Episodes Nearest to February 3, 1839: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. A Happy Band of Slaves
    date February 3, 1839map TERRITORY, Territorytags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    An incident at the Wharf of Mr. McKinnie and Mr. Williams gave Frances Sheridan something to write critically about in his journal. Here he saw a settler arriving in Texas with a group of slaves. The large band of black enslaved men and women moved about without cares; they laughed and joke as they ate their biscuits. A man only identified as the entertainer of the group created comic relief when...

  2. Horrible experiences slaves endure in the 1800's
    date February 6, 1839map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Slavery, Slave Living Conditions

    The experience of slavery for men, women, and children was equally horrible. The amount of labor on the plantation farms was the same for both genders. The differences between the genders were the jobs appointed to them. Men were usually appointed jobs that included certain skill like carpentry and blacksmith. Women were usually working in the fields or as house servants. Accordening to Hallam, “For...

  3. 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.<br />He...

  4. North Carolina Quakers Fight Against Slavery
    date January 17, 1839map ROWAN, North Carolinatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The Society of Friends, otherwise known as the Quakers, of North Carolina submitted a petition to the United States Senate concerning their position on slavery. The Quakers completed this petition during their annual meeting in November of 1838. The petition stated, "we entreat you to legislate for the termination of slavery in this state." Nathan Mendenhall signed the petition, and Senator J....

  5. Potential for Profits
    date November 5, 1838map JEFFERSON, Floridatags Economy, Migration/Transportation

    Finally, Daniel Wiggins decided to take a chance. After numerous invitations from an old Annapolis, acquaintance, Thomas Randal, the wheelwright and millwright from Maryland made the trip south to assess Jefferson, Leon, and Gadsden counties for himself. Wiggins needed a boat, a train, and a horse carriage to complete the 900 mile journey from Annapolis to Belmont, Randall's plantation just...

  6. The Torture of Prisoners at Auburn
    date May 8, 1839map INDIAN LANDS, Alabamatags Crime/Violence, Government, Law

    Imprisonment at Auburn in Lee County, Alabama was literally torturous in 1839. On May 8, 1839, the Mobile Commercial Register published that a committee was investigating reports of certain cruelties towards prisoners. Upon surveying the prison, the committee confirmed that the prison keepers did in fact torture and whip the prisoners, so much that the doctors frequently had to visit to treat their...

  7. Family Influence on Religious Choices
    date May, 1839map GREENE, Georgiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education

    Walker I. Brookes wrote a letter to his father, Iveson Brookes, from his school in Penfield, Georgia in 1839. Walker was most likely a student of the relatively new Baptist institution, Mercer University. In his letter, he told his father of the large number of baptisms that had taken place recently. He reported that 13 boys at Mercer and 24 girls at the Penfield Female Academy, which was organized...

  8. The Value of the Extended Family
    date October 21, 1838map JASPER, Georgiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education, Migration/Transportation

    In 1838 Iveson Lewis Brookes received a letter from his cousin, P.B. (signed with only initials) informing him that his nephew, P.B.'s son, might be moving to Augusta, Georgia for a job. Augusta was near the plantation Iveson was managing for his son in Jasper and Jones counties. We can tell from the letter that Iveson and P.B. were not particularly involved in each others' lives because...

  9. Issued For the Forcible Removal of Missouri's Mormon Population.
    date October, 1838map JEFFERSON, Missouritags Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Migration/Transportation

    As a result of increasing tensions and violence between Missouri Mormons and other populations, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued a decree calling for their removal, and , if necessary , extermination. People charged the Mormons to be blasphemous, and suspected a Mormon plot to take over the country. When the state of Missouri failed to protect their settlements, Mormon leaders such as Sidney Rigdon...

  10. Growing Abolitionist Sentiment
    date June 15, 1839map FREDERICK, Marylandtags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    One subscriber of the African American newspaper The Colored American, from Frederick County, Maryland, confessed in a letter to the editor that he was probably making sacrifices in subscribing for your paper. Though he was taking a risk as a reader he also writes to inform the editors that the anti-slavery cause is rapidly gaining ground in this section of the country. The African American papers...

  11. Problems with Texas's Land Policy
    date 1839map TERRITORY, Territorytags Agriculture, Economy, Government, Law

    He strode up to Frances Sheridan looking utterly ridiculous. Dirty and unshaven, his tattered, mismatched clothes belied his purpose. Much to the surprise of Sheridan, this raggedy character, whom Sheridan took for a vagabond, tried to sell him land. The man took offense at Sheridan's disbelief, but continued to push the sale of his land. After further questioning, Sheridan learned that the...

  12. The Significance of Rhetoric in Antebellum America
    date 1839map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Rhetoric, Writing, African American Women, African American

    The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, held in Philadelphia May 1st through 3rd , 1839. This gathering was formed in such that African American women could come together and raise their voice for a cause that constantly rejected them. While slavery was still breaking the backs of black men and women in the South, Free Blacks in the North felt a duty and responsibility...

  13. Beale Recounts the Whaling Industry
    date 1839map Pacific, Outside UStags whaling, whaling industry

    The whale industry was a vital part of the American economy in the 19th century. Many able-bodied men risked their lives to bring back the precious oil tied up in the blubber and head case of the enormous beasts of the sea. Thomas Beale, a surgeon aboard a whaling vessel, spent many years observing the whaling industry first hand. He took care to document the anatomy and behavior of the whales themselves...

  14. Chevalier and Lowell: The American Prophecy
    date 1839map MIDDLESEX, Massachusettstags Chevalier, Industrial Revolution, women's rights, Lowell

    The machine once promised humanity greatness—or so the 19th-century train of thought went. “There is nothing in the physical order of things,” wrote Michel Chevalier, “of which our race has a better right to boast, than the mechanical inventions, by means of which man holds in check the irregular vigour, or brings forth the hidden energies, of nature. By the aid of mechanical...

  15. The African slave revolt on La Amistad, a slave ship embarking on a journey to bring valuables and salves to trade in the United States, emphasized teamwork when taking over the slave ship.
    date 1839map PROVIDENCE, Rhode Islandtags rebellion, Amistad, La Amistad, slave ship

    On July 2, 1839, fifty-two Africans took over La Amistad, a slave ship embarking on a journey to bring valuables and salves to trade in the United States, killing the captain, cook, and three of the crew members.  Two white passengers, Pedro Montes and Jose Rues, were kept alive in order to navigate the ship. The Africans that lead the revolt originally planned to steer the ship back to...

  16. Fredrick Douglass boards train for freedom
    date September 3, 1838map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    On September 3, future abolitionist Fredrick Douglass successfully impersonated a sailor and gained access to a train ride toward freedom. Unlike most slaves, Douglass was literate and could therefore taste the pleasures of freedom. This desire was also augmented by his location in the upper south. While such a position “eased some of the burdens of bondage,' it also increased one's...

  17. The Replacement Act
    date May 26, 1838 to December 4, 1838map LEON, Floridatags Replacement Act

    Native Americans were an ancestry that was brutally mistreated by our first settlers. They were considered to be barbarians but truly America's first settlers were the barbarians. The selfish acts of the "Indian removal act" are a disgrace to what our country now stands for. It was put into effect May 26, 1830 and was an agreement that all Native American tribes would be removed from their...

  18. Vestry Meeting in Bedford County, Virginia
    date July 27, 1839map BEDFORD, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity

    Religion permeated every aspect of nineteenth century life for many Southerners. The congregations of St. Stephan's Episcopal and Trinity Churches of Bedford County, Virginia were no different. In the minutes of St. Stephan's Episcopal and Trinity Churches' vestry meeting, the close bond between pastor and congregation was more than apparent. Although their pastor, Reverend Nicholas...

  19. Raising the Stakes in Southern Culture
    date August 12, 1839map NELSON, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure

    Gambling has played a significant role in southern culture since the colonial period and still is an important part of our society today. During the 1830s and 1840s in central Virginia, betting and gambling were indicators of social status within the community. Those who bet on card games and dice were seen a part of the wealthy class. They had much more money and therefore were able to toss it...

  20. Imposition of Colonization
    date August, 1839map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Law, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    At the passing of John R. Rix of Raleigh, NC, eighteen of his slaves were freed from bondage on the condition that they boarded a ship sailing from Norfolk, VA to the west coast of Africa. One of the eighteen took a stand against these terms, and was resold into slavery. The idea for the resettlement of blacks in Africa began as a way for whites to rid themselves of African American presence to...

  21. Yellow Fever Ravages the South
    date July 15, 1839 to September 30, 1839map MOBILE, Alabamatags Health/Death, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    A common problem in American history until the 20th Century, Yellow Fever raged in cities across America ranging from Philadelphia to New Orleans. In September of 1839 the Newbern Spectator of North Carolina reported the conditions in Mobile. The papers of Mobile gave notice that only a once-weekly publishing rate was achievable during the plague. Death tolls were high, by any standards, including...

  22. Snuff Dipping and Mint Juleps
    date July 13, 1838map WAKE, North Carolinatags Health/Death, Women

    Women must be ladies first, opined The Raleigh Register. In the event of tea this afternoon, there was a young woman partaking in activities that had attained epidemic proportions in the Raleigh city area: which is the disgusting, and vulgar act of snuff dipping. An activity that had previously been specific to males in the community, appeared to have caught on with women once thought of as respectable...

  23. A narrative of the adventures and escape from American Slavery of Moses Roper
    date 1838map LANCASTER, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Moses Roper was born in North Carolina, but after being sold several times, he ended up in South Carolina in Lancaster and also spent time in Cashaw County. Born a mulatto, he experienced both the advantages of being too white and also the disadvantages of being too black. For example, while slave traders attempted to sell him, he suffered because he was considered too white and spent time in horrible...

  24. Jonathan R. Davis Journey to Milledgeville, Georgia
    date 1838map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Arts/Leisure, Migration/Transportation

    Before leaving for Milledgeville, Georgia, Jonathan R. Davis of Gadsden, South Carolina had to do some calculations. While planning for his trip he took out his 1838 edition of Mitchell's Traveller's Guide through the United States. The brown three by five inch book contained the mileage for all common stagecoach routes in the country as well as information on the few established...

  25. Yellow Fever Responsible for Christian Miltenberger's Success in 19th Century New Orleans
    date 1838map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Health/Death, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Situated at the intersection of Royal and Dumaine Street in the heart of the New Orleans, the Miltenberger House still stands as a testimony to one immigrant's accumulation of wealth and to medical advancements in the South during the 19th century.

    Little was known about yellow fever, especially ways to prevent or treat this disease. Almost annually, it seemed, the Gulf Coast and in...