Browse all Entries in the Antebellum Time Period.
Fitzhugh Lee
November 19, 1835–April 28, 1905 A nephew of Robert E. Lee and a Confederate major general, Fitzhugh Lee served one term as governor of Virginia before commanding U.S. troops as a brigadier general during the Spanish-American War. Fitzhugh Lee was born on his family's plantation, Clermont, in Fairfax County, Virginia, on November 19, 1835. He…
Force Act (1833)
March 2, 1833 Approved by Congress on March 1, 1833 and signed by President Andrew Jackson the next day, the Force Act of 1833, known in South Carolina as the "Bloody Bill," authorized President Jackson to employ land, naval, or militia forces for the purpose of protecting customs officials and for enforcing United States tariff…
Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
February 19, 1821 – July 8, 1875 U.S. Senator and Congressman from Missouri, Frank P. Blair was one of President Abraham Lincoln's more successful political generals, rising to command the 15th and 17th Army Corps during most of the major campaigns in the Western Theater of the Civil War. Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (more commonly…
Franz Sigel
November 18, 1824 – August 21, 1902 During the American Civil War, Franz Sigel, one of President Abraham Lincoln's "political generals," achieved the rank of major general in the volunteer army and served as a corps commander with the Army of the Potomac. Franz Sigel was born in the town of Sinsheim, in the duchy…
Frederick Douglass
February 1818–February 20, 1895 After escaping from bondage on September 3, 1838, Frederick Douglass became a highly-acclaimed orator and writer supporting the abolition of slavery before the Civil War and the enactment of African American rights during Reconstruction. Acclaimed abolitionist and women's rights supporter Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, near…
Freeport Doctrine
1858 During the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1856, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed the Freeport Doctrine, which held that citizens of territories could ban slavery, despite the 1856 Supreme Court decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford. While Congress struggled to find a political settlement to the issue of slavery that was dividing…
Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
1793 When delegates to the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in 1787, one of the more daunting tasks that they faced was resolving sectional differences between the North and South centered on the issue of slavery. After weeks of debate proved futile, the delegates negotiated a series of compromises that enabled them to proceed with…
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
September 18, 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed by Congress as one provision of the Compromise of 1850. The harsh terms of the act angered many Northerners and contributed to the sectional division over slavery that led to the American Civil War. The U.S. Constitution and Slavery When delegates to the Constitutional…
Gag Rule
May 26, 1836– December 3, 1844 The gag rule consisted of a series of changes to the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives that prohibited the introduction of petitions related to slavery between 1836 and 1844. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right "to petition the government for a redress…
George Brinton McClellan
During the American Civil War, George Brinton McClellan twice served as the commanding general of the Army of the … Read more