Episodes Nearest to May 10, 1837: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Judge Douglas' Loss
    date May 10, 1837map ST JOHNS, Floridatags Economy, Law, Politics

    Three thousand five hundred dollars gone. In 1837, 3,500 dollars was a lot of money. Converting the sum to real 2005 terms, it would yield almost 69,000 dollars. The Panic of 1837 rendered every penny worthless. Judge Thomas Douglas of the Florida Supreme Court had been one of the wealthy class sponsoring the flurry of charters that brought unstable banks into existence, and now their failure meant...

  2. Sally Smith Pays Up
    date May 11, 1837map FAUQUIER, Virginiatags Health/Death, Law, Women

    James T. Ball and his wife Margaret P. Ball met Sally Smith at the Circuit Superior Court of Law in Fauquier County to settle the controversy over the will of Willis G. Smith, for which Sally Smith was administrator. The Balls did not think that they had been given the proper amount they had been bequeathed in the will. In the case, the court ruled that Sally Smith pay the Ball's nothing,...

  3. 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...

  4. College Life Before the Civil War
    date April 13, 1837map HENRICO, Virginiatags Education

    Without question, higher education in the antebellum South was a luxury reserved primarily for the wealthy. Only the rich sent their children to college, and even among the upper-class, a college education was not a prerequisite for success. Many wealthy Southern families considered a college education to be an extravagance or even a threat to a social order where social class and racial superiority...

  5. A Brush with Cannibals
    date June 12, 1837 to June 13, 1837map TERRITORY, Territorytags Government, Law, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Race-Relations, Women

    The trek by wagon train to Texas was one fraught with danger. Trail roads were rough, there were high rivers to cross, diseases to contend with, and of course the possibility of meeting up with Indians. Mary Maverick was making such a journey in the summer of 1837. She was traveling by wagon train from her home in Alabama to the new land of Texas. One day when her party was moving camp, 17 Tonkawa...

  6. Conversion from the Presbyterian Church to the Baptist Church
    date 1837map WILKINSON, Mississippitags Church/Religious-Activity, Slavery

    Unlike the Presbyterian or Episcopal Church, the Methodist Church in the 1830s did not require that its clergy be educated. In fact, education was sometimes frowned upon, particularly on the frontier where ministers rode around preaching to small communities. These ministers, called circuit riders, led a particularly dangerous life traveling through undeveloped areas. Because of the lifestyle of...

  7. The Alston-Ward Duel
    date 1837map LEON, Floridatags Crime/Violence

    At long last George T. Ward would have his satisfaction. Ward blamed his younger brother's death on Augustus Alston. Ward's anger had been building for months but soon he would have a chance to quench insatiable desire for revenge. The venue was none other than Tallahassee's unofficial dueling ground Houston's Hill. For Ward, Alston's actions disrespected his family and violated...

  8. Thomas Jefferson Randolph's Controversial Opportunity to Assist the Choctaw Indians
    date March 8, 1837 to March 14, 1837map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Government, Law, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Race-Relations

    When the mail arrived in Albemarle County on March 8, 1837, Thomas Jefferson Randolph may have been surprised to receive a letter from R. G. Nicholas informing him that he had been nominated and accepted as Com[missioner] for settling claims to reservations under the Choctaw Treaty. As a prominent gentleman from a well-established Virginian family, Randolph was a natural choice for the position...

  9. A Dissenting Voice
    date July 9, 1837map DUVAL, Floridatags Education, Politics, Women

    Unmarried and living on the La Grange plantation in northeast Florida, Ellen Brown could no longer tolerate her brother's inconsistencies on matrimony. Mannevillete Brown believed marriage to be an ultimatum-the great aim of women and last public act before retreating into domestic life. But Mannevillete also spoke of marrying for money, station, and power. How did he then reconcile his speech...

  10. A Dinner Invitation to President Andrew Jackson
    date February 28, 1837map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Government, Politics

    On February 28, 1837, almost a week before the inauguration of the new president Martin Van Buren, The Globe, a Washington D.C. newspaper, reflected upon the Presidency of Andrew Jackson and expressed the thanks of the nation for his service. The newspaper editors found a supreme example of gratitude in the people of Albemarle County who had recently appointed a committee to invite the...

  11. Northern Abolitionists Influence on Charleston
    date January 25, 1837map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Migration/Transportation, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    As the years passed, it seemed that more and more Americans became frustrated with the institution of slavery. But there were many in the South who dissented from this opinion, who held steadfast to the ideal that slavery was a just institution. E.W. Taylor was one of them. Taylor, who moved to Charleston from the North to become a slave owner, enjoyed the perks of ownership to the fullest extent....

  12. The Washington Globe, addressing different views
    date January 10, 1837map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Economy, Government, Law, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    One article had the headline, ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN D.C., the other article, CASH FOR 400 NEGROES, the year was 1837. On January 10, 1837, the issues of slavery and abolition were weighing heavy on the minds of many Americans. The House of Representatives had accepted petitions and memorials on January 9. One of those was from Representative Adams of Massachusetts. His petition was signed by one...

  13. Colonization Movement
    date December 19, 1836map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    On December 19, 1836, Philo, an anonymous member of the Norfolk community, tried to spur popular support for the resettlement of blacks in Africa. He called both Christians and patriots to rally for a cause truly worthy of the friends of the African race. This plan, he said, was consistent with individual rights and the peace, happiness, and prosperity, of the free coloured race ... [and] promises...

  14. Virginians Eye Texas
    date December 19, 1836map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags War

    It took nearly a month for news of the Battle of San Jacinto to reach the Norfolk newspapers. When it did, it was the main story of the day, labeled Important and Cheering News From Texas. Samuel Houston's Texan army had met with Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a battle and had routed their opponents. Although the Texans attacked with only six hundred men against Santa Anna's...

  15. Angelina Grimke and Her Secular Language of Rights
    date October 2, 1837map WORCESTER, Massachusettstags Angelina Grimke, Secularism, Anti-slavery, Religion, Women, women's rights

    In 1837, Angelina Grimke authored a series of letters to Catharine Beecher on the topic of the cultural roles of women as they relate to their social, economic, and political rights. One was reprinted in Women's Rights Emerges within the Antislavery Movement, 1830-1870 by Kathryn Sklar. In the letter retitled by Sklar as, “Human Rights Not Founded on Sex,” Grimke argues that...

  16. Martin Van Buren wins presidential election
    date November, 1836map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    Commonly referred to as the “Little Magician' of President Andrew Jackson, Van Buren was a Northern Democrat who did not own slaves. As such, his victory in the 1836 election was by no means inevitable; he was widely considered a compromising Yankee who could not be trusted to respect states' rights or slavery. Southern whites already felt greatly threatened by the perceived expansion...

  17. The Murder of Elijah Lovejoy
    date November 7, 1837map MADISON, Illinoistags Abolitionism, Elijah Lovejoy

     

    On November 7, 1837, Elijah Lovejoy sought to defend his new printing press from a proslavery mob. Lovejoy, a Presbyterian minister and editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Alton Observer, had already lost three other printing presses to such mobs. Lovejoy was set on keeping this one safe.

    Word of the printing press's delivery soon spread across the town of Alton, Illinois....

  18. The Macon Messenger refutes charge that Hugh White escorted a free black to the election polls.
    date October 18, 1836map BALDWIN, Georgiatags African-Americans, Slavery

    On October 18, 1836, two articles appeared in the Southern Recorder denying that Whig presidential candidate Hugh White “upon one occasion did actually walk to the Ballot Box, arm in arm with a free negro.' The accusation had been made against Judge White by Milledgeville's Standard of Union, and it was connected with the greater charge that White had “taken an active part in...

  19. Angelina Grimke's abolitionist Appeal is burned in Charleston
    date October, 1836map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Church/Religious-Activity, Slavery

    Angelina Grimke was born in 1805 to a prominent slaveholding family in Charleston, South Carolina. Her older sister, Emily, was also her godmother, and the two were very close. Both sisters grew to despise slavery. They moved to Philadelphia to join the Quaker Society of Friends and took up the abolitionist cause in the mid-1830s, eventually joining the American Anti-Slavery Society. In 1836,...

  20. Keeping the Family Together
    date December 3, 1837map CAMPBELL, Virginiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    "If you can't send all, pray be so good to send for me and my son Harrison," Matthew Watts wrote to his mistress Elizabeth Brown in December 1837. Owned by a wealthy family in Kentucky who sent him to Virginia for a brief period of time, Watts awaited the opportunity to return home with his son for over a year. During his time in Campbell County, he "lost" his wife and daughter...

  21. Jump Jim Crow
    date October 15, 1836map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Arts/Leisure, Race-Relations

    The performer Thomas Dartmouth Rice, the original Jim Crow, introduced new lines for the debut at the Surrey theatre in London in 1836. Rice, a New York native, was performing his highly successful "Jim Crow" act in London after its rave reviews from across the Atlantic. The caricature of "Jim Crow" was meant to represent a low class runaway slave who used cunning to reap the benefits of middleclass...

  22. A Desperate Plea to the Whigs of Virginia
    date October 6, 1836map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Economy, Government, Politics, Slavery

    The nomination of a candidate for president proved to be a trying issue in Augusta County in 1836. The South was weakened by growing factionalism. It was divided between Southern Democrats in favor of Martin Van Buren and Southern Whigs in favor of William H. Harrison. An anonymous Whig within the vicinity of Augusta County published an earnest appeal in the Staunton Spectator to his fellow Whigs...

  23. Sylvia, the Runaway Slave
    date September 30, 1836map CONECUH, Alabamatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Slavery, Women

    In 1836, Sylvia, about twenty years of age, of common size, very likely and almost black, was sold from her plantation in Conecuh County, Alabama to the plantation of Thomas L. Stark in Washington County. Perhaps she was separated from her husband. Perhaps she left behind a child. Whatever the circumstances, Sylvia decided to run away. After several months with no sign of Sylvia, her owner finally...

  24. Major Townsend's Letter
    date December 21, 1837map MOSQUITO, Floridatags Politics, Native-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    Major Edward Davis Townsend was in an alien land. He had made it a long way from his home in Boston to be a surveyor for the city of New Smyrna on Florida's frontier, and he missed all the pretty girls greatly. In a letter to his mother, Eliza Gerry, he described his new environment. He asked her to imagine to yourself me with my jacket off, covered with mosquitoes and sand flies, trampling...

  25. A Breach of Contract in Apprenticeship
    date January 10, 1838 to January 17, 1838map BERKELEY, Virginiatags Economy, Race-Relations

    When Robert Gregory, most likely a white man, entered into a contract with Michael Whissler, a young man most likely white, both thought they were getting a good deal. In return for Gregory giving Whissler six months of schooling, he would work for Gregory and learn the House Joiner's business. However, Whissler left town after one month. Then, on January 10, 1838, Robert Gregory ran an advertisement...