Info Brief: The Road to the Civil War—A Timeline

1787: Constitutional Convention delegates refused to recognize a “right” to “property in men,” leaving the question of slavery to Congress and the states. However, they compromised on the constitutional status of slavery. The Slave Trade Clause prohibited Congress from ending the importation of enslaved people until 1808. The Fugitive Slave Clause protected slaveholders’ power to retrieve alleged fugitives. The Three-Fifths Clause counted three-fifths of the enslaved population for purposes of representation.

1787: The Northwest Ordinance established a framework for governing the Northwest Territory and protecting the civil liberties of settlers. It also banned slavery in the territory, north of the Ohio River.

1793: The Fugitive Slave Act permitted slaveholders to cross state lines to retrieve alleged fugitives.

1807: Congress banned the importation of enslaved people, which took effect in 1808. It was the earliest date the Constitution permitted Congress to impose such a ban.

1820: Under the Missouri Compromise, Missouri was admitted as a slaveholding state and Maine as a free state. It also banned slavery to the north of a set line within the Louisiana Territory.

1820s: The Negro Seamen Acts prevented free African American sailors from freely disembarking in slaveholding states and exercising their constitutional rights. Instead, they were often jailed in local prisons.

1823: In Corfield v. Coryell, Justice Bushrod Washington interpreted the Constitution’s Privileges and Immunities Clause as protecting a set of fundamental rights, including the right to make contracts. This circuit court opinion would influence the drafting of the 14th Amendment.

1830s: Congress imposed a “Gag Rule,” banning the House of Representatives from considering anti-slavery petitions. It was eventually defeated.

1831: Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher, led a rebellion of enslaved and free African Americans. Turner was executed, and Southern states enacted stricter laws to forbid Black education, assembly, and other liberties.

1832–33: During the Nullification Crisis, South Carolina viewed federal tariffs as unconstitutional and sought to declare them null and void. The state eventually backed down and accepted the supremacy of federal law.

1833: In Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights only restricted Congress and did not protect Americans against violations of fundamental rights by the states. This would change with the 14th Amendment.

1842: In Prigg v. Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court struck down a state law that provided protections to those accused of being fugitive slaves—claiming it violated the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.

1846-48: The Mexican War added extensive new territory, fueling conflicts over whether future states would enter as slaveholding states or free states.

1850: With the Compromise of 1850, California entered as a free state, but the Utah and New Mexico territories were opened to slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act was also strengthened.

1852-1853: New popular writings emerged and began to shape Northern perceptions of the South and slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an antislavery novel. The following year, Solomon Northup published his own memoir, 12 Years a Slave, which followed his kidnapping, enslavement, and escape to freedom.

1854: The Kansas-Nebraska Act established the Kansas and Nebraska territories with the issue of slavery to be decided by their settlers. For the next five years, the settlers of Kansas and Nebraska “decided” the issue through violent armed conflict—a frightening preview of the Civil War to come. John Brown first gained national prominence as an abolitionist fighter.

1857-58: During the Lecompton Crisis, pro-slavery advocates drafted a state constitution that excluded free African Americans and protected slavery. Congress rejected that constitution, and Kansas entered as a free state.

1857: In Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens of the United States. Overturning the decision became a rallying cry for the new Republican Party.

1859: John Brown and his followers raided Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to seize weapons and incite a slave rebellion. Brown was captured, tried, and executed.

1860: Republican Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election with a plurality of the vote, while the Democratic Party split between its Southern and Northern wings. Southern states feared that President Lincoln would move to abolish slavery. In December, South Carolina became the first state to secede, and 10 more states soon followed. The battle lines were drawn.