On November 24, 1832, South Carolina’s state legislature took a dramatic and unprecedented step in American history by passing the Ordinance of Nullification. The ordinance declared that the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and, therefore, null and void within the state’s…
Read More
On September 9, 1850, President Millard Fillmore staved off a potential civil war and stopped the spread of slavery in the United States by signing the Compromise of 1850. The compromise consisted of several legislative measures that were designed to balance the interests of…
Read More
The following is an adapted excerpt from The Slaveholding Crisis: Fear of Insurrection and the Coming of the Civil War, used with the author’s permission. On August 30, 1800, a storm likely changed the course of the United States forever when an enslaved blacksmith named…
Read More
The Northwest Ordinance, adopted on July 13, 1787, established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined state admission process, ensured equality with the original thirteen states, protected civil liberties, and banned slavery in new territories. The Ordinance would play a major role in the…
Read More
On July 2, 1839, over 50 captives on a slave ship named La Amistad threw off their chains and seized control of the ship. Led by Joseph Cinqué, the Africans killed the ship’s captain and another crew member, demanding to be returned to Mendiland (now Sierra Leone).…
Read More
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. The first Juneteenth was celebrated on June 19, 1865, marking a pivotal moment in American history and symbolizing the end of slavery in the…
Read More
On the night of May 24, 1856, one of the most violent episodes of “Bleeding Kansas” occurred at Pottawatomie Creek, dramatically influencing the already tense atmosphere between proslavery and antislavery forces in the United States. Angered by the beating of Charles Sumner, John Brown, a…
Read More
On May 22, 1856, the United States Senate chamber witnessed a shocking and violent episode that reflected the intense sectional tensions of the antebellum era. Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina brutally assaulted Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane, an event that…
Read More
On March 14, 1794, Eli Whitney, a young inventor from Massachusetts, impacted the landscape of American agriculture, industry, and the proliferation of slavery in the United States with his patent for the cotton gin. Born in 1765, Whitney had exhibited a knack for engineering…
Read More
Abraham Lincoln’s Cooper Union address, delivered on February 27, 1860, in New York City, stands as one of the most legendary speeches ever given by an American politician. At the time, the United States was deeply divided over the issue of slavery, and the…
Read More
