Abolition and Anti-Slavery Timeline
Including Historic Milestones
Part 1 (1619-1859) - click here
Part 2 - 1860-Present
1860
There are 31,443,321 people living in the United States. The North has 19,127,948. The South has 12,315,373 people. The 1860 Census shows 3,953,760 slaves and 487,970 free Blacks in the United States. There is an increase of 23.39% in slave population compared to 1850. The total Black population is 4,441,730, representing 14.1% of the total U.S. population.[i]
The slave populations by state in the South are: Alabama: 435,080; Arkansas: 111,115; Florida: 61,745; Georgia: 462,198; Louisiana: 331,726; Mississippi: 436,631; North Carolina: 331,059; South Carolina: 402,406; Tennessee: 275,719; Texas: 182,566; Virginia: 490,865. According to the Constitution, enslaved individuals are counted as three-fifths of a person for tallying representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. These states have 45 congressional representatives and 14 senators. The enslaved individuals residing in the South give the South disproportionate representation in Congress. The reason that the slave states can dictate national policy is the direct result of the millions of enslaved individuals living within their borders.[ii]
There are an estimated 60,000 Blacks residing in upper Canada. 45,000 are fugitive slaves from the U.S.[iii]
The price of a field hand slave is approximately $1,200-1,800.
March 5, 1860
Lincoln delivers speech in Hartford, Connecticut. It is printed in the Hartford Daily Courant on March 6.[iv] He declares, “One-sixth of the population of the United States is slave. One man of every six, one woman of every six, one child of every six, is a slave. Those who own them look upon them as property, and nothing else. They contemplate them as property, and speak of them as such. The slaves have the same ``property quality,'' in the minds of their owners, as any other property. The entire value of the slave population of the United States, is, at a moderate estimate, not less than $2,000,000,000. This amount of property has a vast influence upon the minds of those who own it.”[v]
May 16-18, 1860
Republican Party holds its nominating convention in Chicago. It nominates Abraham Lincoln as its presidential candidate. The Party platform opposes the future expansion of slavery into the new western territories.[vi]
November 6, 1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected the Sixteenth President of the United States, Hannibal Hamlin, Vice President. They are elected from the Republican Party. They receive 1,866,452 votes and win in 17 of 33 states. Lincoln is elected President by a minority of only 40% of the popular vote.[vii]
December 18, 1860
Senator John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, proposes a “compromise” to prevent southern states from seceding from the Union. It states, in part, that “…no amendment should be made which would give Congress power to abolish or interfere with slavery in states where state laws permitted it.”[viii]
December 20, 1860
By a vote of 169 to 0, South Carolina secedes from the Union.[ix]
December 22, 1860
Lincoln writes to Alexander H. Stephens, the future vice-president of the Confederacy: “You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.”[x]
January 9, 1861
At a state convention, Mississippi votes 84 to 15 to secede from the Union. It is the second southern state to do so.[xi]
January 10, 1861
At a state convention, Florida votes 62 to 7 to secede from the Union. It is the third southern state to do so.[xii]
William H. Seward, an abolitionist, accepts post of Secretary of State in President-Elect Lincoln’s cabinet.[xiii]
January 11, 1861
At a state convention at Montgomery, Alabama votes 61 to 39 to secede. It is the fourth southern state to do so.[xiv]
January 12, 1861
An amendment protecting slavery is adopted in the Congress. It fails, however, to be ratified by the states. Senator Seward of New York says, in speech before the Senate, “The alarm is appalling; for the Union is not more the body than liberty is the soul of the nation… A continuance…”[xv]
January 19, 1861
At a state convention in Milledgeville, the state of Georgia votes 208-89 to secede from the Union. It is the fifth southern state to do so. However, some prominent state political leaders oppose secession.[xvi]
January 26, 1861
The state of Louisiana, at a convention in Baton Rouge, votes 113 to 17 to leave the Union. It is the sixth state to do so.[xvii]
January 29, 1861
Congress votes to admit Kansas as the 34th state. Its constitution prohibits slavery in the new state.[xviii]
February 1, 1861
The state of Texas votes in the capital in Austin, 166 to 7, to leave the Union.[xix]
February 4-9, 1861
Seven of the southern states that seceded meet in Montgomery, Alabama, and adopt provisional confederate constitution on February 9. They elect Senator Jefferson Davis as provisional president.[xx]
February 18, 1861
Jefferson Davis describes slavery as “necessary to self-preservation” in his inaugural address as President of the Confederacy.[xxi]
March 1861
The vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, states that his government “rested upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is a natural and normal condition… our new Government, is the first in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”
March 2, 1861
The United States Congress passes a proposed constitutional amendment that the U.S. government would not “abolish or interfere…with the domestic institutions” of the states. This amendment is not ratified.[xxii]
March 4, 1861
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated, in Washington City, as President of the United States. He states, in his inaugural address, “One section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended. … I have no purpose… to interfere with the institution of slavery… In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ it.”[xxiii]
April 12, 1861
Start of the Civil War in the United States. Confederate Army begins the shelling of the U.S. Army garrison at Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
April 15, 1861
Lincoln calls for 75,000 troops to enlist for three months. Black men who seek to volunteer for the Union Army are turned back.[xxiv]
May 20, 1861
North Carolina secedes from the Union.[xxv]
May 23, 1861
Three enslaved individuals escape to Fortress Monroe. Butler gives them sanctuary and refuses to return them to their owners. He refuses to abide by the Federal Fugitive Slave Act. Butler asserts that it did not apply because it “did not affect a foreign country, which Virginia claimed to be.”[xxvi]
Virginia votes three to one to approve secession from the Union.[xxvii]
May 24, 1861
Union General Benjamin F. Butler declares fugitive slaves to be “contraband of war.” Fugitive slaves who escape to Fort Monroe, Virginia, are put to work for the Union.[xxviii]
May 27, 1861
Forty-seven escaped slaves arrive at Fortress Monroe. They call it “Freedom Fort.” General Butler puts them to work. He requests a decision from Washington regarding his actions. Lincoln approves of General Butler’s policy, calling it “Butler’s fugitive slave law.”[xxix]
July 22, 1861
The United States Senate declares that the war was being fought “to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union,” and that “this war is not waged… for any purpose… of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions… [of the] southern states.” Congress thus declares that the principle war aim is to preserve the Union. Lincoln supports the resolution. It passes the House 117 to 2, and the Senate, on July 25, 30 to 5.[xxx]
July 30, 1861
More than 850 enslaved individual escape to Fortress Monroe.[xxxi]
General Benjamin Butler seeks to declare escaped slaves freed. He writes to Secretary of War Cameron, “In a loyal State I would put down a servile insurrection. In a state of rebellion I would confiscate that which was used to oppose my arms, and take all that property, which constituted the wealth of that State, and furnished the means by which the war is prosecuted, besides being the cause of the war; and if, in so doing, it should be objected that human beings were brought to the free enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, such objection might not require much consideration.”[xxxii]
August 6, 1861
The U.S. Congress passes the First Confiscation Act. This act authorizes the freeing of slaves in areas of Union Army occupation and where slaves have been employed to support the Confederate military.[xxxiii]
August 30, 1861
Major General John C. Frémont invokes martial law within his military command in Missouri. Further, he issues a proclamation that frees slaves within his military jurisdiction. He confiscates the property of “those who shall take up arms against the United States” and declares that “their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men.” Northern abolitionists support the order. He has no authorization to issue these orders. On September 11, Lincoln overrules his decisions. Frémont refuses to comply, and is ordered by the President to nullify his orders. Frémont is then reassigned.[xxxiv]
September 2, 1861
President Lincoln requests that General Frémont “modify” his emancipation proclamation of August 30, 1861. Lincoln declares it “will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them against us—perhaps ruin our rather fair prospects for Kentucky.”[xxxv] Lincoln is fearful of losing Kentucky to the Confederacy.
September 25, 1861
Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Wells, authorizes the enlistment of Black slaves into the U.S. Navy.
October 1, 1861
Senator Charles Sumner declares his support for emancipation of enslaved individuals at a state Republican convention.[xxxvi]
November 1861
President Lincoln proposes plan for gradual, compensated emancipation of slaves in Delaware, which would be supported by the federal government. Lincoln drafts two bills to be entered into the state legislature. The bills, however, are not introduced. Slavery remains in Delaware until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.[xxxvii]
November 28, 1861
Federal authorities order the confiscation of all crops in Port Royal Sound area. Formerly enslaved individuals are to be utilized in harvesting them and to work on Union Army installations and defensive works.[xxxviii]
The North celebrates a Day of Thanksgiving.[xxxix]
December 1861
Petitions, resolutions and bills to abolish slavery in states “in rebellion” are introduced into the United States Congress. Thomas Eliot, of Massachusetts, submits a resolution asking Lincoln, under the War Powers provision of the Constitution, to free enslaved individuals in the rebellious states. Congressman Owen Lovejoy calls for allowing Blacks to serve in the Union Army. Additionally, there are resolutions to repeal the Fugitive Slave Act.[xl]
1862
Treaty signed between United States and Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade (African Slave Trade Treaty Act).
January 1862
The United States Congress continues the debate on emancipating enslaved individuals, colonization, and compensation of slaveholders. Radical Republicans continue to submit petitions and bills to this effect.[xli]
March 1862
President Lincoln writes to newspaper editor and abolitionist Horace Greeley that the primary war aim of the United States is saving the Union, and “not either to save or destroy slavery.”
March 6, 1862
Abraham Lincoln sends message to the U.S. Congress proposing a plan of gradual, compensated emancipation in the loyal slave states. It states, “I recommend the adoption of a Joint Resolution by your honorable bodies which shall be substantially as follows: ‘Resolved that the United States ought to co-operate with any state which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such state pecuniary aid, to be used by such state in it's discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences public and private, produced by such change of system.’” [xlii] The proposal is very quickly approved by Congress. Many of the New York papers endorse the proposal. Lincoln makes the goal of ending slavery in the United States an official policy. The abolitionist community also enthusiastically supports the proposal.[xliii]
March 13, 1862
President Lincoln approves an act of the Congress that prohibits Union Army commanders from returning captured or fugitive slaves to their owners (except for loyal slave states). It supersedes the Fugitive Slave Act.[xliv]
March 24, 1862
President Lincoln writes to editor of the New York Tribune and abolitionist Horace Greeley regarding his support of gradual, compensated emancipation: “I am grateful for the generous sentiments and purposes expressed towards the administration. Of course I am anxious to see the policy proposed in the late special message, go forward; but you have advocated it from the first, so that I need to say little to you on the subject. If I were to suggest anything it would be that as the North are already for the measure, we should urge it persuasively, and not menacingly, upon the South. I am a little uneasy about the abolishment of slavery in this District, not but I would be glad to see it abolished, but as to the time and manner of doing it. If some one or more of the border-states would move fast, I should greatly prefer it; but if this can not be in a reasonable time, I would like the bill to have the three main features---gradual---compensation---and vote of the people---I do not talk to members of congress on the subject, except when they ask me. I am not prepared to make any suggestion about confiscation. I may drop you a line hereafter.”[xlv]
Horace Greeley, publisher of the New York Tribune, agrees to endorse gradual compensated emancipation of slaves.[xlvi]
Late March 1862
Lincoln discusses his proposal for gradual compensated emancipation with abolitionist leader Wendell Phillips. Lincoln tells Phillips, “the negro who has once touched the hem of the government’s garment shall never again be a slave.”[xlvii]
April 2, 1862
On Lincoln’s recommendation, U.S. Senate passes resolution calling for gradual compensated abolition of slavery.[xlviii]
April 3, 1862
Union General David Dard Hunter requests permission from the Army to recruit Black men from the South Carolina Sea Islands for service in the military. The War Department does not respond, and he begins recruiting Black soldiers on his own authority.
April 5, 1862
Lincoln supports bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia.[xlix]
April 7, 1862
United States House of Representatives appoints a Committee on Emancipation and Colonization of Blacks.[l]
Lincoln signs treaty with England for the Suppression of the International African Slave Trade. He transmits the treaty to the Senate for ratification on April 10, 1862.[li] The treaty is ratified unanimously by the upper house on April 24, 1862.[lii]
April 10, 1862
United States Congress announces it will cooperate with any state in the gradual emancipation of its slaves (House Resolution 48).[liii]
April 11, 1862
Union Major General David D. Hunter, commander of the Department of the South, issues order freeing slaves who come into his lines.[liv]
After much debate, United States Congress passes bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia.[lv]
April 13, 1862
Representatives from the Freedman’s Association call on Lincoln to give Blacks abandoned plantations at Port Royal, South Carolina.[lvi]
April 16, 1862
Lincoln signs law, “An Act for the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service, or Labor in the District of Columbia,” passed by United States Congress, providing for immediate, compensated emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia. It is the first Federal law giving enslaved individuals immediate emancipation. It ends slavery as an institution; it is not a measure to enforce the Confiscation Act. More than 3,000 enslaved individuals are freed. Approximately $900,000 is paid to the former slaveholders by the Federal government. Congress soon repeals the Black Codes of the District. Many enslaved individuals in the areas surrounding Washington will soon escape to freedom there. [lvii]
May 9, 1862
Major General David D. Hunter, an abolitionist, issues General Order No. 11, freeing slaves in his Department in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. He does it without presidential authority. It affects more than 900,000 African Americans. He also authorizes his officers to enlist Black volunteers.[lviii]
May 19, 1862
President Lincoln nullifies orders of Union Major General Hunter that freed slaves in states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.[lix] He writes “that neither General Hunter, nor any other commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of the United States to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any State free.”[lx]
The U.S. House of Representatives approves resolution that will prohibit slavery from all Federal territories, without compensation to slaveholders.[lxi]
May 20, 1862
Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, enacted by Congress. It is an important anti-slavery program. It makes 160 acres of public land available to citizens who have not carried arms against the United States.[lxii]
June 9, 1862
The U.S. Senate approves of a resolution that will prohibit slavery from all federal territories. This is without compensation to former slave holders.[lxiii]
Lincoln signs bill prohibiting slavery from all federal territories into law.
June 19, 1862
The U.S. Congress approves of a resolution that will prohibit slavery from all federal territories. This is without compensation to former slave holders.[lxiv]
June 20, 1862
Delegation of Progressive Friends (Quakers) visits with Lincoln at the White House. They present him a memorial opposing slavery. Their petition expresses their “desire that he might… free the slaves and thus save the nation from destruction.” Lincoln replies that he believes that slavery is wrong, and that he “had sometime thought that perhaps he might be an instrument in God's hands of accomplishing a great work and he certainly was not unwilling to be.”[lxv]
July 11-12, 1862
After much debate, the United States Congress approves the Second Confiscation Act. It signals a major shift in Union policy toward the freeing of enslaved individuals who enter Union lines or are in occupied Union territory.[lxvi]
July 12, 1862
President Lincoln asks senators and congressmen from the four Union border states to support gradual, compensated emancipation. On July 14, the political leaders from these states reject Lincoln’s plan.[lxvii]
July 13, 1862
Lincoln discusses plans for general emancipation of slaves with cabinet members William H. Seward and Gideon Welles. [lxviii] Welles recalls Lincoln saying that “It was a military necessity absolutely essential for the salvation of the Union,” and “that emancipation in Rebel areas must precede that in the border, not the other way around.”
July 17, 1862
Congress enacts the Second Confiscation Act. It is called “An Act to Suppress Insurrection, and to Punish Treason and Rebellion, to Seize and Confiscate Property of Rebels and for Other Purposes.” This act grants freedom to slaves whose masters participated in the secession.[lxix]
July 22, 1862
Abraham Lincoln submits a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet, to be effective July 1, 1863. It declares that on January 1, 1863, “All persons held as slaves within any state or states [in Confederate control] shall then, thenceforward, and forever, be free.” Abolition was to be immediate and with no compensation to the slaveholders. The Secretary of War calls for it to be issued immediately. Secretary of State Seward advises Lincoln not to issue it until after a major victory in the war.[lxx]
July 25, 1862
President Lincoln promulgates the Confiscation Act of Congress.[lxxi]
August 2, 1862
President Lincoln discusses emancipation with cabinet members.[lxxii]
August 3, 1862
Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, in cabinet meeting, called for: “1. Assuring freedom to Negroes in seceded states on condition of loyalty; 2. Organizing best of them into military companies; 3. Providing for cultivation of plantations by remaining ones.”[lxxiii]
August 14, 1862
Lincoln meets with African leaders at the White House. This is the first time that an American president meets with Black community leaders in a public meeting. He recommends that they support colonization of African Americans in Central America or in Africa. They reject this proposed plan. He tells them, “But for your race among us there could not be war… It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated.”[lxxiv]
August 19, 1862
Horace Greeley’s anti-slavery New York Tribune editorial, “A Prayer of the Twenty Millions,” is read by President Lincoln. It calls into question Lincoln’s policy on slavery and the war: “We complain that the Union cause has suffered…from mistaken deference to Rebel Slavery.” [lxxv]
August 22, 1862
President Lincoln responds to Horace Greeley’s editorial, “A Prayer of Twenty Millions,” which had called for immediate emancipation of slaves. Lincoln writes, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. / I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.” (See Appendix for full text.)[lxxvi]
August 25, 1862
Major General Rufus Saxton, Union Commander of the Southern Department, is authorized by the War Department to arm and train 5,000 former slaves for use as guards of captured plantations and settlements in the South Carolina Sea Islands.[lxxvii]
August 26, 1862
Lincoln states his plans to enforce the Confiscation Acts recently passed by Congress.[lxxviii]
September 13, 1862
President Lincoln replies to delegation from Chicago advocating for national emancipation of slaves. He states, “It is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it! ... I view the matter as a practical war measure, to be decided upon according to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the rebellion.”[lxxix]
September 17, 1862
President Lincoln completes second draft of preliminary emancipation proclamation at the Soldier’s Home.[lxxx]
September 22, 1862
United States President Abraham Lincoln announces preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It declares that “on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred sixty-three, all persons held as slaves, within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” The Proclamation further states (as summarized by Miers): “President will designate states in rebellion on Jan. 1. Army and navy personnel are prohibited by Act of March 13, 1862, from returning fugitive slaves. The act to suppress insurrection, approved July 17, 1862, provides that: 1. Escaped slaves and those in territory occupied by forces of U.S. shall be free. 2. Run-away slaves will not be delivered up except for crime or claim of lawful owner under oath that he has not borne arms against government. Executive will recommend that loyal citizens be compensated for all losses by acts of U.S., including loss of slaves.”[lxxxi] Lincoln calls on Congress to approve legislation for compensated emancipation of slaves.[lxxxii]
September 24, 1862
Crowd gathers at the presidential executive mansion in honor of the issuing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln declares, “What I did, I did after full deliberation, and under a very heavy and solemn sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God I have made no mistake.”[lxxxiii]
Fourteen Northern governors meeting in Altoona, Pennsylvania, approve of the Emancipation Proclamation.[lxxxiv]
November 13, 1862
Lincoln tasks U.S. Attorney General Edward Bates with the enforcement of the Provision of Federal Confiscation (“An Act to Suppress Insurrection, to Punish Treason and Rebellion”).[lxxxv]
November 29, 1862
U.S. Attorney General issues ruling that freedmen born in the U.S. are legally American citizens.[lxxxvi]
December 1, 1862
Abraham Lincoln sends annual message to Congress continuing to support compensated emancipation. Lincoln states, “The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We---even we here---hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free---honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best, hope of earth.”[lxxxvii]
December 23, 1862
Confederate President Jefferson Davis signs order that Black troops captured will be treated as slaves in insurrection and not as prisoners of war.[lxxxviii]
December 29, 1862
President Lincoln reads Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet.[lxxxix]
1863
The American Freedman’s Inquiry Commission is created by the U.S. War Department.
January 1, 1863
On New Year’s Day at noon, in the cabinet room, United States President Abraham Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation. It goes into effect, freeing slaves in states that have seceded and are part of the Confederacy. Most slaves in “border states” are freed by state action. It states: “That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”[xc]
January 12, 1863
Congressman Thaddeus Stevens introduces bill calling for the enlistment of 150,000 African American soldiers in the Union Army.[xci]
February 1863
Anti-slavery and abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens gets a bill through Congress authorizing the enlistment of 150,000 United States colored soldiers.[xcii]
March 16, 1863
The American Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission (AFIC) is created within the War Department by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. It is tasked with helping freed slaves.[xciii]
March 26, 1863
West Virginia approves gradual emancipation for slaves.[xciv]
July 13-17, 1863
New York City draft riots. Fires break out throughout the city. A Black church and orphanage are burned. Blacks are the primary targets of mobs. It is estimated that a thousand people are killed or wounded. Property losses are estimated at $1.5 million.[xcv]
August 5, 1863
Lincoln writes Union General Nathaniel Banks. He declares he is “an anti-slavery man… For my part I think I shall not, in any event, retract the Emancipation Proclamation; nor, as executive, even return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress.”[xcvi]
August 9, 1863
Lincoln writes General Grant that colored troops are “a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest.”[xcvii]
December 8, 1863
President Lincoln issues Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. It would pardon individuals who “directly or by implication, participated in the existing rebellion.”[xcviii]
Lincoln issues annual message to Congress. He states that emancipation is having a favorable effect.
December 17, 1863
President Lincoln sends plan to Congress to create a Federal Bureau of Emancipation, as proposed by the Freedmen’s Aid Society.[xcix]
1864
400,000 enslaved individuals have escaped into Union Army lines and areas.[c]
January 11, 1864
Senator John B. Hewson, of Missouri, proposes a thirteenth amendment to the constitution to abolish slavery.[ci]
February 24, 1864
President Lincoln approves an act of Congress to compensate Union (border state) slave owners whose slaves enlist in the U.S. Army. The slaves would become free. Blacks would also be subject to the draft.[cii]
February 28, 1864
President Lincoln sends Union Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to aid Blacks (“contrabands”) along Union-held territory on the Mississippi.[ciii]
March 13, 1864
President Lincoln writes Governor Michael Hahn of Louisiana, “I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first-free-state Governor of Louisiana.”[civ]
April 4, 1864
President Lincoln writes to Albert G. Hodges, a Kentucky newspaper editor, “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel.”[cv]
April 6, 1864
Louisiana State Constitutional Convention adopts new state constitution, abolishing slavery.[cvi]
April 8, 1864
U.S. Senate passes a joint resolution approving the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, calling for the immediate, uncompensated abolition of slavery. The vote is 38 to 6, in favor.[cvii]
June 8, 1864
Delegates to the National Union Convention Meeting in Baltimore nominate Abraham Lincoln for a second term as president. Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee, is nominated for vice president. The party platform calls for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.[cviii]
June 9, 1864
Party leaders notify Lincoln of his nomination for president. He approves one of the party platforms of a constitutional amendment to end slavery. Lincoln declares, “Such [an] amendment of the Constitution as is] now proposed became a fitting, and necessary conclusion to the final success of the Union cause.[cix]
June 24, 1864
In a State Constitutional Convention, Maryland votes to abolish slavery.[cx]
June 28, 1864
President Lincoln signs acts repealing Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and all laws for returning fugitive slaves to their owners.[cxi]
October 31, 1864
President Lincoln admits the Territory of Nevada to the Union as the 36th state.[cxii]
November 8, 1864
Abraham Lincoln is re-elected as President of the United States, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, as Vice President. Lincoln states that the victory “will be to the lasting advantage, if not the very salvation, of the country.”[cxiii]
December 6, 1864
Lincoln urges the House of Representatives to pass the “proposed amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the United States,” which had passed the Senate, and as it is to so go, may we not agree that the sooner the better.” [cxiv]
December 21, 1864
Savannah is captured and occupied by Sherman’s Army. 17,000-25,000 enslaved individuals are freed during Sherman’s March to the Sea. Thousands of freemen volunteer as laborers, cooks, teamsters and pontoon and road builders. 8,000 individuals who had been freed from slavery enter Savannah with Sherman’s March. In addition, the 7,587 enslaved individuals living in and around Savannah are also freed.[cxv]
January 6, 1865
Congressman J. M. Ashley (R-Ohio) attempts to revive interest in the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. He states, “Mr. Speaker, if slavery is wrong and criminal, as the great body of enlightened Christian men admit, it is certainly our duty to abolish it, if we have the power.” The amendment had previously passed the Senate, but failed in the House. The House spends much of its time debating the issue.[cxvi]
January 9, 1865
Tennessee Constitutional Convention adopts amendment abolishing slavery. It is ratified by votes on February 22.[cxvii]
January 11, 1865
Missouri’s Constitutional Convention adopts ordinance abolishing slavery.[cxviii]
January 12, 1865
Congress continues to debate the Thirteenth Amendment and the abolition of slavery. Future president and Republican member of the House James A. Garfield states, “Mr. Speaker, we shall never know why slavery dies so hard in this Republic and in this Hall, till we know why sin outlives disaster, and Satan is immortal…” Radical Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens regards slavery as “the worst institution upon earth, one which is a disgrace to man and would be an annoyance to the infernal spirits.”[cxix]
General Sherman and Secretary of War Stanton, along with Acting Adjutant General of the Army Brevet Brigadier General E. D. Townsend, meet with a group of 20 prominent African American clergymen and community leaders. Reverend Garrison Frazier, a 67-year old former pastor of the Third African Baptist Church, is asked to be the spokesman for the group. Sherman is asked to leave the room and is greatly offended by this. Stanton inquires about Sherman’s treatment of the African American community: “State what is the feeling of the colored people toward General Sherman, and how far do you regard his sentiments and actions as friendly to their rights and interests, or otherwise?” Frazier replies: “We looked upon General Sherman, prior to his arrival, as a man, in the providence of God, specially set aside to accomplish this work, and we unanimously felt inexpressible gratitude to him, looking upon him as a man who should be honored for the faithful performance of his duty. Some of us called upon him immediately upon his arrival, and it is probable he did not meet the secretary with more courtesy than he did us. His conduct and deportment toward us characterized him as a friend and gentleman. We have confidence in General Sherman, and think what concerns us could not be in better hands. This is our opinion now, for the short acquaintance and intercourse we have had.”[cxx]
January 16, 1865
General Sherman issues Special Field Order No. 15. It provides for the confiscation of 400,000 acres of land along the Atlantic coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The order was issued to deal with the thousands of African American refugees who had joined Sherman’s march and were recently freed from slavery in the Savannah area. The order reads, in part: “I. The islands from Charleston south, the abandoned rice-fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. John’s River, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States. / II. At Beaufort, Hilton Head, Savannah, Fernandina, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville the blacks may remain in their chosen or accustomed vocations; but on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside, and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves, subject only to the United States military authority, and the acts of Congress. By the laws of war and orders of the President of the United States, the negro is free, and must be dealt with as such.”
The Field Order and its provisions were revoked by President Johnson’s administration.
January 31, 1865
The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the U.S. By December 18, it becomes law.[cxxi]
The U.S. House of Representatives achieves two-thirds vote majority on the Thirteenth Amendment, forbidding slavery in the U.S. It reads, “Article XIII, Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” It sends the Amendment to the states for ratification. It is the first to be added since the Twelfth Amendment, of 1803, ratified in 1804.[cxxii]
February 1, 1865
Lincoln approves the resolution to submit the Thirteenth Amendment to the states for ratification.[cxxiii]
Illinois ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. It is the first state to do so.[cxxiv]
February 3, 1865
Maryland, New York and West Virginia ratify the Thirteenth Amendment.[cxxv]
February 5, 1865
Lincoln proposes to his cabinet a joint resolution of Congress to pay 16 Southern states $100 million pro rata for their slaves to end the war. The cabinet unanimously disapproves of the proposal.[cxxvi]
February 7, 1865
Maine and Kansas ratify thirteenth Amendment. Delaware fails to do so.[cxxvii]
February 22, 1865
Tennessee approves new state constitution abolishing slavery. Kentucky state legislature rejects Thirteenth Amendment.[cxxviii]
February 23, 1864
Minnesota state legislature ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment.[cxxix]
March 1, 1865
Wisconsin ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment; New Jersey rejects it.[cxxx]
March 3, 1865
Congress passes a bill establishing the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman, and Abandoned Lands, under the auspices of the War Department. The Bureau will supervise abandoned lands in the South and will have “control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from the rebel states.” General Howard would be appointed its head.[cxxxi]
March 4, 1865
President Lincoln is inaugurated in Washington, DC, for his second term. Andrew Johnson is sworn in as the new Vice President. In his speech, he declares about slavery: “One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war…” He further stated, “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword…”[cxxxii]
March 17, 1865
In a speech to a Union Army regiment, Lincoln remarks: “I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves it should be first for those who desire it for themselves… Whenever [I] hear any one, arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”[cxxxiii] Lincoln also commented on the use of Black troops by the Confederacy.
April 4, 1865
President Lincoln tours Richmond. Crowd of recently freed African Americans enthusiastically hails him as “the Great Messiah” and “Father Abraham.” One formerly enslaved individual knelt at Lincoln’s feet and blessed him. A humbled Lincoln said, “Don’t kneel to me. You must kneel to God only, and thank him for the liberty you will enjoy hereafter.”[cxxxiv] Another Black woman kisses Lincoln’s hand and exclaims, “I know that I am free for I have seen Father Abraham and felt him.”[cxxxv]
April 9, 1865
At 1 p.m., Lee surrenders his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox courthouse in Virginia.[cxxxvi]
April 11, 1865
At the White House, Lincoln delivers his last speech before his assassination. He declares support for limited African suffrage in the Southern states.[cxxxvii]
Lincoln meets with General Benjamin Butler regarding freed slaves.[cxxxviii]
April 14, 1865
Abraham Lincoln is assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC.[cxxxix]
April 15, 1865
At 7:22 a.m., President Lincoln dies. Secretary of War Stanton is present and declares: “Now he belongs to the ages.”[cxl]
Andrew Johnson is sworn in as President.[cxli]
April 20, 1865
Arkansas state legislature ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment.[cxlii]
April 26, 1865
At Bennett’s Place, near Durham Station, North Carolina, General Johnston signs the revised and less liberal terms of surrender to General Sherman. The terms are approved by General Grant. Johnston’s army of 30,000 solders is surrendered.[cxliii]
May 1865
General Oliver O. Howard is appointed Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau (the U.S. Army’s Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands). He serves in this post until July 1874. The Freedmen’s Bureau was tasked by Congress to help formerly enslaved individuals integrate into American society. The Bureau’s programs included education, the courts and healthcare.
May 5, 1865
The Connecticut state legislature ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment.[cxliv]
May 29, 1865
President Andrew Johnson grants amnesty and pardons to all persons (with exceptions) who took part in “the existing rebellion.” Property rights for Southerners were restored, except for slaves. An oath of loyalty is required.[cxlv]
June 6, 1865
Missouri ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery.[cxlvi]
June 19, 1865
Slaves in Galveston Bay, Texas, receive the news of the Emancipation Proclamation. There were 200,000 slaves living in the area. They later celebrated the day as “Juneteenth.”
July 1, 1865
New Hampshire ratifies Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery.[cxlvii]
November 13, 1865
South Carolina ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment.[cxlviii]
December 2, 1865
Alabama ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment.[cxlix]
December 4, 1865
North Carolina ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment. Mississippi rejects it.[cl]
December 5, 1865
Georgia ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment.[cli]
December 11, 1865
Oregon ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment.[clii]
December 18, 1865
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery, is in effect after being approved by 27 states.[cliii]
February 19, 1866
Congress passes law expanding the authority of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. President John vetoes the law.
March 16, 1866
Congress passes Civil Rights Act for African Americans. It is vetoed by President Johnson.
April 9, 1866
Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1866 by overriding veto of the law by President Johnson on March 16.
January 8, 1867
U.S. Congress passes law giving right to vote to Africans living in the District of Columbia.
March 2, 1867
First Reconstruction Act is passed by Congress. Martial Law is declared in the South. Southern states are required to write new constitutions ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment and guaranteeing the right to vote for Black men.
March 11, 1867
Senator Thaddeus Stevens introduces a slave reparations bill into the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is defeated.
March 23, 1867
The Second Reconstruction Act is passed by the U.S. Congress. It allows for the registration of Black male voters.
July 19, 1867
The Third Reconstruction Act is passed by Congress, requiring Southern states to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
March 11, 1868
United States Congress passes Fourth Reconstruction Act. This will protect Black voters in the South.
June 22, 1868
Arkansas ratifies the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and is readmitted to the Union.
June 25, 1868
Alabama, North and South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and are readmitted to the Union.
July 28, 1868
The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified by the states and becomes part of the constitution.
November 3, 1868
Union Civil War Army commander Ulysses S. Grant is elected President of the United States.
February 27, 1869
The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving voting rights to Black males, is sent to the states for ratification.
February 1870
The first African American Senator, Hiram R. Revel, takes his seat in Congress.
March 1870
Forty-first session of Congress begins in the capital. Two new members are African American, Robert B. Elliot and Joseph H. Rainey, representing South Carolina.
March 30, 1870
The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified by the states, and officially becomes part of the U.S. Constitution.
May 31, 1870
Congress passes the Force Act, also referred to as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) Acts. It protects Blacks in the South from the KKK.
March 4, 1871
Forty-second Congress convenes in Washington. It includes five African American members. They include Robert Carlos DeLarge, Robert B. Elliot, Joseph H. Rainey, Benjamin S. Turner, and Josiah T. Walls.
April 20, 1871
Congress passes the Second Force Act (Ku Klux Klan Act).
December 11, 1871
Congress enacts law prohibiting any United States citizen from engaging in the slave trade in any foreign country.
May 22, 1872
Congress passes the Amnesty Act. It restores civil and political rights to former Confederate soldiers and leaders.
November 5, 1872
President Grant is reelected President of the United States for a second term.
November 1874
Democratic Party takes control of the U.S. House of Representatives, gaining 85 seats.
1875
U.S. Supreme Court rules in the case of U.S. v. Cruikshank. It dilutes the Fifteenth Amendment for African Americans. It states, “The right of suffrage was not a necessary attribute of national citizenship.” Further, “the right to vote is the states comes from the states.”
March 1875
Six African American congressmen take their seats in the forty-fourth Congress in Washington.
March 1, 1875
The U.S. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It guarantees access to public places for all African Americans. Further, it allows Blacks to serve on juries. The law is reversed and ruled unconstitutional in 1883 by the Supreme Court.
March 15, 1875
Second African American elected to the United States Senate. Blanche K. Bruce becomes a member of the upper house.
March 8, 1876
African American P.B.S. Pinchback is denied his seat after being elected U.S. Senator from Louisiana.
July 8 – October 26, 1876
Racial violence in South Carolina causes the Federal Government to send in U.S. soldiers.
November 7, 1876
Presidential elections are held. There is, however, no winner due to disputed vote counts. On January 29, 1877, a Congressional Electoral Commission decides that Republican Rutherford B. Hayes will be the President.
March 2, 1877
Republican and Democratic leaders agree on the compromise of 1877. The terms allow Republican Rutherford B. Hayes to become president if Republicans remove Federal troops from the South and appoint Southern leaders to the Supreme Court and the Presidential cabinet.
April 10-24, 1877
All federal troops are withdrawn from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. This is considered to be the end of the Reconstruction era.
1909
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded in New York City. It remains one of the leading African American civil rights organizations in the United States.
1915
D. W. Griffith’s epic movie, “The Birth of a Nation,” is released. The Ku Klux Klan is depicted in a positive light and it sparks a revival of the racist anti-Black organization.
1939
Gone with the Wind is released by MGM Studios. It becomes the highest grossing film in history. It depicts the “lost cause” mythology of the old South. It further depicts happy slaves.
1951
Herbert Aptheker edits A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States. It is published by the Citadel Press in New York.
The Conference on Jewish Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) is established. It administers compensation to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust paid by Germany to victims of the Nazi era. It also provides reparations payments to institutions that preserve the history and memory of the Holocaust.
September 1951
Jewish organizations and the State of Israel demand reparations from West Germany for Nazi persecution and genocide against the Jewish people. In response, West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer addresses the Bundestag, “…Unspeakable crimes have been committed in the name of the German people, calling for moral and material indemnity…the federal government are prepared, jointly with representatives of Jewry and the State of Israel…to bring about a solution of [the] material indemnity problem, thus easing the way to spiritual settlement of infinite suffering.” A month later, the World Jewish Congress and the Jewish Agency for Israel organized a meeting of 23 major Jewish organizations. From this, these groups organized the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany—the Claims Conference. “The Claims Conference had the task of negotiating with the German government a program of indemnification for the material damages to Jewish individuals and to the Jewish people caused by Germany through the Holocaust.” Israeli authorities calculated that more than six billion dollars of Jewish assets had been stolen by the Nazis. It further stipulated that Germany could never make up for the genocide against the Jews with any type of monetary compensation. The coalition government of Ben-Gurion demanded, however, that reparations were necessary to restore assets stolen from victims of the Holocaust. The reparations discussions were highly controversial in Israel. Israeli opposition leader Menachem Begin stated, “Our honor shall not be sold for money; Our blood shall not be atoned by goods. We shall wipe out the disgrace!” In addition, many felt that the West German government would not make good on its promises of reparations. An opposition political party member stated, “I am not assuming that there are people who believe that Germany will pay a total of three billion marks, over a period of 12 years, and that this is no empty promise.... The Israeli government will obtain nothing but a piece of paper referring to three billion marks. And all this is only intended to mislead the public and claim the government has attained…” West Germany paid the state of Israel three billion marks from 1952 to 1964; four hundred fifty million marks were paid to the World Jewish Congress. The money paid to Israel was invested into Israel’s infrastructure and was crucial in establishing a viable economy for the state.
September 10, 1952
The Reparations Agreement Between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany, Luxemburger Abkommen (“Luxembourg Agreement”) is signed. It comes into force on March 27, 1953. West Germany agrees to pay Israel the costs of “resettling so great a number of uprooted and destitute Jewish refugees” after World War II, and to pay individual Jews via the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany for the murder of Jews, their livelihood, and the loss of property caused by Nazi persecution and genocide. The Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, in 1952 explained that the reparations were based on the concept of recovering as much lost Jewish property as possible, “so that the murderers do not become the heirs as well.” The other argument was that reparations were to pay for the absorption and rehabilitation of Holocaust survivors in the state of Israel.
1961-1965
The United States commemorates the centennial of the American Civil War. The issue of slavery and its role as the cause of the war is not mentioned in most programs.
January 1989
H.R. 40, Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, is introduced into the United States House of Representatives by Congressman John Conyers.
1998
WGBH, a PBS television station in Boston, Massachusetts, airs “Africans in America.” It is a four-part documentary.
July 1999
Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia, begins living history program, “Enslaving Virginia,” which portrays slavery in the British colonial period.
2001
The United States National Slavery Museum is founded as a non-profit organization by individuals in Fredericksburg, Virginia. They begin collecting objects for the museum. Due to funding constraints, the museum is yet to be built.
March 21, 2007
The Mayor of London, England, Ken Livingston, apologizes for London’s role in the slave trade. He calls on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to do likewise. “It will be infinitely better for our country’s reputation if that apology is made now justly, frankly and openly. Delay demeans our country. You can look across to see the institutions that still have the benefit of wealth they created from slavery.”
November 27, 2007
British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologizes for England’s role in the international slave trade. African civil rights activists believe the apology fails to address slavery adequately. Blair again apologizes on March 14, 2008. He states, “It is an opportunity for the United Kingdom to express our deep sorrow and regret for our nation’s role in the slave trade and for the unbearable suffering, individually and collectively, it caused.” He also recognizes British abolitionists such as Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and Olaudah Equiano.
July 29, 2008
The United States House of Representatives issues an apology for slavery in the form of House Resolution 194. The resolution “(1) acknowledges that slavery is incompatible with the basic founding principles recognized in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal; (2) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow; (3) apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and (4) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future.”
June 18, 2009
The United States Senate issues an apology for slavery in the form of Senate Concurrent Resolution 26. The resolution provides “(1) apology for the enslavement and segregation of African-Americans. The Congress (A) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws; (B) apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws; and (C) expresses its recommitment to the principal that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and calls on all people of the United States to work toward eliminating racial prejudices, injustices, and discrimination from our society. (2) DISCLAIMER. – Nothing in this Resolution—(A) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or (B) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States.”
December 21, 2014
The City of Savannah, Georgia, begins program to commemorate the freeing of enslaved individuals in and around the city during Sherman’s capture and occupation of the city.
2011-2015
The sesquicentennial of the Civil War is commemorated in the United States. Slavery and the history of African Americans becomes a prominent part of the interpretation of these events. The National Park Service has many programs on this.
September 24, 2016
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opens in Washington, DC. The museum has large section on the slave trade in the United States and in the colonies.
U.S. Abolition and Anti-Slavery Timeline Bibliography
Basler, Roy P., ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols.), New Brunswick, NJ: 1953-1955.
Bureau of the Census. Population of the United States in 1860; Compiled from the Original Returns of the Eighth Census. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1864.
Dumond, Dwight Lowell. Antislavery: The Crusade for Freedom in America. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961.
Foner, E. The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, New York: Norton, 2010
Long, E. B., with Barbara Long. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861-1865. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971.
Miers, Earl Schenck, editor-in-chief, C. Percy Powell, vol. ed., Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology (Vol. III), Washington: Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, 1960.
Miller, Randall M., and John D. Smith, Eds., Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery, New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
Oakes, James, The Radical and the Politician: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics, New York: 2007.
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2007.
U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (70 vols.), Washington, DC: 1880-1901.
Footnotes
[i] Bureau of the Census. Population of the United States in 1860, p. ix.
[ii] Bureau of the Census. Population of the United States in 1860, p. ix; Dumond, p. 70.
[iii] Dumond, p. 336.
[iv] Miers.
[v] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. IV, p. 3.
[vi] Foner.
[vii] Long, E. B., with Barbara Long, The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861-1865, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971, pp. 2-3; Foner.
[viii] Long, p. 12.
[ix] Long, pp. 12-13.
[x] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. IV, p. 160.
[xi] Long, p. 23.
[xii] Long, p. 24.
[xiii] Long, p. 24.
[xiv] Long, p. 25.
[xv] Long, p. 26.
[xvi] Long, p. 27.
[xvii] Long, p. 29.
[xviii] Long, p. 30.
[xix] Long, p. 31.
[xx] Long, pp. 31-34.
[xxi] Long, p. 38.
[xxii] Long, p. 44; Foner, E. The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, New York: Norton, 2010.
[xxiii] Long, p. 46; Foner; Miers, pp. 24-25.
[xxiv] Long, p. 59; Miers, p. 35.
[xxv] Long, p. 76.
[xxvi] Long, p. 78.
[xxvii] Long, p. 77.
[xxviii] Dumond, p. 370.
[xxix] Foner, p. 170.
[xxx] Foner, pp. 173-174; Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 1st Session, 24, 32; Long, pp. 100-101.
[xxxi] Foner, p. 171; Long, pp. 102-103.
[xxxii] Dumond, p. 370; Long, pp. 102-103.
[xxxiii] Dumond, p. 372; Foner, pp. 175-179, 183, 186, 187, 191, 202, 204, 287.
[xxxiv] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. IV, pp. 515, 517-518; Dumond, p. 372; Foner; Long, pp. 112-113; Miers, p. 66.
[xxxv] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. IV, pp. 506-507; Long, p. 114.
[xxxvi] Foner, pp. 180-181.
[xxxvii] Foner, pp. 182-184, 342.
[xxxviii] Long, p. 144.
[xxxix] Long, p. 144.
[xl] Foner, p. 191; Long, p. 146.
[xli] Long, p. 158.
[xlii] Dumond, p. 372; Foner; Long, p. 179; Miers, p. 98.
[xliii] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 144-146; Foner, pp. 195-196.
[xliv] Dumond, p. 372; Foner, p. 195; Miers, p. 98; Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2nd Session, 944, 955, 958-959, 1143.
[xlv] Baser, Collected Works, Vol. V, p. 169.
[xlvi] Miers, Vol. III, p. 103.
[xlvii] Foner, p. 197.
[xlviii] Long, p. 192.
[xlix] Miers, Vol. III, p. 105; Philadelphia News, April 7, 1862.
[l] Long, p. 196.
[li] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, p. 265; Miers, Vol. III, p. 105.
[lii] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, p. 186.
[liii] Miers, p. 106.
[liv] Dumond, p. 372.
[lv] Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 1191, 1300, 1523, 1526.
[lvi] New York Tribune, April 14, 1862.
[lvii] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, p. 192; Dumond, p. 372; Foner, p. 201; Miers, p. 107.
[lviii] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 222-223; Dumond, p. 372.
[lix] Foner, p. 342.
[lx] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 224-225.
[lxi] Dumond, p. 372; Foner, p. 203; Statute L, xii, 432.
[lxii] Dumond, p. 372; Foner, pp. 204-262.
[lxiii] Dumond, p. 372; Foner, p. 203; Statute L, xii, 432; Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 1137, 2917-2920, 2929, 2999.
[lxiv] Dumond, p. 372; Foner.
[lxv] New York Tribune, June 21, 1862; Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 278-279.
[lxvi] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 329-331; Foner, pp. 215-216; Congressional Globe, 37th Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 3006, 3267-68, 3383, 3400.
[lxvii] Dumond, p. 372; Basler, Roy P., ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols.), New Brunswick, NJ: 1953-1955, Vol. V, pp. 317-319.
[lxviii] Miers, p. 128; Gideon Welles’ diary.
[lxix] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 328-331; Dumond, p. 372; Foner; Long, p. 241; Miers, p. 128; Statute L, xii, 589.
[lxx] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 336-337; Dumond, p. 372; Foner, pp. 218-219; Long, pp. 242-243; Samuel Chase diary.
[lxxi] Long, p. 244.
[lxxii] Miers, p. 131; Rice, pp. 521-522.
[lxxiii] Donald, 1954, pp. 105-106; Miers, p. 131.
[lxxiv] Long, p. 251; Foner; Basler, Vol. V, pp. 370-375.
[lxxv] Miers, Vol. III, p. 134.
[lxxvi] Long, p. 254; Foner; Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, pp. 388-389.
[lxxvii] Foner; Long, p. 255.
[lxxviii] Miers, p. 136.
[lxxix] Basler, Vol. V, pp. 419-425; Miers, p. 139.
[lxxx] Miers, p. 140.
[lxxxi] Miers, p. 141.
[lxxxii] Foner; Long, p. 270; Basler, Vol. V, pp. 433-436.
[lxxxiii] Washington Star, September 24, 1862; Basler, Vol. V, pp. 438-439.
[lxxxiv] Long, p. 271.
[lxxxv] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, p. 496.
[lxxxvi] Foner, p. 343.
[lxxxvii] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. V, p. 537; Long, p. 292.
[lxxxviii] Long, p. 300.
[lxxxix] Miers, p. 159; Welles’ diary.
[xc] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. VI, pp. 28-31; Foner; Long, p. 306; Miers, p. 160.
[xci] Foner, p. 249.
[xcii] Long.
[xciii] Foner, pp. 284, 285, 294.
[xciv] Long, p. 332.
[xcv] Long, p. 384.
[xcvi] Long, pp. 394-395.
[xcvii] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. VI, pp. 374-375; Long, p. 396.
[xcviii] Long, p. 444.
[xcix] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. VI, pp. 76-77; Long, p. 447.
[c] Foner, p. 167.
[ci] Long, p. 454.
[cii] Long, p. 468.
[ciii] Long, p. 470.
[civ] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. VII, p. 243; Miers, p. 246.
[cv] Foner, pp. 297-298; Long, p. 481.
[cvi] Long, p. 481.
[cvii] Foner, pp. 294-295; Long, p. 482.
[cviii] Long, p. 518.
[cix] Long, p. 518.
[cx] Long, p. 528.
[cxi] Miers, Vol. III, p. 268; Statue L., XII, 200.
[cxii] Long, p. 591.
[cxiii] Long, p. 594; Miers, Vol. III, p. 294.
[cxiv] Lincoln, Basler, Vol. 7, cited in Nevins, p. 208.
[cxv] Bureau of the Census, Population of the United States in 1860, p. 599; Drago; Official Records, I, xliv.
[cxvi] Long, p. 620.
[cxvii] Long, p. 621.
[cxviii] Long, p. 621.
[cxix] Long, p. 623.
[cxx] Official Records.
[cxxi] Foner.
[cxxii] Nevins, p. 213.
[cxxiii] Basler, Vol. VIII, p. 249.
[cxxiv] Long, p. 632.
[cxxv] Long, p. 632.
[cxxvi] Basler, Vol. VIII, pp. 260-261; Miers, p. 311.
[cxxvii] Long, p. 635.
[cxxviii] Long, p. 643.
[cxxix] Long, p. 643.
[cxxx] Long, p. 645.
[cxxxi] Long, p. 646.
[cxxxii] Basler, Vol. VIII, pp. 332-333.
[cxxxiii] Basler, Collected Works, Vol. VIII, pp. 360-362; Long, p. 653.
[cxxxiv] Long, p. 666.
[cxxxv] Foner.
[cxxxvi] Long, p. 670.
[cxxxvii] Washington Star, April 11-12, 1865; Foner, p. 345.
[cxxxviii] Basler, Vol. VIII, p. 588.
[cxxxix] Long, pp. 675-676; Miers, pp. 329-330.
[cxl] Long, p. 677; Miers, p. 330; Nicoly and Hay, X, p. 302.
[cxli] Long, p. 677.
[cxlii] Long, p. 680.
[cxliii] Long, p. 680.
[cxliv] Long, . 686.
[cxlv] Long, pp. 690-691.
[cxlvi] Long, p. 692.
[cxlvii] Long, p. 694.
[cxlviii] Long, p. 696.
[cxlix] Long, p. 696.
[cl] Long, p. 696.
[cli] Long, p. 696.
[clii] Long, p. 696.
[cliii] Long.