Abraham Lincoln approves a contract to deport slaves to Central America as pressure increases for him to order emancipation.

Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
Abraham Lincoln approves a contract to deport slaves to Central America as pressure increases for him to order emancipation.
John Pope’s Federal Army of Virginia is absorbed into George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, and Pope is reassigned under protest.
Abraham Lincoln surprises his cabinet by reading a draft of an executive order freeing all slaves in Confederate states.
With the northern war effort in decline, Abraham Lincoln begins to reconsider whether or not he should free slaves by presidential decree.
News of the capture of Confederate envoys James Mason and John Slidell spreads throughout America and is met with mixed reactions in North and South.
Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S.S. San Jacinto halts the neutral British steamship R.M.S. Trent on the open sea and seizes two Confederate envoys under dubious circumstances.