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Student Organizer: Primary Sources 1820-1865

Part I: Timeline

Directions: Fill in the organizer for each event in the timeline. The first event has been done for you as an example. Use your own words to summarize the “So what?” section for each event.

1820: Missouri Compromise (Example)
What happened?

Territory of the Louisiana Purchase was divided into two parts: slavery would be allowed south of latitude 36 degrees 30′, but north of that line, slavery would be forbidden. Maine (previously a part of Massachusetts) would enter the Union as a free state and Missouri would enter as a slave state.

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So what?

As the U.S. expands its territory, the question about the expansion of slavery becomes contentious.

 

1837: Senator John C. Calhoun defends slavery as a “positive good”
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1846-1848: Mexican-American War
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1845: William Lloyd Garrison denounces the U.S. Constitution as a “Covenant with death”
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1850: Fugitive Slave Act is passed by Congress
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1852: Frederick Douglass makes a speech asking, “What to the slave is the fourth of July?”
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1854: The Kansas-Nebraska Act is passed by Congress
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1857: Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling issued by the Supreme Court
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1858: First Debate for the Illinois Senate between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln: Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

STOP. 

Move onto the Primary Source Handout. After reading the primary sources, return to the last three events on the timeline below.  

1863: Emancipation Proclamation
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1863: General Order 143 Creates U.S. Bureau of Colored Troops
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

1865: Thirteenth Amendment Ratified
What happened?

 

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So what?

 

 

More from this Category

Video

Dred Scott v. Sandford | Homework Help from the Bill of Rights Institute

3 Min

The Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857 was brought to the Supreme Court just four years before the start of the Civil War. Dred Scott sued his master for his freedom and Judge Robert Taney ultimately ruled two things. First, African Americans were not citizens and had no right to sue in court. Second, Congress did not have the constitutional authority to ban slavery from the states. This case is considered one of the worst rulings in the history of the Supreme Court.