Major Events Leading to the Civil War

1846-1861

MAJOR EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR

1846 – Wilmot Proviso

1848 – Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (Mexican Cession)

1849 – California Gold Rush

1850 – President Taylor dies/Millard Fillmore becomes president

Compromise of 1850

1852 – Uncle Tom’s Cabin published

1853 – Franklin Pierce inaugurated

Gadsden Purchase

1854 – Kansas-Nebraska Act

Birth of the Republican Party

1855/6 – Bleeding Kansas

1856 – Sumner-Brooks episode

John C. Fremont is first Republican candidate for president

1857 – Scott v. Sanford (The Dred Scott case)

1858 – Lincoln-Douglas debates

1859 – John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry

1860 – Lincoln wins the presidency with 39.5% of the popular vote

1860/1 – The Secession Crisis

1861 – Lincoln’s first inauguration

1861 – Fort Sumter