After escaping from slavery in Maryland, Frederick Douglass became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings.
Frederick Douglass delivers his speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" in Rochester, New York.
King Victor Emmanuel the Second names Count Camillo di Cavour prime minister of Piedmont. Thus kickstarting the push for Italian unification.1861–1865: American Civil War between the Union and seceding Confederacy.
1861–1867: French intervention in Mexico and the creation of the Second Mexican Empire, ruled by Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort Carlota of Mexico.
Russia abolishes serfdom.
Death of Prince Albert.
James Clerk Maxwell publishes On Physical Lines of Force, formulating the four Maxwell's Equations.
1862
See also: 1862
1862–1877: Muslim Rebellion in north-west China.
The Pony Express ended.
Victor Hugo publishes Les Misérables.
French gain first foothold in Southeast Asia.
1863
See also: 1863
1863–1865: Polish uprising against the Russian Empire.
[[June 3: An earthquake leaves Manila in ruins.
[[November 30: Andres Bonifacio, founder of the Katipunan, was born.
United States President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln issued a preliminary [9] on September 22, 1862, warning that in all states still in rebellion (Confederacy) on January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves "then, thenceforward, and forever free."[10] The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution,[11] ratified in 1865, officially abolished slavery in the entire country.
Bahá'u'lláh declares his station as "He whom God shall make manifest". This date is celebrated in the Baháʼí Faith as The Festival of Ridván.
Formation of the International Red Cross is followed by the adoption of the First Geneva Convention in 1864.
First section of the London Underground opens.
France annexes Cambodia.
Édouard Manet exhibits his painting The Luncheon on the Grass, sparking public outrage.
Gordon (slave) Gordon, or "Whipped Peter", was an enslaved African American who escaped from a Louisiana plantation in March 1863.
1864
See also: 1864
1864–1866: The Chincha Islands War was an attempt by Spain to regain its South American colonies.
1864–1870: The Paraguayan War ends Paraguayan ambitions for expansion and destroys much of the Paraguayan population.
[[May 21: Circassian Genocide.
[[June: The first railway track in Indonesia was laid between Semarang and Tanggung, Central Java by the Dutch colonial government.[12]
[[July 23: Apolinario Mabini, the Brains of the Revolution, was born.
1865
See also: 1865
1865–1877: Reconstruction in the United States; Slavery is banned in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
[[April 9: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
[[April 14: United States President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by actor and Confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth, while attending a performance at Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C. He dies approximately nine hours after being shot on April 15, 1865.
Gregor Mendel formulates his laws of inheritance.