The U.S. Congress passed the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Lincoln was assassinated, and Congress passed the 14th Amendment, and the U.S. Army informed enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, of their freedom.
Kentucky Senator John Crittenden proposes six amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments, contained in the Crittenden Compromise, specifically addressed slavery.
Abraham Lincoln is elected as the 16th President of the United States and confederate forces fires on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina: Civil War begins.
Vermont passes a personal liberty law and declares that no one shall be denied citizenship on account of African descent.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act creates sovereignty to decide the slave status of each. It also repeals the anti-slavery clause of the Missouri Compromise and renews tensions between anti- and pro-slavery factions.