Definitions

The Dred Scott Decision (Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857) was the infamous ruling of the United States Supreme Court that, according to the US Constitution, Black people were not and could not be considered citizens of...

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (1850-1864) was part of the Compromise of 1850, drafted to diffuse tensions between Southern 'slave states' and Northern 'free states.' The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 already allowed slaveholders to reclaim...

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five bills passed by the US Congress in September 1850 to diffuse a sectional crisis brewing between the 'free states' of the North and the 'slave states' of the South. The crisis was sparked by a disagreement...

Harriet Tubman (circa 1822-1913) was a former slave, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. She served as a cook, nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army during the American Civil War and...

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an effort by the US Congress to resolve a sectional dispute between the 'free states' of the North and the 'slave states' of the South. Hoping to hinder the westward expansion of slavery – and thereby limit...

RMS Lusitania was a British transatlantic liner infamously sunk by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915 during the First World War (1914-18). Struck off the coast of southern Ireland, the ship sank in less than 20 minutes, and nearly 1,200 passengers...

Albert Sidney Johnston (1803-1862) was the commander of the Confederate western armies in the early months of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Over the course of his 34-year military career, Johnston served in the armies of three republics...

James Ewell Brown Stuart (1833-1864), better known by his initials as J. E. B. Stuart, was a Confederate cavalry general during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Known for his flashy style of dressing and his daring raids behind Union lines...

The Russian Revolution of 1905 challenged the absolute power of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917) as ruler of the Russian Empire. Bloody Sunday in 1905 started the year disastrously for the tsar when soldiers fired upon an unarmed crowd...

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) was an English poet, scholar, soldier, and courtier, one of the most prominent figures at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603). During his lifetime, he was revered as the ideal Elizabethan...