1860

Kentucky Senator John Crittenden proposes six amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments, contained in the Crittenden Compromise, specifically addressed slavery.

The British-operated slave trade across the Atlantic was one of the biggest businesses of the 18th century. Approximately 600,000 of 10 million African slaves made their way into the American colonies before the slave trade – not slavery – was banned by Congress in 1808.

By 1860, the US census recorded nearly 4 million enslaved black people (3,953,760) and 488,070 free – 13% of the population – in the country as the American-born population grew.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.

Arizona passes an Expulsion Act, banishing all free blacks from the state.