Indian
factory system is abolished, largely through pressure from white
traders. The factory system of trade was established to assure Indians
of fair prices, but proves too limiting for the overwhelming number
of whites eager to engage in this lucrative business.
President Monroe urges recognition of the newly independent
Latin American Republics. A congressional act provides for diplomatic
recognition of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, and
the Federation of Central American States.
The "Vesey
Slave Plot" is uncovered and suppressed in Charleston, South Carolina.
The plot, organized by Denmark Vesey,
an emancipated slave, involves a large group of African-American city
workers. The thirty-seven participants are executed.
1823
Arikara
Indians attack trader William
Ashley and his party. The Missouri River is briefly closed to white
traders and trappers.
President Monroe declares that any attempt by Europeans to
colonize the Americas or interfere with its internal affairs will be
interpreted as acts of aggression by the US. This
policy becomes known as the Monroe Doctrine§.
Maj. Stephen Long lead's a party that examines the sources
of the St. Peter's (now Minnesota) River, and fixes the point where
the national boundary crosses the Red River.
1824
The Bureau
of Indian Affairs is established.
The US and Russia sign a territorial treaty. Russia acknowledges
the 54 40 parallel as the southern limit of Russian territory and abandons
some of its claims to territory in the Northern Pacific region.
Henry Clay,
in a speech supporting the new tariff act, defines the "American system"
as a combination of protective tariffs and internal improvements calculated
to expand the national economy and make the US more independent.
William Ashley§,
a Missouri trader, opens a new overland route into western Wyoming,
personally piloting a bullboat down the unexplored Green River where
he establishes a post at Henry's Fork.
Jim Bridger, a mountainman,
encounters and charts the Great Salt Lake.
Texas is incorporated into the Mexican Federal Republic§. The State of
Texas-Coahuila
passes a colonization law§ permitting
the emigration of American settlers.
The Santa Fe trade has become so important to Missouri after
just three years that Sen. Thomas Hart Benton demands that a national
road be built over the trail.
1825
John
Quincy Adams is inaugurated§
as the sixth President of the United States.
William Ashely holds the first "Rendezvous"
at Henry's Fork in Wyoming. Because Indian hostilities in the West make
the permanent trading post system difficult to maintain, the more flexible
"Rendezvous" system brings the traders to the trappers in an annual
exchange of furs and pelts for supplies needed for the next trapping
season.
The Erie
Canal is officially opened at Buffalo, New York. With travel time
cut by a third and the cost of shipping freight to a tenth of previous
figures, this connection between the east coast and the Ohio and Mississippi
valleys enables large scale westward migration.
The Treaty of Prairie Du Chien§
establishes the boundaries of Indian lands in the Old Northwest, and
signals the official adoption of a "removal
policy" by the US government; this provides for the transfer
of Eastern Indians to the Trans-Mississippi regions.
Fort Vancouver is established
by Hudson's Bay Company of Great Britain on the Columbia River, solidifying
British control of the Oregon country.
President Monroe signs a bill authorizing $10,000 for surveying
and marking the Santa Fe Trail, and $20,000 to secure the rights of
passage from the Indians. The road is completed in 1827.
1826
Jedediah
Smith heads an exploratory expedition of fifteen men on the first
overland journey from the Great Salt Lake to California.
Joseph Henry begins his first experiments with electricity.
James
Fenimore Cooper publishes The Last of the Mohicans§,
a novel about American Indians and the effect of European colonization.
1827
The US and Great Britain renew their 1818 treaty on the joint
occupation of Oregon.
Fort
Leavenworth is constructed as a strong point for military units
patrolling the Santa Fe trade route.
The Creek
Indians cede all their remaining territory in the eastern US. This
area includes all their lands in Georgia.
The Cherokee
adopt a constitution patterned on that of the United States, but it
is nullified by the Georgia legislature.
The first state high school law is passed in Massachusetts,
calling for a tax-supported high school in every community of 500 families
or more.
1828
The Democratic Party, an extension of the Democratic-Republican
(Jeffersonian) party, is formed. It advocates the Jeffersonian principles
of personal liberties and attacks the concept of special privilege.
Andrew Jackson is swept to victory as President under the banner of
the Democratic Party.
The Tariff of Abominations, imposing excessively high duties
on imported raw materials, is passed. The issue underlying the measure
is the economic rivalry between the northern mercantile interests and
the southern agricultural economy.
The Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations is established
in Philadelphia, the first city trade council established in the US
Boston traders displace the British in the California hide
and tallow trade.
The
Cherokee Phoenix, a weekly newspaper, is published, using the alphabet
developed by Sequoyah.
1829
Andrew Jackson is inaugurated§
as the seventh President of the United States.
The "spoils
system," by which patronage is used for party purposes, is introduced
into national politics by President Jackson. At this time, the system
is intended as a Democratic device for allowing the common man a voice
in the government.
The American Society of Encouraging the Settlement
of the Oregon Territory is organized in Boston.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company of Pennsylvania builds
a railroad. Its British-built engine, the Stourbridge
Lion, makes its trial run at the amazing speed of ten miles per
hour.
President Jackson offers to purchase Texas from Mexico. The
offer is refused.
"Mike Fink, The Last of the Boatmen," first appears in print
in The Western Souvenir.
President Jackson gives
his first annual
message to Congress.
1830
map
(114K): Territorial Growth 1830.
President Jackson signs the Indian
Removal Act§
which calls for the general resettlement of Indians to lands west of
the Mississippi.
Jedediah Smith and William Sublette of the Rocky Mountain
Fur Company carry supplies in covered wagons from the Missouri River
to the Rocky Mountains along the Platte River Road for the annual rendezvous.
The Pre-emption Act of 1830 authorizes the purchase of up
to 160 acres of public land at a minimum price of $1.25 per acre by
persons who have cultivated the land within the preceding year. The
act makes payment out of the earnings from the homesteader's first year
crop possible.
A race to prove which is more powerful and reliable, the horse
or the steam locomotive, is run near Baltimore, Maryland, by Peter Cooper.
Cooper's little railroad engine, the Tom Thumb, loses the race
due to mechanical difficulties.
The first regular railroad service in America begins in South
Carolina, with engines built in America at West Point, New York.
Mexico forbids further colonization of Texas by US citizens.
Joseph Smith founds the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints (or "Mormon" Church).
Fifth Census§:
US Population - 12,866,000
President Jackson gives
his second annual
message to Congress.
1831
The US Supreme Court rules in Cherokee
Nation vs. Georgia§
that the Cherokee are not a "foreign nation" within the meaning of the
Constitution, but a "dependent nation." Between 1831 and 1839 the Five
Civilized Tribes of the Southeast are forcibly relocated to Indian Territory
(Oklahoma).
William Lloyd Garrison begins publication of The Liberator,
marking the beginning of an organized, nation-wide abolitionist movement.
Garrison states in the first edition: "I will not retreat a single inch,
and I will be heard!"
Nat Turner, a slave, leads an insurrection in Virginia during
which about fifty five whites and an unknown number of African-Americans
are killed. White fears are fed by the insurrection, and retribution
is carried out against slaves throughout the South.
Michael Faraday demonstrates electro-magnetic rotation and
discovers electro-magnetic induction.
Cyrus McCormick invents the mechanical reaper.
Boston charters three railroads; the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad
inaugurates service in New York State, and the Camden and Amboy Railroad
begins operation in New Jersey.
Capt. Benjamin Bonneville, on a "leave of absence" from the
US Army, follows secret orders to explore the Rockies to note the number
of warriors in each tribe and their methods of waging war. Bonneville
explores the West, including California, until 1834.
President Jackson gives
his third annual
message to Congress.
1832
Black Hawk attempts to recover ceded lands in Wisconsin and
Illinois Territories. The massacre of his Sauk and Fox tribe at the
mouth of the Bad Axe River by Illinois Militia led by Ben. Henry Atkinson
leads to his surrender.
The annual fur trade rendezvous is ended by the Battle of
Pierre's Hole. An all-day fight takes place with white trappers and
their Flathead and Nez Perce allies pitted against the Blackfoot people.
The first Asiatic cholera epidemic sweeps through the US.
New York City alone reports 2,251 deaths. During a twelve day period
in New Orleans, more than 6,000 perish.
George
Catlin, a pioneer American ethnologist, travels west to capture
the looks, customs and manners of American Indian people on canvas.
The Ann McKim, the first "clipper" ship, is launched
in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Hot Springs of Arkansas are set aside as federal property
for "future disposal" by President Jackson.
President Jackson gives
his fourth annual
message to Congress.
1833
Andrew Jackson is inaugurated§
for his second term.
The settlement of the Iowa country begins with the end of
the Black Hawk
War and the opening of the Black
Hawk purchase.
Joseph Walker, a Rocky Mountain Fur trader, leads an expedition
that climbs the Sierra Mountains from the east, and reaches Yosemite
Valley in Mexican Alta California. This crossing of the Sierras is thought
to be the first made by white men from the east.
Prince Maximillian of Wied-Neuwied journeys up the Missouri
River to study the American Indian people of the plains. He is accompanied
by Carl Bodmer, a twenty-seven year old Swiss artist.
Samuel Colt perfects a successful revolving
pistol.
President Jackson gives
his fifth annual
message to Congress.
1834
map
(414K): Sources of the Mississippi River 1834:
From The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Volume 4,
1834 to accompany "Narrative of an Expedition through the Upper Mississippi
to Itasca Lake, the actual Source of this River; embracing an Exploratory
Trip through the St. Croix and Burntwood (or Broule) Rivers; in 1832.
Under the direction of Henry R. Schoolcraft. New York. 1834."
Buffalo replaces beaver as the most profitable pelt in the
fur trade. Silk replaces beaver felt as the most fashionable hat material.
Fur baron John
Jacob Astor, anticipating a decline in the fur trade, sells out
his interests in the mountain trade.
Methodist
missionaries Daniel and Jason
Lee found the first mission and American settlement in the Oregon
Territory.
A convention of Texas settlers at San Felipe votes to separate
from Mexico.
The national Whig Party is formed in opposition to the policies
of Andrew Jackson, under the leadership of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay
and John C. Calhoun.
The Seminole Indians are ordered to leave Florida.
The English
poor law is overhauled, throwing thousands of people off relief
and into the overcrowded labour markets of the farms and the cities.
English emigration to the US is vastly increased.
President Jackson gives
his sixth annual
message to Congress.
1835
map
(833K): Exploration and settlement 1835-1850.
William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator, is
dragged through the streets of Boston and nearly killed by a mob enraged
at his tirades against slavery.
Reverend Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman are sent by
the Presbyterian-Congregational mission board to the Oregon Country
§ to establish
a mission among the Indian people there.
The Second
Seminole War begins in Florida. Seminole Indians refuse to be removed
from their land to an area west of the Mississippi River.
Samuel F. B. Morse§
invents the telegraph.
More than 200 US railway charters have been granted in 11
states, and more than 1,000 miles of track have opened for operation.
Henry M. Dodge and a party of US Dragoons
ride out along the established Platte
River Road to demonstrate the power of the United States to the
plains Indian people.
President Jackson gives
his seventh annual
message to Congress.
1836
A small band of Texas patriots gathers in an old mission in
San Antonio called The
Alamo. Their delaying action, in which every Texan defender
is put to death, enables mobilization of a Texas Army under Gen. Sam
Houston. Houston
defeats a Mexican army under Gen. Santa
Anna at the Battle of
San Jacinto. [umm, don't forget the battle cry, Remember
the Alamo!]
Texas declares itself an independent republic§.
Missionaries Marcus
Whitman and Henry H. Spaulding travel overland to Oregon with their
wives, the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains.
The Specie
Circular is issued, ordering Federal Land Agents to accept only
gold or silver for public lands sold; the sale of public lands falls
sharply.
The "Gag Rule" Resolution, tabling all anti-slavery petitions
and motions, is passed by the House of Representatives.
Wisconsin Territory is formed.
Arkansas is admitted as the twenty-fifth state in the Union.
President Jackson gives
his eighth annual
message to Congress.
1837
John
Van Buren is inaugurated§
as the eighth President of the United States.
Suspension of all specie payments by the banks of New York
precipitates the "Panic of 1837" during which 618 banks fail. A decade-long
financial depression begins.
Elijah P. Lovejoy, an anti-slavery newspaper editor, is attacked
and killed by a mob in his office in Alton, Illinois.
John Deere invents the "singing
plow." It is made of wrought iron and has a steel share that can
cut through sticky prairie soil without clogging.
The lumber industry begins operations in Minnesota and northern
Wisconsin; this new market for crops induces farmers to move westward
to timber country.
Michigan is admitted as the twenty-sixth state in the Union.
1838
President Van Buren issues a neutrality proclamation forbidding
Americans from taking sides in the Canadian revolt.
The Corps
of Topographical Engineers is established by Col. John James Abert
as a separate branch of the US Army to explore the continent.
Capt. Charles Wilkes of the US Navy sails an expedition
to the Pacific and the south Seas. Wilkes convinces the government
that the Columbia River harbour is useless, and that Puget
Sound is essential to US interests.
Over 14,000 Cherokee Indian people are forcibly relocated
to Indian Territory from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee along the "
Trail of Tears."
Iowa Territory is formed.
Alexis de Tocqueville publishes the first American edition
of Democracy in America.
1839
The last fur trade rendezvous is held at Fort Bonneville.
The business panic of 1837, the change in men's fashions from beaver
to silk top hats, and the exhaustion of the beaver supply has led to
the decline of trapping and trading.
The Mexican government imposes a $500 tax per wagon entering
Santa Fe. American traders counter by using bigger wagons. The St. Louis
built "Murphy wagon" carries 5 tons and has a rear wheel 7 feet in diameter.
Mormons found Nauvoo in Illinois, after being forced to leave
Missouri.
France becomes the first European nation to recognize Texan
independence.
Frenchman Louis J.M. Daguerre announces the invention of the
Daguerreotype, the world's first practical photographic process.
1800-1819 .
1820-1839 . 1840-1859 . 1860-1879
. 1880-1900
~~~ Responses Sought ~~~
Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.
| |
 |
George Santayana
The Life of Reason (1905) |
