Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War colonial period in Virginia, slavery had been a part of the socioeconomic system of British North America and was recognized in the Thirteen Colonies at the time of the United States' Declaration of Independence (1776). Since then, events and statements by politicians and others brought forth differences, tensions and divisions between the people of the slave states of the Southern United States and the people of the free states of the Northern United States (including Western states) over the topics of slavery. The large underlying issue from which other issues developed was whether slavery should be retained and even expanded
Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire as a pretext for imperialism. In response, the U.S. imposed an oil embargo on Japan in August 1941 to stop aiding their aggression in Asia and to contain Japanese actions such as their war crimes in Nanking. Japan saw this as a hostile and provocative act, and retaliated with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the declarations of war on the US and the British Empire. Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire The declaration of war by the Empire of Japan on the United States and the British Empire was published on December 8,