Browse all Events in the Antebellum Time Period.
Bleeding Kansas
1855-1861 The term “Bleeding Kansas” refers to the violence and bloodshed that occurred in the Kansas Territory during the 1850s. As the United States expanded west to fulfill its "manifest destiny" during the mid-nineteenth century, settlers and entrepreneurs began champing at the bit to occupy the portion of the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri. By…
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
October 16, 1859 – October 18, 1859 On October 16, 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown led an ill-fated assault on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, that intensified the sectional dispute over slavery and hastened the nation toward civil war. Early on Sunday, October 16, 1859 ardent abolitionist John Brown assembled his small army…
Mexican-American War
April 25, 1846 – February 2, 1848 Lasting from April 25, 1846-February 2, 1848, the Mexican-American War polarized sectional differences over the extension of slavery in the United States, and it served as a training ground for numerous general officers who fought on both sides during the American Civil War. The roots of the Mexican-American…
Mountain Meadows Massacre
September 11, 1857 On September 11, 1857, members of the Mormon militia and Paiute Indians murdered roughly 120 unarmed men, women, and children in southwestern Utah during the Utah War. In 1857, newly elected U.S. President James Buchanan dismissed Young and replaced him with Alfred Cumming. Anticipating that the change would anger Young and his…
Nullification Crisis
1832-1833 On November 24, 1832, the Convention of the People of South Carolina approved the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, precipitating a constitutional crisis that nearly triggered a civil war in the United States. On May 19, 1828, United States President John Quincy Adams approved an act of Congress commonly known as the Tariff of…
Utah War
1857-1858 Also known as the Utah Expedition and Buchanan's Blunder, the Utah War was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. Troubles between Mormons and non-Mormons soon developed when federal officials who were sent to the territory reported that Young tended to rule…
Washington Peace Conference
1861 Proposed by Virginia and chaired by former U.S. President John Tyler, the Washington Peace Conference was an unsuccessful eleventh-hour attempt to save the Union and avoid the American Civil War. On November 6, 1860, American voters elected Republican Abraham Lincoln as the sixteenth President of the United States. Alarmed by what they considered to…