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Episodes from "The United States: The Nation Divided, 1836-1876," Wheaton College (Fall 2008): 1 through 9 of 9

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  1. The U.S. Congress Creates the Department of the Interior
    date March 3, 1849map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Native-Americans, Government

    The idea of the formation of a U.S. Department of Interior laid in the back of the mind of the U.S. Congress since the ratification of the Constitution in 1789. However, in the months following the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the proposal reasserted itself as the federal government and its responsibilities expanded enormously. As a result, in the second session of the 30th Congress on...

  2. Liberation of Slaves and Colonization in Liberia in 1825
    date September 3, 1825map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Slavery, African-Americans

    In 1825, Christian groups and colonization societies in America advocated for freed African Americans to colonize land in Liberia as an alternative to emancipate slaves in America. Religious groups expressed their sentiments in publication including the Christian Register, which published an article in an issued dated September 3, 1825. The article argued for the transportation of slaves to their...

  3. Fire Destroys Wall Street
    date December 16, 1835 to December 17, 1835map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Urban Society, Urban-Life/Boosterism, Health/Death

    In the evening hours of Wednesday, December 16, 1835, smoke billowed above the downtown Manhattan skyline. At the time, no one knew exactly where the sparks had ignited and the fire begun, but by Thursday afternoon, the flames had engulfed approximately seventeen square blocks on and surrounding Wall Street. An article in the magazine The Albion indicated that by Thursday evening between 700 and 1000...

  4. Transportation of US Mail Between Baltimore and Philadelphia
    date 1825map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Government, Migration/Transportation

    On January 29th, 1825, Postmaster General John McLean wrote a letter to Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives, explaining the horrible traveling conditions that had to be endured to carry the mail between Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. McLean discussed the horrendous traveling circumstances during the winter and spring seasons when crossing the different rivers...

  5. Reverend L. D. Dewey Writes to Support Colonization
    date June, 1825 to 1825map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Slavery, Race Relations

    As the Reverend L. D. Dewey wrote to Reverend W. M'Kenney from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, he reflected upon his observations from the African colony he had just visited. The letter he produced in June 1825 portrayed sentiments expressed throughout the nation at the time on African colonization. He described the colony of Haiti in the most positive light, depicting the colony as a haven of liberties...

  6. A Fractured Cherokee Nation Fights Removal
    date December 29, 1835 to December 31, 1838map INDIAN LANDS, Georgiatags Native-Americans, Government

    The conflict over the lands of the Cherokee tribe (more commonly referred to as the Cherokee Nation) sat on the forefront of U.S. politics once the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830. However, when the Ridge Party, a breakaway pro-removal group of the Cherokee Nation, signed the Treaty of New Echota with U.S. treaty commissioners J.F. Schermerhorn and William Carroll on December...

  7. The Perfect Wife
    date April, 1837 to 1837map ALBANY, New Yorktags Women, Work

    "A knowledge of domestic duties is beyond price to a woman. Every one of our sex ought to know how to sew, and knit, and mend, and cook, and superintend a household." So began the article "Important Requisites in A Wife", published in the agricultural magazine The Cultivator, in April 1837. According to the author, a good wife considered her work her department, and did it when it needed to be done,...

  8. A Slave Sues for Freedom in Missouri
    date 1827map ST LOUIS, Missouritags Slavery, African-Americans, Law, Migration/Transportation

    In 1827, the editors of The Genius of Universal Emancipation published a portion of a letter "from a gentleman in Illinois to his friend in Philadelphia" that relates the story of a slave that was brought from Illinois to Missouri. The slave, "there having been treated with cruelty" was afterwards taken and sold in Louisiana. This slave then "found his way", in a manner unclear, back to St. Louis...

  9. A Missionary's View of the Choctaw Nation in 1825
    date February 15, 1825map INDIAN LANDS, Mississippitags Native-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity

    In February of 1825 the Western Recorder published an extract from a letter describing the current state of the Choctaw Indians. The missionary L.S. Williams wrote the letter in December of 1824 after having lived with the Choctaw for almost eight years. He wrote that the human nature he saw in the Choctaw nation was lower than any he had previously witnessed. He regarded the Indians as ignorant,...