Episodes Nearest to December 22, 1829: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Fine for teaching African American to read is raised to 500 in Georgia
    date December 22, 1829map BALDWIN, Georgiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Education, Slavery

    In 1829, the fine for teaching an African-American (slave or free) was raised to the exorbitant sum of 500. This figure was far higher than in many other states (for example: 100-200 in North Carolina). This law applied to slave and free blacks. Even a father could be fined for teaching his own child to read. This law was influenced by the appearance of David Walker's Appeals to the Colored...

  2. The Foundation of Tennessee Colonization Society and the First Freed Slaves to Leave Tennessee
    date December, 1829map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In December 1829, Josiah F. Polk and Philip Lindsey created the Tennessee Colonization Society in Nashville. Polk and Lindsey's society was a branch of the American Colonization Society whose goal was to repatriate free slaves to Liberia in Africa. They started to try to convince free slaves to leave the United States as soon as the Society was created in 1829. If the slaves were not free, members...

  3. Sam Houston writes letter encouraging settlement of Texas
    date December 31, 1829tags Migration/Transportation

    In December of 1829, Houston had narrowly prevented the abolition of slavery in Texas. On September 15th (in honor of Mexican independence) President Guerrero had sent out a proclamation abolishing slavery throughout the Republic. The object of this was to check emigration from the US. At this time there were over 1000 slaves in Texas, so Houston obviously fought the application of this proclamation...

  4. An African Colony in Canada
    date January 1, 1830map CHARLES, Marylandtags African-Americans, Government, Race-Relations

    As early as 1816, Maryland and other Southern states pleaded with the federal government to procure a site for the colonization of free blacks. Within the next two decades the American Colonization Society formed chapters in Maryland and other Southern states. Many chapters of the American Colonization Society advocated the creation of Liberia, an area on the tip of Africa, as a homeland for freed...

  5. Frederick Douglass and his dream to escape
    date January 1, 1830map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags African-Americans, Slavery

    "I was only a slave; my wishes were nothing, and my happiness was the sport of my masters." During Frederick Douglass's life he experienced separation from his family, the death of both an old friend and his grandmother, and his escape from slavery. In his early twenties, Frederick Douglass was sent to Baltimore to serve a farmer named Captain Antony, but after Captain Anthony's death his...

  6. Tennessee Internal Improvements Bill
    date January 2, 1830map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On January 2, 1830, the state of Tennessee passed “an Act to establish a board of Internal Improvement, and set apart one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be appropriated to the improvement of the navigable rivers and other objects of Internal Improvement in (the) state,' as reported by the Knoxville Register on January 27, to be divided on various works across the state. Designed...

  7. Settlers and Slavery
    date January 2, 1830map TERRITORY, Territorytags African-Americans, Economy, Government, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The steamboat made it safely over the sand bar and arrived at the mouth of the Brazos River in Texas. Upon landing, William Hunter quickly composed a letter to his business associate James Perry to give tidings of his safe arrival. Hunter noted to Perry the presence of 30 Negroes on board and wrote of his plan to inquire of the owner, a settler from Alabama, about the means of their transport into...

  8. American Colonization of Texas
    date January 8, 1830tags Migration/Transportation

    What became the state of Texas was in 1830 still a part of the nation of Mexico. However, for many years Mexico had been encouraging U.S. citizens to emigrate and settle what to the Mexican government was its far away northern provinces -- provinces that were sparsely settled and thus perfect for the Americans. As the Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser reports on January 8, 1830, “the...

  9. Recolonization and the Free Black Controversy
    date January 14, 1830map FRANKLIN, Kentuckytags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Slavery

    The Census of 1830 reported that out of a total of population of 12,858,670 people, there were 2,009,050 enslaved and 319,576 free blacks. It is no wonder, therefore, that in what is still primarily a slave-based economy, especially in the South, Americans began to wonder what to do with this growing free black population. After all, how could formerly enslaved blacks fit into white society when...

  10. Report on the Louisville-Portland Canal
    date January 15, 1830map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On January 15, 1830, the Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser included a report “respecting the state and progress of this important work,' the Louisville-Portland Canal, and the specific methods and requirements of its construction. Finished later in 1830, the Canal, which stretches mostly through Kentucky, allowed steamboat travel to avoid the impassable Ohio River Falls and continue...

  11. Students Set Fires
    date November 26, 1829map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Education

    On November 26, 1829, Thomas Goode Tucker, a student at the University of Virginia, was alerted of a very dangerous situation on grounds. In a letter to his father, approximately a month later, he recounted how some students set fire to an outhouse. Tucker heard of the fire, and as soon as word reached him, he ran to the scene where a large group of people were gathered, almost all of them gasping...

  12. Senate Debate on the Tariff and the Proper Role of the Federal Government
    date January 18, 1830 to January 27, 1830map WASHINGTON, Marylandtags Economy

    When Senator Samuel Foot of Connecticut introduced a bill to limit the sale of Western lands to reduce tensions with Native-Americans and to slow the spread of slavery, he probably knowingly set off a fury among Southern land speculators and agriculturalists. This, in combination with the Tariff of 1828 -- which many Southerners saw as a direct assault on their well being -- was seen as a violation...

  13. Louisiana's Ripe Climate
    date November 18, 1829map FELICIANA, Louisianatags Economy

    In a letter to his friend Richard Harlan, John Audubon related the beauty of his surroundings in Louisiana. Audubon followed his passion and sailed up the Mississippi, intent to paint all the birds of North America. The land in Louisiana teemed with life and gave Audubon plenty of subjects to base his paintings off of. Audubon recognized the richness of the terrain in Louisiana, a feature that had...

  14. Murder and Runaways
    date January 30, 1830map EAST BATON ROUG, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Many slaves throughout the 1800's sought to escape bondage in any way they could, and though this usually resulted in them running away, occasionally they turned to a more extreme means of escape. The Baton Rouge Gazette reports on January 30, 1830, that “on Saturday night last about 10 o'clock Mr. John Whitten was killed by one of his own slaves, by a discharge from a musket loaded...

  15. Randolph-Macon College founded
    date February 3, 1830map MECKLENBURG, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education

    On January 1st, 1830, a bill was placed before the Virginia legislature ““to incorporate the Trustees of Randolph Macon College'' as reported by the Richmond Enquirer on February 4, 1830. Passed on February 3, the bill established a college at Boydton, Virginia, near the border with North Carolina. Though founded by Virginia Methodists, according to Randolph Macon's website...

  16. Richmond and Baltimore Union Line of Stages and Steamboats
    date October 20, 1829map HENRICO, Virginiatags Migration/Transportation

    The proprietors of the Richmond and Baltimore Union Line of Stages and Steamboats by Tappahannock placed a notice in the Richmond Enquirer in October of 1829 with the intent of informing the public of the on-going operation of their line of service. The posting boasted of the best of coaches and horses, the experienced drivers, and the best accommodations. Good roads and no nighttime land travel...

  17. Steamboat Explosion Rattles Legislation
    date February 24, 1830map SHELBY, Tennesseetags Agriculture, Economy, Government, Health/Death, Law, Migration/Transportation

    With a sound "resembling the discharge of a small piece of artillery" and "the rushing sound of steam, and the rattling of glass", the starboard boiler on the steamboat Helen McGregor exploded on February 24, 1830 on the Memphis waterfront. In The Mariner's Chronicle, one gentleman on board described the scene in the boiler room as a "complete wreck - a picture of destruction". He...

  18. South Carolina Jockey Club 1830 Race
    date February 23, 1830 to March 1, 1830map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    The advertisements started early in the year for the South Carolina Jockey Club's Annual Horse Race. News of the event was spread to New York and Virginia, as this was known to be one of the biggest social events of the season. The races lasted for several days, ending in a ball that topped all social events of the season and culminated in the election of the new slate of officers. The Charleston...

  19. Louden County addresses Virginia Convention of 1829-1830
    date October, 1829map LOUDOUN, Virginiatags Law

    In a broadside addressing the Memorialists and other members of the Virginia Reframing Convention of 1829, the “Memorial of the non-freeholders and freeholders of the county of Loudoun' beseeched the assembly to reframe or amend the constitution of Virginia so as to allow all free men the right to vote. The invoked images of their forefathers rising up to fight the injustice of taxation...

  20. Mounted Infantry Bill
    date March 13, 1830tags Crime/Violence, Economy, Race-Relations, War

    On March 23, 1830, Senator Thomas Benton of Missouri introduced what he called the Mounted Infantry Bill, calling for ten companies of cavalry to be recruited and used to patrol the Santa Fe Trail. The Trail, which was an overland trade route between St. Louis, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, was critical to the growing economy of Missouri. It had resulted in a tremendous amount of trade through...

  21. Racial Discrimination in Southern Irish Jokes
    date February 12, 1830 to April 16, 1830map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    Albemarle County's residents eagerly looked forward to the popular Miscellaneous Section of Charlottesville's weekly paper, The Virginia Advocate. In this segment readers found many lighthearted topics including a sequence of imaginary situations reflecting both the political and social atmosphere of the era. In addition to jokes about the fancies of women, the life of the theater,...

  22. Decreasing Cotton Prices and McDuffie's Forty Bale Theory
    date April 6, 1830map SUMTER, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy

    The early 1800's were an interesting time in the Southern economy, as cotton prices both boomed and then began to dip. By 1830, prices had bottomed out in at 9 cents per pound, and Southerners searching for the cause narrowed in on Federal tariffs, specifically the Tariff of 1828. Newspapers such as the Charleston Mercury on August 3 argued that the tariff resulted in the “annihilation...

  23. A Clash of Views over Indian Removal
    date August 12, 1829 to August 13, 1829map TALBOT, Marylandtags Government, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans

    The Republican Star and General Advertiser of Easton, Maryland published an article on August 12, 1829 regarding Indian removal. The Easton article responded to the essay written by William Penn published in The National Intelligencer of Washington on July 17, 1829. Penn's essay discussed the need to exterminate the Indians in order to allow for expansion into the West. The...

  24. Honor and Violence in Kentucky
    date May 7, 1830map BATH, Kentuckytags Crime/Violence, Law, Women

    Dr. Hood was dead wrong. Literally. A man named Owings had fought a Mr. Anderson over an issue of honor and had been stabbed in Bath County, Kentucky in 1830. The doctor had declared that Owings's situation was not life threatening, but this diagnosis proved incorrect as the stabbing victim soon passed away. Owings had asked for trouble. He insulted a woman of Anderson's household, so Anderson...

  25. Maysville Road Act
    date May 22, 1830map MASON, Kentuckytags Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    One of the most controversial Acts of its time, the Maysville Road act authorizing the purchase of 50,000 worth of stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Company, otherwise known as the National, or Cumberland, Road. To begin with, the road itself, or what was actually built of it, was a significant advance in construction technology. The four mile stretch that was constructed...