US antislavery: a timeline

Anti-Slavery Timeline
1609
The first African laborer was imported into Virginia.
1754
John Woolman addressed his fellow Quakers in Some Considerations of the Keeping of Negroes.
1775
The first Quaker antislavery society, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, was organized in Philadelphia.
1777-1804
Gradual abolition laws were passed in northern states: Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.
1785
John Jay and Alexander Hamilton organized the New York Manumission Society.
1787
U.S. Constitution signed, including compromise to count slaves as 3/5 of a person.
1787
The Northwest Ordinance banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.
1789
Benjamin Franklin organized the Pennsylvania Abolition Society
1793
The first Federal fugitive slave act provided for the return of slaves escaped across state boundaries.
1794
The first national antislavery society, the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, was founded
1807
Congress passed the law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States after January 1, 1808.
1817
The American Colonization Society was founded to settle free Negroes in Africa.
1820
The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state but prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory thereafter about 36°30’ north latitude.
1821
The Quaker, Benjamin Lundy, started publishing his antislavery paper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation.
1822
A slave revolt occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, led by the freed man, Denmark Vesey.
1831
William Lloyd Garrison founded the Liberator.
1831
The Nat Turner Rebellion occurred in Virginia.
1831
The New England Anti?Slavery Society was founded in Boston.
1831-1832
Emancipation was narrowly defeated in the Virginia constitutional convention.
1832
William Lloyd Garrison’s Thoughts on African Colonization was published. It marked a turning point of anti?slavery against colonization.
1833
Slavery ended in the British Empire.
1833
The American Anti?Slavery Society was founded in Philadelphia.
1834
Prudence Crandall’s school for Negro girls in Canterbury, Connecticut was closed by vandalism and mob destruction.
1835
The near lynching of Garrison occurred in Boston.
1836
The office of James G. Birney’s Philanthropist was sacked in Cincinnati.
1836-1844
John Quincy Adams carried on the campaign against the Gag Rule, restricting the reception of antislavery petitions, in the House of Representatives.
1837
Elijah Lovejoy’s press was destroyed, and Lovejoy was killed in Alton, Illinois.
1838
Pennsylvania Hall, built for meetings of reform groups, was burned during the Anti?Slavery Convention of American Women in Philadelphia.
1839
The Amistad Revolt.
1840
The Liberty Party was organized and nominated James Birney for president.
1840
The World Anti?Slavery Convention was held in London. Women from the American Delegation were denied seats on the floor.
1841
The Amistad case, involving the importation of illegal slave into the Americas, was tried in Federal Courts.
1846-1848
United States victory in the Mexican War.
1850
The Fugitive Slave Law was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850.
1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1854
Kansas?Nebraska Bill passed.
1854
The Republican Party forms.
1854
The fugitive slave, Anthony Burns was returned from Boston to Virginia.
1857
Dred Scott Decision.
1858
Abraham Lincoln condemned slavery in his “House Divided” speech.
1859
John Brown raided Harper’s Ferry to form and support a slave revolt.
1861
The Civil War began.
1863
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
1865
The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified.
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