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Crittenden Compromise
1861–1862 Proposed by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden on December 18, 1860, the Crittenden Compromise, also known as the Crittenden Plan, was an unsuccessful eleventh-hour attempt to save the Union and to avoid the American Civil War, but the agreement was never adopted by the Senate. When the Republican Party assembled in Chicago from May…
David Tod
February 21, 1805 – November 13, 1868 David Tod was the twenty-fifth Governor of Ohio, serving from January 4, 1862 through January 11, 1864. He was Ohio's second governor during the American Civil War. David Tod was born at Youngstown, Ohio on February 21, 1805. He was the son of George and Sarah (Isaacs) Tod.…
Edson Baldwin Olds
June 3, 1802 – January 24, 1869 Edson B. Olds was a Copperhead leader and three-term U.S. Congressman from Ohio. In 1862, federal officials arrested and imprisoned Olds for disloyalty. Edson Baldwin Olds was born in Marlboro, Vermont, on June 3, 1802. Circa 1820, he moved to Ohio, where he taught school and began studying…
Edwin McMasters Stanton
December 19, 1814–December 24, 1869 Born in Steubenville, Ohio on December 19, 1814, Edwin McMasters Stanton's father and mother were David and Lucy Norman Stanton. Edwin Stanton was the eldest of seven children. Born in Steubenville, Ohio on December 19, 1814, Edwin McMasters Stanton's father and mother were David and Lucy Norman Stanton. Edwin Stanton…
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 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…
General Orders, No. 104 (U.S. War Department)
August 13, 1862 On August 13, 1862, the U.S. War Department issued General Orders, No. 104, announcing President Abraham Lincoln's executive order prohibiting citizens liable for the draft from leaving the United States, and suspending the writ of habeas corpus for persons arrested for disloyal practices. General Orders, No. 104 War Dep't, Adjutant General's Office…
George Brinton McClellan
During the American Civil War, George Brinton McClellan twice served as the commanding general of the Army of the … Read more
George Hunt Pendleton
July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889 George Hunt Pendleton was a Democratic Congressman and Senator from Ohio. A leading Peace Democrat during the American Civil War, Pendleton was also the sponsor of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. George Hunt Pendleton was born on July 19, 1825, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was…