Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement: 1789 to 1920 American History, Assassination, Boycott, Constitutional Amendments, Desegregation, Discrimination, Education, Equality, Freedom Marches, Jim Crow, Lunch Counter Protests, Plessy, Public Laws, Riots, Segregation, Slavery, Voting Rights, Women's Rights

Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement: 1789 to 1920 [The editors of Americans All Maryland ] (January 1, 1789 - December 31, 1920) American History, Assassination, Boycott, Constitutional Amendments, Desegregation, Discrimination, Education, Equality, Freedom Marches, Jim Crow, Lunch Counter Protests, Plessy, Public Laws, Riots, Segregation, Slavery, Voting Rights, Women's Rights

1789: Constitution of the United States of America
     This acted like a colossal merger, uniting a group of states with different interests, laws, and cultures. Under the first national  government, the Articles of Confederation, the states acted together only for specific purposes. The Constitution united its citizens as members of a whole, vesting the power of the union in the people. The first 10 Amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.[Source: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution]

1793: First Fugitive Slave Act
     Congress authorized local governments to seize and return escapees to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight. [Source: https://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/history/slaveact1793.php]

1808: U.S. Bans the Importing of African Slaves
     This Act “prohibits the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States…from any foreign kingdom, place, or country.” [Source: https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/slave-trade.html]

1820: Missouri Compromise
     To preserve the balance in Congress between slave and free states, the Compromise was passed in 1820, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Furthermore this law prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude line. The Compromise was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. [Source: https://guides.loc.gov/missouri-compromise]

1850: Fugitive Slave Act (Part of the Compromise of 1850)
     This consists of five laws passed in September that dealt with the issue of slavery and territorial expansion. As part of the Compromise, the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished and the Fugitive Slave Act was amended to require slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves, and it levied harsh punishments for anyone interfering with the capture of slaves. [Source: https://guides.loc.gov/compromise-1850]

1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act (10 Stat. 277)
     This Act, passed May 30, repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. It also produced a violent uprising known as “Bleeding Kansas,” as pro- and anti-slavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote. Political turmoil followed, destroying the remnants of the old Whig coalition and leading to the creation of the new Republican Party. [Source: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory]

1857: Scott v. Sanford (60 U.S. 393) 
     The decision was issued on March 6. Delivered by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, this opinion declared that slaves were not citizens of the U.S. and could not sue in Federal courts. In addition, the Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional, and Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. The Dred Scott decision was overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. [Source: https://www.keepandshare.com/doc9/24658/dred-scott-24658-pdf-132k?da=y]

1861: The Civil War
     To achieve separation, a convention of delegates from six of the cotton-growing states met at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 1861, and established a government under the title of "The Confederate States of America." On March 21,1861, Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy declared: “The Confederacy's foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and moral condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." Source: https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/civil-war/cornerstone-speech-alexander]

1863: The Emancipation Proclamation
     President Abraham Lincoln issued the Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. It declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy (the Southern secessionist states) that had already come under Northern control. Moreover, Black men were now accepted into the Union military and almost 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors fought for freedom and the Union. [Source: "https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation]

1864: Fugitive Slave Act Repealed
     In repealing the Act, Congress notified slaveholders they would no longer enjoy the police power of the federal government in this endeavor; thus removing an important pillar of the legitimacy of the "Peculiar Institution." [Source: https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/pm_020]    

1865: Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau)
     Established on March 3, this Act's mission was to provide relief and help freedmen become self-sufficient in all areas of life. The first Black schools were set up under their direction. [Source: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/FreedmensBureau.htm#]

1865: Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
     This Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It ratified on December 6. [Source: https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=40]

1865-66: Black Codes
     Black Codes was a name given to laws passed by southern governments established during the presidency of Andrew Johnson. These laws imposed severe restrictions on freedmen, such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, and limiting their right to testify against white men. They were also forbidden from carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations. [Source: https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Black+Codes]

1866: Civil Rights Act (14 Stat. 27-30)
     During Reconstruction, Congress passed several statutes to protect the rights of the newly freed slaves, many over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. This Act declared that all people born in the United States were U.S. citizens and had certain inalienable rights, including the right to make contracts, to own property, to sue in court, and to enjoy the full protection of federal law. It began transforming the federal courts into the primary forums for individuals to enforce their constitutional and statutory rights. It was passed by Congress in 1865 and vetoed by United States President Andrew Johnson. In April 1866 Congress again passed the bill to support the Thirteenth Amendment, and Johnson again vetoed it, but Congress overrode the veto and it to become law without presidential signature. [Source: https://www.fjc.gov/history/timeline/civil-rights-act-1866]

1868: Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
   Adopted on July 9. Section One: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of born or naturalized citizens of the U.S.; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Section Two deals with the apportionment of representatives to Congress. Section Three forbids anyone who participates in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States from holding federal office. Section Four addresses federal debt and repudiates debts accrued by the Confederacy. Section Five