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
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
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
On the night of August 21, 1831, enslaved preacher Nat Turner leads a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, that kills between 55 and 65 white people over approximately 48 hours before being suppressed by local militias and federal troops. Turner, deeply religious and literate, interpreted a …
Nat TurnerVirginia LegislatureSouthern state governmentsEnslaved populationWhite vigilante mobsslaveryslave-powerstate-violenceinstitutional-racismcivil-liberties+1 more
Denmark Vesey, a free Black carpenter and Methodist leader who purchased his freedom in 1800 after winning a $1,500 lottery, allegedly plans the most extensive slave insurrection in U.S. history, organizing thousands of enslaved and free Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina to overthrow the …
With the federal ban on international slave importation taking effect January 1, 1808, the domestic slave trade within the United States begins a massive expansion that will ultimately transport over one million enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South over the next five decades, a …
Slave tradersUpper South plantersDeep South cotton plantersEnslaved peopleslaveryinstitutional-corruptiondomestic-slave-tradefamily-separationforced-migration
President Thomas Jefferson signs into law the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves (2 Stat. 426), passed by Congress on March 2, 1807, prohibiting the importation of enslaved people into the United States effective January 1, 1808—the earliest date permitted by the Constitution’s Article I, …
Thomas JeffersonU.S. CongressJoseph Bradley Varnumslave-tradeslaveryconstitutional-deadlinefederal-legislation
The Electoral College meets in state capitals on December 3, 1800, and Thomas Jefferson defeats incumbent President John Adams 73 to 65 electoral votes, a victory determined entirely by the extra electoral votes slave states receive through the Three-Fifths Compromise. Without the constitutional …
Thomas JeffersonJohn AdamsVirginia slaveholdersElectoral Collegethree-fifths-compromiseelectoral-manipulationslaveryslave-powerinstitutional-corruption
Gabriel, a 24-year-old enslaved blacksmith from Brookfield plantation in Henrico County, Virginia, plans to lead what may be the most extensive slave rebellion in American history up to that point, with an estimated several thousand participants prepared to seize Richmond, kill white inhabitants …
Congress passes and President George Washington signs the Slave Trade Act of 1794, prohibiting American ships from being used in the international slave trade and making it illegal to build, outfit, equip, or dispatch vessels for slave trading purposes. The Act represents an early federal …
U.S. CongressGeorge WashingtonAmerican ship ownersslaveryinstitutional-corruptionslave-tradelimited-reform
Eli Whitney receives a patent for the cotton gin, a machine using rotating brushes and teeth to separate cotton fibers from seeds, revolutionizing the processing of short-staple cotton that grows easily in the Deep South but had been difficult to process profitably. Whitney hopes his invention will …
Eli WhitneySouthern plantersEnslaved peopleslaveryinstitutional-corruptioneconomic-transformationcotton-economytechnological-exploitation
Congress passes and President George Washington signs the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, federal legislation enforcing the Constitution’s Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2) by authorizing slaveholders and their agents to pursue freedom seekers across state lines and establishing …
U.S. CongressGeorge WashingtonFederal judgesSlaveholdersFreedom seekersslaveryinstitutional-corruptionfugitive-slave-actfederal-complicitydue-process-violation
Two groups of Quakers enter the House of Representatives in New York and submit petitions calling on the federal government to ban the African slave trade and take steps toward abolishing slavery. The petitions come from three organizations: the Philadelphia and New York Yearly Meetings of the …
Society of Friends (Quakers)Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of SlaveryBenjamin FranklinJames MadisonSouthern congressmen+1 moreslaveryabolition-movementcongressional-debatepetition-rightsinstitutional-corruption+1 more
The Constitutional Convention concludes its work by approving a Constitution that entrenches slavery through multiple provisions despite deliberately avoiding the word “slave” in the document. The most notorious provision is the Three-Fifths Compromise, proposed by delegate James Wilson …
Constitutional Convention delegates finalize the Electoral College system for selecting presidents, resolving months of contentious debate between those favoring congressional selection and those supporting direct popular vote. The compromise creates an indirect election method where each state …
Constitutional Convention delegatesJames MadisonSouthern state delegatesCommittee of Elevenelectoral-collegethree-fifths-compromiseslaveryinstitutional-corruptionconstitutional-design+1 more
On August 28, 1787, South Carolina delegates Pierce Butler and Charles Pinckney attempt unsuccessfully to include “fugitive slaves” in the Constitution’s extradition clause during Constitutional Convention debates. The following day, August 29, the South Carolina delegation …
Pierce ButlerCharles PinckneyJames MadisonSouth Carolina delegatesCommittee of Stylefugitive-slave-clauseslaveryconstitutional-designinstitutional-corruptionfederal-complicity+1 more
The Constitutional Convention’s Committee of Eleven, chaired by William Livingston of New Jersey, recommends prohibiting Congress from banning slave importation until 1808—initially proposing twelve years but extending to twenty years after southern delegates demand more time. This compromise, …
Committee of ElevenWilliam LivingstonJohn RutledgeCharles PinckneyRoger Sherman+2 moreslaveryslave-tradeconstitutional-designinstitutional-corruptionslave-power+1 more
Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania delivers a powerful moral condemnation of slavery during Constitutional Convention debates over representation, attacking the Three-Fifths Compromise and challenging southern delegates who profess little willingness to end slavery in their states. Morris declares …
Gouverneur MorrisJames MadisonSouthern state delegatesPennsylvania delegationslaveryconstitutional-conventionmoral-oppositionthree-fifths-compromiseslave-power
The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787, creating the Northwest Territory and establishing governance procedures for the region between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River (modern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota). Article VI of the …
Continental CongressNathan DaneSouthern state delegatesSlaveholdersslaveryfugitive-slave-clauseterritorial-expansioninstitutional-corruptionlegal-framework+1 more
Delegates at the Constitutional Convention reach agreement on the Three-Fifths Compromise, proposed by James Wilson of Pennsylvania and seconded by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, establishing that enslaved people will be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of congressional …
James WilsonCharles PinckneyGouverneur MorrisJames MadisonSouthern state delegates+1 morethree-fifths-compromiseslaveryinstitutional-corruptionelectoral-manipulationconstitutional-design+1 more
The Virginia House of Burgesses enacts “An act concerning Servants and Slaves,” a comprehensive 41-section legal code consolidating and strengthening nearly two decades of piecemeal slave legislation into a unified framework that permanently establishes racial slavery as Virginia’s …
Virginia House of BurgessesVirginia ColonySlaveholdersslaveryinstitutional-corruptionslave-codeslegal-frameworkracial-caste
An armed rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia Governor William Berkeley reaches its peak when Bacon’s militia of thousands captures and burns Jamestown to the ground on September 19. The rebellion, triggered by Berkeley’s refusal to authorize attacks on Native American …
The Virginia House of Burgesses enacts a law establishing that “all children borne in this country shalbe held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother,” implementing the Roman legal doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem (literally “that which is born follows the …
Virginia House of BurgessesVirginia ColonySlaveholdersslaveryinstitutional-corruptionslave-codeslegal-frameworkgenerational-bondage
The English privateer ship White Lion arrives at Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia in late August carrying “twenty and odd” captive Africans originally from modern-day Angola. According to a letter by colony secretary John Rolfe, Governor Sir George Yeardley and head merchant Abraham …
Virginia ColonySir George YeardleyAbraham PeirseyWhite Lion privateersEnslaved Angolansslaveryinstitutional-corruptionatlantic-slave-tradecolonial-economylabor-exploitation