U.S. Capitol Historical Society

1774-1799 | 1800-1824 | 1825-1849 | 1850-1874 | 1875-1899 | 1900-1924 | 1925-1949 | 1950-1974 | 1975-Modern

1850	January	29	Henry Clay spoke to the Senate on the Compromise of 1850: "You are numerically more powerful than the slave states, and greatness and magnanimity should ever be allowed."
	March	4	In his last speech to the Senate, which he was too ill to deliver himself, John C. Calhoun spoke out against the Compromise of 1850: "The South asks for justice, simple justice, and less she ought not to take."
	March	7	Daniel Webster spoke to the Senate on the Constitution and the Union regarding the Compromise of 1850: "I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American."
	July	9	Millard Fillmore followed Taylor as the 13th President upon Taylor's death.
	September	9	The Compromise of 1850, engineered by Henry Clay, passed Congress. It established the Texas-New Mexico border and declared Congress could not interfere in the regulating of interstate slave trade.
	September	20	Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois persuaded Congress to grant federal land to the state of Illinois, in order to aid the Illinois Central Railroad. Other states soon demanded the same privileges, and by 1860, Congress had given away 30 million acres of land to 11 states.
1853	March	3	Senator William P. Fessenden (ME) addressed the Senate regarding the Kansas-Nebraska bill: "I am opposed to slavery in any form and shape in which it exists, or may exist. . . . In my portion of the country, labor of any kind, if it is honest labor, is honorable. In that section of the country all men are equal, politically. Their social relations, and their social condition and position, they make for themselves."
1853	March	4	Franklin Pierce, Democrat, was inaugurated as the 14^th President after defeating Winfield Scott, Whig. His Vice President was William R. King.
1854	March	4	Senator Sam Houston (TX) debated the Kansas-Nebraska Bill: "I adjure you to regard the contract once made to harmonize and preserve this Union."
	May	30	Kansas-Nebraska Bill, of which Senator Douglas of Illinois was the main sponsor, passed Congress repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and establishing Kansas and Nebraska as territories whose settlers could vote on slavery.
1856	May	22	Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was severely beaten with a cane on the Senate floor by Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina after Sumner insulted Brooks' uncle, Senator Butler of South Carolina, in a speech on the admission of Kansas to the union.
1857	March	4	James Buchanan, Democrat, became the 15^th President defeating John C. Fremont, of the new Republican party, formed in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act; and former President Millard Fillmore, running on the ticket of the anti-immigrant American or "Know Nothing" party. Buchanan's Vice President was John C. Breckinridge, Democrat.
	March	6	In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that blacks could not be citizens of the United States, and that Congress had no power to forbid slavery in the territories.
	December	16	The House of Representatives moved into the enlarged south wing of the Capitol; it is the same structure that the House resides in today.
1859	January	4	Senate moved into the enlarged north wing; it is the same structure that the Senate resides in today.
1860	November	6	Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president, defeating northern Democratic candidate Stephen Douglas, southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, and Constitutional Unionist John Bell.
	December	3	In his last State of the Union Address, President Buchanan condemned the prospective secession of the southern states as illegal, but maintains that there is nothing that can be done to stop it.
		18	Senator John J. Crittenden proposed a series of constitutional amendments in an attempt to save the union. They forbid slavery in the territories north of the Missouri Compromise line, but provide that slavery will always be protected under the constitution. The compromise was, however, impossible for either northern or southern extremists to accept.
		20	South Carolina became the first state to secede from the United States. It was followed in the next few months by Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. South Carolina's congressional representatives withdrew on the 24th.
1861	January	21	Jefferson Davis's farewell to the Senate: "It is known to Senators who have served with me here, that I have for many years advocated, as an essential attribute of state sovereignty, the right of a state to secede from the Union."
	February	4	The Confederate States of America are formed at Montgomery, Alabama. on February 9, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected president, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia vice president.
	March	2	Republicans in Congress passed the Morill Tariff Act, raising tariff schedules and substituting specific for ad valorem duties.
	March	4	Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16^th President. His Vice President was Hannibal Hamlin.
	April	12	The federal garrison at Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, was attacked by Confederate forces and surrendered, commencing the Civil War. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded soon after.
	December	3	Lincoln's State of the Union Address: "The struggle of today is not altogether for today - it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence, all the more firm and earnest in the great task which events have developed upon us."
1862	May	20	Homestead Act of 1862 enabled settlers to receive 160 acres of public land free, if they lived and worked the land for five years.
	July	1	Congress created a federal corporation with the Union Pacific Railroad Company, which was to build westward from Omaha. The government donated public lands and advanced government loans.
	July	17	Confiscation Act passed Congress calling for the President to seize the property of all rebels who fell into certain categories, including their slaves, and to put that property to use in prosecuting the war.
	September		The United States Capitol housed Union soldiers providing medical attention and a place to sleep.
1863	January	1	Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation making slavery illegal in those areas which were in rebellion against the United States.
	February	25	National Bank Act forced state notes out of existence and induced reluctant state banks to seek federal charters.
	March	3	Congress enacted the first draft law. Few exceptions were made, but a man could get out of the draft by paying $300 to the government.
	November	19	Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, at the Gettysburg National Cemetery honoring those soldiers who gave their lives at the Battle of Gettysburg of July 1-3, 1863.
1864	July	8	Congress passed the Wade-Davis bill for Reconstruction. It called for the Senate to appoint provisional governors for the rebelling states and the rebelling states lost their voting privileges in Congress. However, President Lincoln vetoed the bill stating "I am unprepared, by a formal approval of this Bill, to be inflexibly committed to any single plan of reconstruction."
1864	August	8	Wade-Davis Manifesto overrode Lincoln's veto passing the Wade-Davis bill.
1865	February	1	Congress passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.
	March	4	President Lincoln was inaugurated for his second term as president, having defeated Democrat George B. McClellan. His new vice president was Andrew Johnson, a Unionist Democrat from Tennessee. In his inaugural address, Lincoln declared: "With malice toward none, with charity for all... let us strive on to finish the work we are in...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
	April	9	Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, effectively ending the Civil War.
		14	President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next day, and Andrew Johnson was sworn in as the 17th President of the United States.
		19	Lincoln's body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
	May	29	President Johnson declared the rebellion at an end and granted amnesty to Confederates who took the oath of allegiance. Provisional governments were established in the southern states, which abolished slavery, amended the state constitutions, and repudiated the state war debt.
1866	April	9	Congress passed the first civil rights bill, over President Johnson's veto, which made African Americans U.S. citizens. It also empowered the federal government to intervene in state affairs when necessary to protect the rights of American citizens.
	June	16	The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed Congress and was submitted to the states for ratification. It defined national citizenship to include African Americans, provided federal protection for rights that might be invaded by the states. It also provided for a lowering of Southern congressional representation if blacks were denied the vote.
	June	20	Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction: "Congress cannot be expected to recognize as valid the election of representatives from disorganized communities."
1867	March	2	Tenure of Office Act forbade the President from removing civil officials without the consent of the Senate.
	March	2	The First Reconstruction Act was passed over President Johnson's veto, in response to the failure of the southern states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. It divided the south into 5 military districts subject to martial law. To achieve restoration the southern states were required to guarantee African American suffrage and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
	April	9	The Senate approves the treaty negotiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, in spite of strong opposition to the purchase, known as "Johnson's Bear Garden" and "Seward's Folly"
	July	20	Congress created the Indian Peace Commission to recommend a permanent Indian policy. The commission responded with a continuation of the reservation program and to break down the tribal structure with a view to assimilate Indians into the white culture.
			Frederick Douglass, African American civil rights leader, appealed to Congress for Impartial Suffrage.
1868	February	24	President Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives on 11 counts, including violation of the Tenure of Office Act of 1867 for his attempted removal of Secretary of War Stanton.
	May	16	President Johnson was acquitted by the Senate, with 35 in favor of removal and 19 opposed, one short of the two thirds required for conviction.
	July	28	The 14^th Amendment was declared ratified.
	July	28	The 14^th Amendment was declared ratified.
1868			The Supreme Court ruled secession was impossible under the United States Constitution in Texas vs. White.
1869	February	26	Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, forbidding any state from depriving a citizen of his vote on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
1869	March	4	Ulysses S. Grant, Republican, was inaugurated as the 18^th President after defeating Horatio Seymour, Democrat. His Vice President was Schuyler Colfax.
1870	February	23	Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as the first African American member of the U.S. Senate, and the first African American to serve in the U. S. Congress. He filled Jefferson Davis's open seat.
1870	March	30	The 15^th Amendment was ratified.
1872	March	1	Congress established the first national park, Yellowstone National Park.
1873	February	12	Congress passed the Coinage Act, which demonetized silver and made gold the sole monetary standard. This became known as the "Crime of '73."
1873	March	4	Grant was inaugurated for a second term as president, having defeated the nominee of the Democrats and Liberal Republicans, Horace Greeley. The Vice President for his second term was Henry A. Wilson.
1874	February		Blanche K. Bruce, ex-slave from Mississippi, was the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate.
1874	May	4	Grant's second term was plagued by scandals. They did not specifically involve him. The scandals involved members of the Republican party or his Cabinet. Grant's third Secretary of Treasury, Benjamin Bristow, discovered Grant's private secretary, Orville Babcock, was operating a whiskey ring cheating the government out of taxes by filing false reports.