The revised Fugitive slave act was a law that made all escaped slave, upon capture, to be returned to their owners. This law was debated because, if slaves escaped to free states people of that state had to cooperate with that law, so they had to return the fugitive slaves to their owners. The Fugitive slave act of 1850 penalized officials who would not arrest fugitive slaves, officials were also required to arrest anyone suspected of being a runaway slave, if the officials would not comply with these order they would be fined $1,000. This act brought great tension between anti-slavery people and people who are for slavery because, Officials were taking slaves who were in free states and being brought back to their owners to be slaves again.

The Kansas-Nebraska act (1854)

The Kansas-Nebraska act allowed new upincoming territories to decide whether they wanted to be a free or slave state by general sovereignty. This act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which would not let slavery be in the north. After the Kansas-Nebraska act was passed, pro-slavery and anti-slavery people rushed into settle in Kansas to effect the vote. The vote was invalid, this resulted in two opposing legislatures in Kansas. Violence erupted, the territory soon earned the nickname “Bleeding Kansas.” Pro-slavery supporters won another election. But again the election was because of voter fraud. Kansas was not allowed to become a state until 1861, when Kansas was admitted to become a free state.