Date:1864 Annotation: Documents relating to the Sand Creek, Colorado, Massacre of 1864. Newspaper editorials Between 1858 and 1859, the discovery of gold brought a tremendous influx of white men seeking fortunes, infringing on the buffalo hunting grounds and territories of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. Cheyenne chiefs Black Kettle and White Antelope sought peaceful solutions to…

Annotation: The Pacific Railway Act authorized construction of the first transcontinental railroad, extending from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The act was approved and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 1, 1862. The Civil War and lack of investors slowed the progress of constructing the railroad, but the project was completed…

Date:1862 Annotation: Law providing for free land for western settlers. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided settlers with 160 acres of undeveloped land to encourage western migration. After paying a nominal filing fee, title to the land was granted for those who were at least 21 years of age, had built a home on the land…

Author:   Abraham Lincoln Date:1861 Annotation: When Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as the 16th president of the United States, he faced the grim reality that seven states had seceded from the Union. Faced with this national upheaval, Lincoln focused on sustaining support in the North, while attempting to allay fears in the South, where he…

Author:   Juan Nepomuceno Cortina Date:1859 Annotation: This text appeared in the Brownsville newspaper. Document: County of Cameron, Camp in the Rancho del Carmen, November 23, 1859 Compatriots: A sentiment of profound indignation, the love and esteem which I profess for you, the desire which you have for that tranquillity and those guarantees which are denied you,…

Annotation: At 8 o’clock, Sunday evening, October 16, Brown led a party of approximately 21 men into Harpers Ferry where they captured the lone night watchman and cut the town’s telegraph lines. Encountering no resistance, Brown’s men seized the federal arsenal, an armory, and a rifle works. Brown then sent out several detachments to round up…

Author:   Abraham Lincoln Date:1858 Annotation: The critical issues dividing the nation–slavery versus free labor, popular sovereignty, and the legal and political status of African Americans–were brought into sharp focus during the 1858 campaign for U.S. Senator from Illinois. The campaign pitted a little-known lawyer from Springfield named Abraham Lincoln against Senator Stephen A. Douglas,…

Author:   Roger B. Taney Date:1857 Annotation: In March 1857, the Supreme Court answered a question that Congress had evaded for decades: whether Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in the territories. The case originated in 1846, when a Missouri slave, Dred Scott, sued to gain his freedom. Scott argued that while he had…

Author:   Charles Sumner Date:1856 Annotation: This speech was delivered by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, on May 19-20, 1856, in the United States Senate. A few days later, Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina, a cousin of Sen. Andrew Butler, whom Sumner ridiculed in this speech, beat Sumner senseless with his cane on the floor…