Timeline of slavery: forward 200 years

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1852
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Published Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel about the horrors of slavery sells 300,000 copies within a year of publication.

1854
Kansas-Nebraska Act Setting aside the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Congress allows these two new territories to choose whether to allow slavery.

1857
Dred Scott Decision The United States Supreme Court decides, seven to two, that blacks can never be citizens and that Congress has no authority to outlaw slavery in any territory.

1860
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois becomes the first Republican to win the United States Presidency.

1860
Southern Secession South Carolina secedes in December. More states follow the next year.

1861-65
United States Civil War Four years of brutal conflict claim 623,000 lives.

1863
Emancipation Proclamation President Abraham Lincoln decrees that all slaves in Rebel territory are free on January 1, 1863.

1865 Slavery Abolished The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery.