Click on the words highlighted in brown for more information.

1789  When the U.S. Constitution is ratified, slavery is not mentioned by name, but the property rights of slave holders are recognized.

1789  George Washington becomes the first American president.  Washington, along with most of the early presidents, owns slaves.

1790  The first census in 1790 reports almost 60,000 free African Americans living in the United States. Almost all live in the North.

1800  Gabriel Prosser, an enslaved African American, plans an attack on Richmond, Virginia. The plan fails and Prosser is hanged, but African Americans continue to quietly protest slavery by fleeing their owners for free states and territory in the North.

1803  The Louisiana Purchase opens up westward expansion, eventually raising the question whether slavery would be permitted in the new territories. The Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the United States. After 1803, slave owners begin to move into this new territory, bringing their slaves with them.

1804  The Underground Railroad begins when General Thomas Boude refuses to return an African American woman to her owner in Columbia, Pennsylvania.

1807  The British bans the international slave trade and establishes patrols in the Atlantic Ocean.

1820  The Missouri Compromise temporarily resolves political conflict over expansion of slavery into western territories by maintaining the balance of pro- and anti-slavery states in the United States Senate.

1822  Denmark Vesey, a free African-American carpenter, plans a revolt to conquer Charleston, South Carolina. When his plan is discovered, he and 47 others are executed.

1824  New York City assumes the financing of seven free schools for African Americans.

1826  John Russwurm becomes the first African American to graduate from an American college, Bowduin College.

1827  Freedom’s Journal becomes the first African American-owned newspaper in America.

1830  The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded in Philadelphia by Arthur Tappan.

1831  Nat Turner leads a bloody insurrection of enslaved people in Virginia. The revolt is crushed and Slave Codes are strengthened throughout the South.

1834  Free African Americans receive American passports stating that they are citizens of the United States.

1837  At the age of 28, while serving in the Illinois General Assembly, Abraham Lincoln makes one of his first public declarations against slavery.

1840s  Abolitionist Levi Coffin becomes known as the “president” of the Underground Railroad.

1849  Roberts v. the City of Boston.  An African American parent sues to desegregate a public school in Boston and lost.  Later, the state legislature abolishes segregation.

1850  As part of the Missouri Compromise, Congress passes an enhanced Fugitive Slave Act.

1852  Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

1853  Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is established as the nation’s first college for African Americans.

1857  Dred Scott v. Sanford. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that living in a free state or territory does not cancel a slave holder's property rights. The decision invalidates the Missouri Compromise.

1858  In his Definition of Democracy, Abraham Lincoln makes his most famous statement about the existence of slavery:

“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”

1859  Abolitionist John Brown attempts to seize a federal arsenal in a raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Brown's raid and subsequent execution polarizes public opinion on slavery.

1860  Abraham Lincoln is elected president.

1860  The census reports more that 4.4 million African Americans in the United States.