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| Century | 000's | 1700's | 1800's | 1900's | 2000's | |||||||
| Decade | 1800's | 1810's | 1820's | 1830's | 1840's | 1850's | 1860's | 1870's | 1880's | 1890's | ||
| Year | 1850 | 1851 | 1852 | 1853 | 1854 | 1855 | 1856 | 1857 | 1858 | 1859 | ||
| January 15, 1857 | Massachusetts holds a state disunion convention called by Thomas Higginson, Frank Bird, and Thomas Earle claiming that "...the Union was a failure as being a hopeless attempt to unite under one government two antagonistic systems of society which diverge more widely every year." | Massachusetts |
| January 16, 1857 | George McClellan resigns from the U. S. Army | |
| George McClellan | ||
| January 27, 1857 | Preston S. Brooks dies, Washington, D. C. | South Carolina |
| Preston S. Brooks | ||
| March 4, 1857 | James Buchanan inaugurated President of the United States | |
| James Buchanan | ||
| March 6, 1857 | Supreme Court hands down the ruling in the Dred Scott case. | |
| Roger B. Taney | ||
| Causes of the Civil War | ||
| Dred Scott decision | ||
| June 29, 1857 | President James Buchanan responds to Brigham Young chasing federal judges William Drummond, George Stiles and John Kinney from the territory of Utah by ordering William Harney to advance to Utah and protect the new territorial governor and judges. | |
| Utah War | ||
| July 4, 1857 | Sewanee, The University of the South is founded by Leonidas Polk at the top of Lookout Mountain | |
| Leonidas Polk | ||
| July 29, 1857 | Col. Edwin Sumner attacks 300 mounted Cheyenne at Solomon's Ford in Kansas. Jeb Stuart is wounded in the attack. | Kansas |
| Edwin Vose Sumner | ||
| J. E. B. Stuart | ||
| August 1, 1857 | Utah organizes its militia, the Nauvoo Legion. | |
| Utah War | ||
| August 24, 1857 | Embezzlement in the home office of the Ohio Life
Insurance & Trust Company coupled with the wreck of the Central America, a merchant marine carrying a shipment of gold bullion, caused a panic in the New York Stock Market. |
|
| Panic of 1857 | ||
| August 29, 1857 | Sidney Johnson ordered to take command of the Utah expedition | |
| Albert Sidney Johnston | ||
| Utah War | ||
| September 7, 1857 | The Lecompton (KS) Convention, a pro-slave constitutional convention convenes | Kansas |
| Lecompton Constitution | ||
| September 11, 1857 | (circa) Utah militia and American Indians raid a wagon train traveling west from Arkansas in what became known as the Meadows Massacre or the Mountain Meadows Massacre | |
| Utah War | ||
| September 23, 1857 | Raid on federal artillery and infantry at Pacific Springs. | |
| Utah War | ||
| October 5, 1857 October 6, 1857 |
Kansas free-staters win control of the legislative branch in elections | Kansas |
| Kansas becomes a state | ||
| October 19, 1857 | Proslavery factions reconvene the Lecompton Constitutional Convention to draft a document | Kansas |
| Lecompton Constitution | ||
| November 7, 1857 | The Lecompton (KS) Constitutional Convention adopts a pro-slavery constitution and approves a ratification election on December 21, 1857 | Kansas |
| Lecompton Constitution | ||
| November 17, 1857 | Sidney Johnston arrives at Fort Bridger, 125 miles northwest of Salt Lake City. It had been burned under Brigham Young's orders. | |
| Albert Sidney Johnston | ||
| November 25, 1857 | James Birney dies, Perth Amboy, N. J. | |
| James Birney | ||
| December 2, 1857 | "Free-staters" take control of the Kansas legislature following their election in October | Kansas |
| Kansas becomes a state | ||
| December 7, 1857 | Free-state congress calls for a third option in voting on the Lecompton Constitution - rejection of the document. | Kansas |
| Lecompton Constitution | ||
| December 8, 1857 | James Buchanan announces he supports the Lecompton Constitution in a message to the Senate | Kansas |
| James Buchanan | ||
| Lecompton Constitution | ||
| December 9, 1857 | Breaking with the Democrats, Stephen Douglas announces he is against the Lecompton Constitution | Kansas |
| Stephen A. Douglas | ||
| Lecompton Constitution | ||
| Democratic Party | ||
| December 17, 1857 | The Free-state legislature adds a third option to the Lecompton ratification vote: reject the Lecompton Constitution. This is not on the ballot of Dec. 21 | Kansas |
| Lecompton Constitution | ||
| December 21, 1857 | Lecompton Constitution ratification vote. Voters were not voting for the Constitution, rather they were voting for the Constitution with slavery or the Constitution without slavery. With freestaters waiting for the vote on January 4, pro-slavery factions easily carry the vote | Kansas |
| Kansas becomes a state | ||
| Lecompton Constitution |
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