-
Massacre at Mystic
The Mystic Massacre was an armed invasion of a Pequot village at Mystic, Connecticut in New England that took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War of 1636. -
The Scalp Act
In response to repeated massacres of British families by the French and their native allies during King George's War, Massachusetts governor William Shirley issued a bounty in 1746 to be paid to British-allied Indians for the scalps of French-allied Indian men, women, and children. New York passed a Scalp Act in 1747. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
Three-fifths compromise, compromise agreement between delegates from the Northern and the Southern states at the United States Constitutional Convention. that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was victory of a seasoned U.S. expeditionary force under Major General William Henry Harrison over Shawnee Indians led by Tecumseh's brother Laulewasikau. This victory helped Harrison become president of the United States as well. Native Americans were training to fight against American soldiers. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. -
Trail of Tears
16,000 Native Americans were marched over 1,200 miles of rugged land. Over 4,000 of these Indians died of disease, famine, and warfare. The Indian tribe was called the Cherokee and we call this event the Trail of Tears. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
It was a rebellion of black slaves that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831, led by Nat Turner. The rebels killed between 55 and 65 people, at least 51 of whom were white. -
Dred Scott Decision
The Dred Scott Decision was a decade-long fight for freedom by a black man named Fred Scott. The case persisted through several courts and ultimately reached U.S. Supreme Court. The decision gave, momentum to the anti-slavery movement and was a stepping stone to the Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. It declared “that all persons held as slaves”. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
On September 22, 1862 Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation, and on January 1, 1863, he made it official that “slaves within any State, or designated part of a State…in rebellion,…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The demise of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
In the final chapter of America's long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” article. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for blacks.
