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  1. Debate over the Lecompton Constitution rages in Kansas.
    date September 7, 1857 to August 2, 1858map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Race-Relations, Slavery

    Kansas began the process of beginning to apply for statehood in late summer 1857. First, the citizens had to come up with and ratify a state constitution. Proslavery forces within the state drew up the so-called “Lecompton Constitution' at a convention which Free Soil parties boycotted. Indeed, at the Convention there was never any option to vote against slavery. The proslavery forces refused...

  2. Whig candidate Edward B. Dudley wins gubernatorial race in North Carolina
    date August, 1836map WAKE, North Carolinatags Economy

    Though the Whig Party was not strong enough to win a presidential election in 1836, in some states it was possible to elect Whig governors. In North Carolina, pleas from the western counties for internal improvements were going unheard by prosperous, mostly Democratic planters, who were overrepresented in the legislature. The Whig strategy, therefore, was to garner support by demanding state aid...

  3. A Peek at Things to Come: Whig Disunion
    date September 15, 1847map EAST BATON ROUG, Louisianatags Government, Politics

    The Whig convention, nicknamed the rough and ready convention after prominent Whig Old Rough and Ready General Zachary Taylor, failed to nominate a candidate for the Third Congressional District. The convention consisted of a declaration of the opposition of the members to all caucuses, and a resolve not to make a nomination for any one for Congress. Five people were appointed to a committee who were...

  4. Controversy Surrounding the Panic of 1837
    date February 14, 1838 to March 31, 1838map WARREN, Mississippitags Economy, Government, Law, Politics, Migration/Transportation

    John F. H. Claiborne, a Democrat from Natchez, Mississippi, was aghast to hear the news that rumors were circulating that he supported Henry Clay. He immediately wrote the Vicksburg Register a letter on February 14, 1838 to refute these claims. In his letter Claiborne enumerated the many ways that Clay had threatened the interests of his great state. He is the father of the tariff, Claiborne accused,...

  5. Jabez Jackson and Defense of Union
    date July 7, 1835map BALDWIN, Georgiatags Government, Law, Politics

    After the resignation of James M. Wayne from the United States House of Representatives, the Jacksonian Party of Georgia desired a strong unionist to represent the Milledgeville Congressional District in Congress. On July 6, 1835, a convention of Union Party delegates nominated Jabez Jackson to fill this void. Jabez Jackson himself wrote to the Central Committee of the Union Party of Milledgeville...

  6. Judge Magrath Tears His Robes
    date November 7, 1860map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Law, Politics

    A Charleston resident flipping through the Charleston News and Courier on November 7, 1860, to find the results of the presidential election the day before had to give more than a cursory glance to find what he was looking for. On a side column on the first page, stuck right in the middle of the results of several other individual states, the News and Courier mentioned, almost as an afterthought, The...

  7. President Martin Van Buren's Independent Treasury Sparks Controversy within the Democratic Party
    date December 12, 1840map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Economy, Government, Politics

    As the year of 1840 drew to an end, the residents of Albemarle County prayed that the new year would finally bring relief and economic stability to the nation still recovering from the Panic of 1837. President Martin Van Buren echoed these sentiments in his speech to the second session of the Twenty-sixth Congress concerning the general state of the nation. As almost half of the speech discussed...

  8. Henry Clay Makes Speech to Congress Concerning Abolition
    date February 7, 1839map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Race-Relations, Slavery

    A Whig senator from Kentucky, Henry Clay's speech was discussed throughout the nation during the year. He received much criticism and praise for his confrontation of abolition. Whig politics at the time were very two-sided, having to span the boundary between free states and slave states. His speech to congress in February of 1839 gave his views on abolitionists and their pursuit.He identified three...

  9. A Letter to Congress
    date June 23, 1842map JEFFERSON, Louisianatags Agriculture, Economy

    Several planters and sugar manufacturers from Jefferson Parish joined with citizens from parishes across the state of Louisiana in signing and sending a letter to the United States Congress pleading for increases in tariffs on imported sugar. Stating that the Tariff of 1832 had caused the agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing interests of Louisiana's sugar industry to become paralyzed, they said...

  10. The Brewing Political Atmosphere of the 1850s
    date May, 1856map HENRICO, Virginiatags Politics, Slavery, War

    In the weeks leading to the United States presidential election of 1856, the future of the union seemed to hinge on the issue of slavery. The Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser, a semi-weekly newspaper that was distributed throughout Richmond during the 1850s, published a series of articles expressing the southern Democrats' staunch opposition to federal interference in slavery. The articles captured...

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