Timeline of Emancipation

Slavery is outlawed in most of Mexico by President Vicente Ramon Guerrero, a man of African and Mestizo descent.

Mexico’s congress outlawed slavery in the nation.

Abraham Lincoln is elected to the presidency of the United States. This comes after years of political debate over the future of slavery. Lincoln’s party, the Republicans, are in favor of limiting the spread of slavery, not emancipation.

Florida secedes from the United States, the third southern state to do so.

Representatives of the growing Confederacy meet in Montgomery, Alabama, and approve the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, officially forming the Confederacy.