Mississippi becomes the first Southern state to enact comprehensive Black Codes, creating a legal framework to re-enslave freed people through criminalization. The laws include draconian vagrancy statutes allowing arrest of any African American without a written labor contract, apprenticeship …
Mississippi State LegislatureGovernor William L. SharkeySouthern Planterssystematic-corruptioninstitutional-captureprison-industrial-complexracial-injustice
President Andrew Johnson issues his first amnesty proclamation on May 29, 1865, beginning a systematic campaign to pardon Confederate leaders and restore their political power—directly undermining Reconstruction and enabling the restoration of white supremacist control in the South. Johnson’s …
Andrew JohnsonConfederate LeadersRepublican Congressreconstruction-sabotageinstitutional-capturepresidential-corruptionracial-injustice
At approximately 10:20 p.m. on April 14, 1865, Confederate sympathizer and prominent actor John Wilkes Booth shoots President Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head at point-blank range while Lincoln watches a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln dies the following morning at a …
John Wilkes BoothAbraham LincolnLewis PowellGeorge AtzerodtDavid Herold+3 moreassassinationconspiracyconfederate-sympathizersterrorismpolitical-violence
A 675-man force of the Third Colorado Cavalry under the command of U.S. Volunteers Colonel John Chivington attacks and destroys a peaceful village of approximately 500 Cheyenne and Arapaho people camped at Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado Territory. The village, consisting of around 100 lodges …
The 1864 presidential election takes place near the war’s end with incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party facing Democratic nominee former General George B. McClellan. The Democratic Party is deeply divided between Copperheads (Peace Democrats) who favor immediate …
Abraham LincolnGeorge B. McClellanClement VallandighamDemocratic PartyCopperheads+1 moreelection-manipulationcopperheadsconfederate-conspiracyracist-propagandademocratic-party+1 more
On July 13-16, 1863, New York City erupts in the largest civil urban disturbance in American history as working-class mobs violently protest the federal draft law that allows wealthy men to avoid military service by paying $300—equivalent to an average worker’s annual salary—or hiring …
Irish AmericansBlack New YorkersDemocratic PartyUnion Armydraft-riotsclass-inequalityracial-violenceconscriptiondraft-exemption+1 more
President Lincoln signs the False Claims Act into law on March 2, 1863, creating a revolutionary mechanism to combat rampant war profiteering after unscrupulous contractors sell the Union Army defective equipment including sawdust-filled crates instead of muskets, diseased mules, substandard …
Abraham LincolnU.S. CongressWar profiteersfalse-claims-actwar-profiteeringwhistleblower-protectionaccountabilityqui-tam
Throughout the Civil War, the Treasury Department’s cotton permit system—requiring federal authorization to purchase cotton in Confederate states—becomes a cesspool of corruption, particularly in the Mississippi Valley. Francis Preston Blair charges that Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase …
Treasury DepartmentCharles DanaAbraham LincolnSalmon P. ChaseFrancis Preston Blair+1 morecotton-tradetreasury-corruptionwar-profiteeringtrading-with-enemypermits
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, taking effect January 1, 1863, declares enslaved people in Confederate-held territory to be free, transforming the Civil War from a conflict to preserve the Union into a crusade against slavery. The proclamation faces immediate and violent opposition from …
Abraham LincolnNorthern DemocratsCopperheadsFrederick DouglassGeorge McClellanemancipationracismcopperheadsresistancewhite-supremacy+1 more
President Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, authorizing extensive land grants in the Western United States and the issuance of 30-year government bonds to the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad companies to construct a transcontinental railroad. While the act becomes …
Abraham LincolnU.S. CongressUnion Pacific RailroadCentral Pacific RailroadThomas C. Durant+1 morerailroad-corruptionland-grantsspeculationcredit-mobilierinstitutional-corruption
After Union naval forces under David G. Farragut capture New Orleans in spring 1862, General Benjamin F. Butler is appointed military governor of the occupied city, beginning one of the most controversial and corrupt episodes of the Civil War. Butler’s brief tenure becomes notorious for …
Benjamin F. ButlerAndrew ButlerDavid G. FarragutAbraham Lincolnmilitary-corruptionwar-profiteeringcotton-tradenew-orleansaccountability-failure
Congress passes the Legal Tender Act on February 25, 1862, authorizing the issuance of $150 million in United States Notes (popularly called “greenbacks” for their distinctive color) to finance the Union war effort after spiraling costs rapidly deplete gold and silver reserves. The …
U.S. CongressAbraham LincolnEdmund Dick TaylorWall Streetcurrencyfiat-moneyfinancial-manipulationspeculationinflation+1 more
Simon Cameron submits his resignation as Secretary of War on January 11, 1862 (remaining until January 20), amid investigations into War Department procurement irregularities and cabinet disagreements over emancipation policy and patronage distribution. Lincoln appointed Cameron, a Pennsylvania …
Simon CameronAbraham LincolnEdwin M. StantonAlexander CummingsU.S. House of Representativeswar-profiteeringcorruptiongovernment-contractspatronageaccountability-failure
At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries open fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, launching more than 4,000 rounds over 34 hours at the Union garrison commanded by Major Robert Anderson. The fort, which Anderson’s forces had occupied since December 26, 1860, …
Confederate States of AmericaJefferson DavisRobert AndersonAbraham LincolnJames Buchananfort-sumtercivil-warconfederacymilitary-conflictwar-profiteering
Throughout the Civil War, military suppliers systematically defraud the government and endanger Union soldiers by selling defective equipment and supplies in what becomes known as the “shoddy” scandal. Contractors sell boots made from cardboard that dissolve in rain, clothing made from …
War DepartmentUnion ArmyWar contractorsShoddy millionaireswar-profiteeringcontract-fraudcorruptiongovernment-contractsaccountability-failure
South Carolina adopts an ordinance of secession on December 20, 1860, becoming the first state to withdraw from the United States following Abraham Lincoln’s election. The state’s authorities immediately demand that the U.S. Army abandon federal facilities in Charleston Harbor, …
Jefferson DavisAlexander StephensSouth CarolinaConfederate States of AmericaJames Buchanansecessionconfederacyslaveryconstitutional-crisistreason+1 more
The Democratic National Convention convenes in Charleston, South Carolina, with Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois as the front-runner for presidential nomination. Before the convention begins, delegations from seven Deep South states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, …
Stephen A. DouglasWilliam YanceyJohn C. BreckinridgeDemocratic PartySouthern Democrats+1 moredemocratic-partyslaverypolitical-manipulationelection-1860sectional-crisis+1 more
John Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, on October 16, 1859, seizing the facility with 21 followers in an attempt to spark a slave uprising by capturing weapons and distributing them to enslaved people in the region. The raid exposed how thoroughly the Slave Power had …
John BrownRobert E. LeeJames BuchananU.S. MarinesVirginia Militiaslave-powerinstitutional-capturepolitical-violencedemocratic-erosionfederal-military
The first of seven Lincoln-Douglas debates took place on August 21, 1858, in Ottawa, Illinois, as Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln faced Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas in a contest focused almost entirely on slavery’s expansion into the territories. The debates exposed fundamental …
Abraham LincolnStephen A. DouglasRepublican PartyDemocratic Partyslave-powerdemocratic-erosioninstitutional-capturepolitical-debatesystematic-corruption
Kansas voters rejected the fraudulent Lecompton Constitution by an overwhelming margin of 10,226 to 138 on January 4, 1858, in a referendum that exposed the pro-slavery document’s lack of popular support. The constitution had been drafted by a pro-slavery territorial legislature that consisted …
James BuchananStephen A. DouglasKansas votersLecompton Conventioninstitutional-captureslave-powerelectoral-fraudsystematic-corruptiondemocratic-erosion
A fraudulent referendum on the Lecompton Constitution occurs in Kansas Territory, with pro-slavery forces manipulating the process to attempt forcing slavery on Kansas despite the Free-State majority. Free-State settlers refuse to participate in the June 1857 election for constitutional convention …
James BuchananStephen A. DouglasPro-slavery delegatesBorder RuffiansFree-State settlerslecompton-constitutionelectoral-fraudslavery-expansionbleeding-kansasinstitutional-corruption+1 more
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivers the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, ruling that African Americans “are not and could not be citizens” of the United States and therefore have no standing to sue in federal court, and that Congress lacks authority to …
Roger B. TaneyJames BuchananJohn CatronRobert Cooper GrierU.S. Supreme Court+1 moredred-scottjudicial-corruptionslave-powersupreme-courtconstitutional-crisis+1 more
On the night of May 24-25, 1856, radical abolitionist John Brown, five of his sons, and three other associates murder five pro-slavery men at three different cabins along Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas Territory. The victims—James P. Doyle and his sons William and Drury, William Sherman, and Allen …
John BrownPottawatomie RiflesPro-slavery settlersFree-State settlersbleeding-kansaspolitical-violenceslavery-conflictterritorial-violencepottawatomie-massacre
Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, enters the Senate chamber and beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts nearly to death with a metal-topped cane, striking him repeatedly on the head while Sumner attempts futilely to protect himself. The attack follows …
Preston BrooksCharles SumnerAndrew ButlerU.S. SenateU.S. House of Representativespolitical-violenceslave-powerinstitutional-corruptionbleeding-kansassenate-violence
Kansas Territory held its first territorial legislative election on March 30, 1855, which was stolen through systematic fraud and violence by approximately 5,000 “Border Ruffians” who invaded from western Missouri. Under the leadership of U.S. Senator David Rice Atchison and other …
David Rice AtchisonBorder RuffiansFranklin PierceKansas Territorial Governmentelectoral-fraudslave-powerinstitutional-capturepolitical-violencedemocratic-erosion
Congress passes and President Franklin Pierce signs the Kansas-Nebraska Act, creating the territories of Kansas and Nebraska while repealing the Missouri Compromise’s prohibition on slavery north of the 36°30’ parallel. The Act, drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, …
Stephen A. DouglasFranklin PierceU.S. CongressPro-slavery Border RuffiansFree-State settlerskansas-nebraska-actslavery-expansionpopular-sovereigntybleeding-kansaslegislative-corruption+1 more
Franklin Pierce delivered his inaugural address on March 4, 1853, after defeating Winfield Scott in a landslide with 254 electoral votes to 42 as a pro-slavery Northern Democrat. Pierce expressed hope that the Compromise of 1850 had permanently settled the slavery question, stating “I …
Franklin PierceStephen A. DouglasDemocratic PartySlave Powerinstitutional-captureslave-powerpolitical-deceptiondemocratic-erosionterritorial-expansion
Franklin Pierce won the presidency on November 2, 1852, in a devastating landslide with 254 electoral votes to Winfield Scott’s 42, as divisions within the Whig Party over slavery enforcement came to a catastrophic head. Pierce ran as a pro-slavery Northern Democrat—a “doughface” …
Franklin PierceWinfield ScottDemocratic PartyWhig Partyinstitutional-captureslave-powerparty-realignmentdemocratic-erosionelectoral-politics
On May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered a landmark speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, becoming the only woman who spoke at the convention who had ever been held in slavery. Born into slavery in Ulster County, New York around 1797, Truth had experienced a religious …
Sojourner TruthFrances Dana GageMarius Robinsonwomens-suffrageracial-justicedemocratic-exclusionintersectionalityabolitionist-movement
Congress passes the California Land Act of 1851 (9 Stat. 631), sponsored by California Senator William M. Gwin, establishing a three-member Board of Land Commissioners to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants. The Act places the burden of proof of title on …
William M. GwinU.S. CongressBoard of Land CommissionersCalifornio landownersAnglo settlers+1 morecalifornia-land-actland-thefttreaty-violationinstitutional-corruptionlegal-dispossession+1 more
Congress passes and President Millard Fillmore signs the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850, transforming the capture of freedom seekers from a state matter into a federal responsibility and converting the entire apparatus of federal law enforcement into an instrument of …
U.S. CongressMillard FillmoreFederal commissionersFederal marshalsSlaveholders+1 morefugitive-slave-actslave-powerfederal-complicityinstitutional-corruptionkidnapping+1 more
California achieves statehood on September 9, 1850, and the newly formed state legislature immediately begins authorizing and funding militia expeditions explicitly designed to kill Indigenous Californians and drive them from their ancestral lands. Between 1850 and 1861, California governors call …
California State LegislatureCalifornia governorsState militiaIndigenous CaliforniansU.S. Congressindigenous-genocidestate-violencecalifornia-genocideinstitutional-corruptionethnic-cleansing
The California Gold Rush of 1849 created a lawless environment that enabled systematic land fraud and banking corruption as the region lacked effective legal institutions. When gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California remained technically under American military occupation following …
Palmer (San Francisco banker)Pio PicoPeralta familyCalifornia state governmentsystematic-corruptionland-speculationfinancial-fraudinstitutional-failureeconomic-extraction
The 1848 presidential election takes place in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War and intense debates over the extension of slavery into the Mexican Cession. After both the Whig Party and the Democratic Party nominate presidential candidates who are unwilling to rule out the extension of …
Martin Van BurenFree Soil PartyDemocratic PartyWhig PartyLewis Cass+1 morefree-soil-partyantislaverypolitical-realignmentsectional-conflictslavery-expansion
The Seneca Falls Convention, held July 19-20, 1848, at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls, New York, marked the first organized women’s rights convention in the United States. Organized primarily by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott along with local Quaker women, the …
Elizabeth Cady StantonLucretia MottFrederick DouglassJane HuntMary Ann McClintock+1 morewomens-suffragedemocratic-expansioncivil-rightsinstitutional-resistanceabolitionist-movement
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, ends the Mexican-American War by forcing Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory—including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming—to the United States for …
U.S. SenateMexicoMexican AmericansU.S. governmentAnglo settlerstreaty-guadalupe-hidalgoland-theftmexican-american-wartreaty-violationinstitutional-corruption+1 more
Gold is discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California on January 24, 1848, triggering a massive influx of settlers and creating conditions for genocide against Indigenous Californians, systematic land fraud against Mexican land grant holders, and a lawless environment exhibiting all …
California settlersMexican land grant holdersIndigenous CaliforniansU.S. military governmentGold prospectorscalifornia-gold-rushindigenous-genocideland-fraudresource-curseinstitutional-corruption+1 more
On January 4, 1847, Connecticut gun manufacturer Samuel Colt rescues the future of his faltering gun company by winning a contract to provide the U.S. government with 1,000 of his .44 caliber revolvers for use in the Mexican-American War. Colt had received a U.S. patent for a revolver mechanism in …
Samuel ColtSamuel WalkerU.S. governmentEli Whitney Jr.war-profiteeringmexican-american-wargovernment-contractsmilitary-industrial
On August 8, 1846, amidst the Mexican-American War, Democratic Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduces an amendment to President James Polk’s $2 million appropriation bill for purchasing territory from Mexico, boldly declaring that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude …
David WilmotJames K. PolkU.S. House of RepresentativesU.S. SenateNorthern Democrats+1 morewilmot-provisoslavery-expansionsectional-conflictmexican-american-warterritorial-expansion+1 more
President James K. Polk obtains a declaration of war against Mexico after deliberately provoking hostilities by sending American troops into disputed territory between the Nueces River (Mexico’s claimed boundary) and the Rio Grande (Texas’s claimed boundary) in January 1846. When Mexican …
James K. PolkU.S. CongressMexicoWhig Party oppositionAbraham Lincolnmexican-american-warslavery-expansionland-grabmanifest-destinyinstitutional-corruption+1 more
President James K. Polk presented Congress with a war message on May 11, 1846, claiming that Mexico “has at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil” after Mexican forces killed or wounded 16 U.S. soldiers in disputed territory between the …
James K. PolkZachary TaylorU.S. CongressAbraham LincolnWhig Partyinstitutional-capturepolitical-deceptionexecutive-overreachterritorial-expansionslave-power
Congress admits Texas to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845, following a nine-year political struggle that delayed annexation due to opposition from antislavery forces. The annexation represents a clear victory for Slave Power expansion: Texas arrives as a vast slave-holding region …
James K. PolkJohn TylerJohn C. CalhounU.S. CongressMexico+1 moreslavery-expansiontexas-annexationmanifest-destinysectional-conflictinstitutional-corruption+1 more
John L. O’Sullivan coins the term “Manifest Destiny” in 1845 to describe the expansionist belief that American settlers are destined to expand westward across North America, and that this expansion is both obvious (manifest) and certain (destiny). The ideology is rooted in American …
John L. O'SullivanJames K. PolkU.S. governmentIndigenous peoplesAnglo-American settlersmanifest-destinyindigenous-genocideterritorial-expansionwhite-nationalismideology+1 more
President John Tyler’s administration conducted secret negotiations for Texas annexation beginning in September 1843, explicitly designed to expand slavery while deceiving the public about its true motivations. Tyler, expelled from the Whig Party in September 1841 after vetoing their …
John TylerAbel P. UpshurJohn C. CalhounIsaac Van Zandtinstitutional-captureslave-powersystematic-corruptionpolitical-deceptionterritorial-expansion
Face-to-face negotiations for Texas annexation secretly commenced on October 16, 1843, between Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur and Texas minister to the United States Isaac Van Zandt, following President John Tyler’s order to open secret talks on September 18. Tyler, politically isolated …
John TylerAbel P. UpshurIsaac Van ZandtSlave Powerinstitutional-captureslave-powerpolitical-deceptionexecutive-overreachterritorial-expansion
The Supreme Court issues its decision in Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842), with Justice Joseph Story writing for an 8-1 majority that strikes down Pennsylvania’s “personal liberty law” and establishes sweeping protections for slave catchers that enable systematic …
Supreme CourtJustice Joseph StoryJustice John McLeanEdward PriggMargaret Morgan+1 morefugitive-slave-actsupreme-courtslaverykidnappingjudicial-corruption+1 more
The Whig congressional caucus expelled President John Tyler from the party on September 13, 1841, after he vetoed national bank legislation for the second time in August, revealing that one of the main political principles guiding him was states’ rights ideology and protection of slavery …
John TylerHenry ClayWhig PartyCabinet Membersinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionexecutive-overreachparty-realignmentstates-rights
William Henry Harrison defeated incumbent President Martin Van Buren in the 1840 election, winning 234 of 294 electoral votes through what would become known as the first modern image-based political campaign. When a Democratic newspaper mockingly suggested giving Harrison “a barrel of hard …
William Henry HarrisonMartin Van BurenWhig PartyCharles Oglepolitical-deceptionelectoral-fraudmedia-manipulationsystematic-corruptiondemocratic-erosion
Fifty-three recently abducted Africans being transported aboard the Spanish schooner Amistad from Havana to Puerto Príncipe, Cuba revolt under the leadership of Joseph Cinqué, killing the captain and cook while sparing the Spanish navigator to sail them back to Sierra Leone. The Africans had been …
Joseph CinquéAmistad captivesJohn Quincy AdamsLewis TappanU.S. Supreme Courtslaveryinstitutional-corruptionresistancelegal-victoryinternational-law
Samuel Swartwout, Jackson’s political appointee as Collector of the Port of New York, absconds with $1,225,705.09 (equivalent to $36.2 million in 2024 dollars) after his term expires, fleeing to England in what becomes the most spectacular embezzlement scandal of the era. Swartwout, an old …
Samuel SwartwoutAndrew JacksonMartin Van BurenU.S. Treasuryembezzlementspoils-systempatronagekakistocracyfinancial-corruption+1 more