Episodes Nearest to January 1, 1841 to December 31, 1841: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. The Mixed Congregation of St. John's Church in Ashwood
    date 1841map MAURY, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Race-Relations

    During the fall of 1841, the townspeople of Ashwood erected St. John's Episcopal Church halfway between Columbia and Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee. A Philadelphian man gave an in depth account of the church?s first service in a letter he wrote to the editor of The Guardian. As a northerner, he acted as an outside observer in this small southern town. He elaborately described the architecture, location,...

  2. From Freedom to Slavery
    date 1841map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Born and raised a freeman, Solomon Northup met a group of men in his hometown of Saratoga Springs one March day in 1841. They claimed to have heard of his propensity at the violin and requested to hire him to accompany their traveling circus performances. The pay was quite reasonable and Northup eagerly took on the job. He accompanied them the entire way down to Washington, D.C. without realizing...

  3. Western Artist
    date 1841map CHOCTAW, Mississippitags Indians, Indian Paintings

    Land hungry Americans who eyed rich, sparsely settled lands in the west and their attempt to bring civilization and self-governing establishments to Indian land became known as manifest destiny.  By the 1840s, the United States had become expansion-minded, and Americans began to believe they were destined to spread to the pacific.  During this westward expansion, the settlers devastated the Indian...

  4. The Religion of Slavery: Uncovering community supplanted by religion in ‘The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave.’
    date 1841map ST LOUIS, Missouritags Slavery, African American

    William Wells Brown’s narrative is not one of common consistency. He was unfortunate enough to be subjected to the harsh realities of chattel slavery through years of being rented out to various owners stretching from Missouri to Mississippi. A great deal of his time was spent aboard steamships, as a hand to take care of slaves or to wait on passengers. Wells recounts that after one particular...

  5. John J. Ambler Attends Liberty Mills Acadamy
    date June 18, 1841map ORANGE, Virginiatags Education

    During the 1840s in central Virginia, it was not uncommon for families to send their children away for schooling. Education was a very important aspect of the Old South and was exemplified in Virginia by the work of Thomas Jefferson. The University of Virginia was the South's most original contribution to education. Ever since its opening in 1825, the University attracted young men from all...

  6. Slavery, Prejudice and Goodwill – The Complicated Matter of Changing Attitudes
    date June, 1841map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Slavery, Anti-slavery, Abolition, Slave-trading

    Slave-trading was not fully unlawful in Baltimore by June of 1841, and slave-owning was still considered befitting to the community, particularly on the plantations.  Slave-dealing was conducted openly here.  While public attitudes were changing about the institution, the local Christian community seemed too complacent to push for change.  They instead attempted to show their pious and benevolent...

  7. Poisoning in the Hyde Family
    date July 21, 1841 to July 22, 1841map TERRITORY, Territorytags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations, Slavery, Women

    The entire Hyde family lay sick in bed and hoped that it was not their last hour. They had drunk their coffee and eaten breakfast as usual that morning, but began to feel ill soon afterwards. The shared pain made them wonder if someone had poisoned them. As it turned out, someone had slipped poisonous Jameson weed into their coffee. But who would do such a thing? That evening as the family recovered,...

  8. Threat of Slave Rebellion
    date July 24, 1841map WEST FELICIANA, Louisianatags African-Americans, Agriculture, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In a letter to his father John C. Burruss on July 24, 1841, John W. Burruss asked, ...do we not dwell in constant danger, are we not standing, rather [lying] down - sleeping on a smothered - not extinguished - volcano? John W. Burruss was expressing his fear of slave revolt, a fear he shared with many southern plantation owners. In his letter Burruss described a discovered slave revolt in West Felicia...

  9. Vomito Prieto of Key West
    date June 8, 1841map MONROE, Floridatags Health/Death, Government, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    The young sailor's eyes were yellow, his face flushed. He complained of pain in his head and extremities and writhed on the bed as his pulse and breath quickened. The disease came to him in the night on a vessel in the Key West Harbor. Dr. C.C. Dupre had no doubt it was the vomito prieto, the yellow fever of Cuba, and it was rapidly progressing to its fatal termination. Yellow fever had struck...

  10. Colonel William Jenkins Worth Takes Command of U.S. Forces in Second
    date June 1, 1841map ALCHUA, Floridatags Health/Death, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, War

    Once in command of American forces in the Second Seminole War, Colonel Worth instituted a change of strategy so successful that by April of 1842 only 300 Indians remained in Florida, his appointment truly was a tipping point in the Second Seminole War. His primary action was to remove hostiles in north Florida who lived nearby white settlements. He then maintained military operations through the...

  11. John Charles Fremont Explores the American West
    date May 2, 1841map ST LOUIS, Missouritags Migration/Transportation

    In 1841, Fremont, originally raised in Charleston, South Carolina, made the first of five major explorations of the American West. With financial assistance from his father-in-law, Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, Fremont embarked westward to explore the Oregon Trail. During this journey Fremont established and mapped a route through the Rocky Mountains from the Mississippi River to South...

  12. Agricultural Change in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
    date July 21, 1841 to October 15, 1841map BRISTOL, Massachusettstags Wheaton, accounting records, mid-nineteenth century, Agriculture

    Laban Morey Wheaton kept records of all his economic transactions while he lived in Norton, Massachusetts, in the mid-nineteenth century, and the year 1841 was no exception. Between July and October of this year, Wheaton made a number of transactions with a man, Sumner Blandin. Looking at the records reveals that Blandin came to Wheaton about once a week, usually to get cash instead of food or goods....

  13. Stolen Away: Slave Children
    date April 12, 1841map POWHATAN, Virginiatags African-Americans, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery, Women

    Beverly Randolph of Powhatan, Virginia carefully planned her last will and testament to divide equally her assets amongst her children. In the late 1830s, Mrs. Randolph divided ownership of several plantations and a considerable number of slaves in her will. The bulk of her slaves went to her son Charles, but Beverly spent extra time dividing slave children to her other designated heirs,...

  14. A chapter for young husbands
    date April 9, 1841map GREENVILLE, South Carolinatags Health/Death, Women

    A kind Providence arrests him by sickness. The editorial of the Greenville Mountaineer claimed that husbands do not spend enough time at home. By being sick, husbands were forced to spend time at home and witness the duties of their wives-a blessing in disguise the editorial claimed. After spending all their days away from their homes, only to return for meals, husbands begin to think that it is...

  15. The Alexandria Gazette Proclaims the Promise of the Mississippi Valley
    date March 30, 1841map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Agriculture, Economy, Migration/Transportation

    The March 30 edition of The Alexandria Gazette of the year 1841 included an article that would prove to be extremely insightful regarding the future of the America South. It opened with the lined “Valley of the Mississippi , The balance of political power in this country will soon become firmly fixed west of the Alleghany Mountains. The influx of population is so rapid and the fertility of...

  16. Dispute with Slave Trader
    date October, 1841map ADAMS, Mississippitags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In 1841, R. Ballard, a slave trader who owned property in Mississippi, brought a Federal suit against Henry Turner, claiming the Turner owed him 6,300 dollars. The bill was the remainder owed for forty-two slaves that Ballard had sold to Turner in 1835. Unfortunately for Ballard, Turner was quite unhappy with his purchase. He returned seven of the slaves to Ballard, declaring that they were either...

  17. The Changing Public Attitude towards Slavery
    date March 10, 1841map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Slavery, Anti-slavery, Abolition

    In the mid-19th century, the changes in the public mindset towards slavery had not yet been fully reinforced by law but the distaste with which other countries had viewed the institution for some time was clear.  Blatant racism was still plainly evident, yet the abolition movement was now growing and the public response to prejudice was now becoming very different.  After recent written...

  18. Supreme Court Decision on the Amistad Case
    date March 9, 1841map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story ruled that the Amistad Africans were free men and had never been enslaved under Spanish law. This ruling came two years after Africans on the ship Amistad staged a revolt, killing the ship's captain and cook and sailing north. They landed in New London, Ct and after being arrested their cause was embraced by the New England abolitionist movement. In their...

  19. Abolitionists Urged to Reunite Under Common Goal
    date February 19, 1841map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Gerrit Smith, Abolitionism, Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison, AASS, American Anti-Slavery Soc

    On February 19, 1841, abolitionist Gerrit Smith urged his fellow activists to reunite in their common cause after having split into two factions. He offered a “proposition for peace amongst ourselves.” He encouraged abolitionists of every persuasion to tolerate their differences so that they can employ “against their common foe the time and ammunition, which, for the last two years, they have...

  20. Lunsford Lane Denied Extension of Residency
    date November 3, 1840 to May 18, 1841map WAKE, North Carolinatags African-Americans, Government, Law, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery

    A free man must go. After three years of recommendations, petitions, and court proceedings, the Senate of the state of North Carolina denied Lunsford Lane extension on his residency in the state to allow more time to purchase his wife and seven children. Lunsford had been commended and allowed by his employer, the Governor of the State, to remain employed in the Governor's office keeping order,...

  21. Clement C. Clay's Fears for the Democratic Party
    date January 19, 1841map AUTAUGA, Alabamatags Government, Politics, Slavery

    Evidently, Clement Comer Clay had been driving Dixon Hall Lewis absolutely crazy. Clay, a U.S. senator from Alabama, was in a feeling of intense anxiety concerning the upcoming election of 1841. Lewis, an Alabama representative, was getting rather annoyed. At Clay's request, Lewis finally sat down to write a letter on January 18, 1841, to Benjamin Fitzpatrick, his brother-in-law and wealthy...

  22. William Lloyd Garrison writes the song "I am an abolitionist!"
    date January, 1841 to 1841map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Abolition, The Liberator

     

    “I am an Abolitionist!”

    In the mid nineteenth century abolitionists would assemble and sing songs to inspire their movement. William Lloyd Garrison, a famous abolitionist and activist wrote “Song of the Abolitionist”, set to the famous tune “Auld Lange Syne”.  The beginning of each verse starts with the emphatic phrase “ I am an Abolitionist!”, which is repeated...

  23. Going Once. Going Twice. Resold into Slavery
    date January 2, 1841map RAPPAHANNOCK, Virginiatags African-Americans, Law, Race-Relations, Slavery

    On the 26th of July 1840 the slave, Joe was thrown in the Rappahannock County jail, based on the charge that he was a runaway. Joe contested this charge, saying that his owner, Miss Jane Rust, of Page County died in March, and he assumed that he was a free man. Despite notices of Joe's capture, Sheriff French Strother was unable to prove the certainty behind his claim, because no one from...

  24. Failure of the Franklin Bank of Baltimore
    date January 1, 1841map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Economy

    It is only appropriate that on the first day of the year 1841 that a major American bank would fail. After the Panic of 1837 and the continual congressional debates on the issue of a national bank, this was an issue of strong national contention and extreme public distrust. Unrest was heightened when, on the first of January, the President and Directors of the Franklin bank of Baltimore announced...

  25. Impromptu Balls: They Could Have Danced All Night
    date January 7, 1842 to January 9, 1842map WEST FELICIANA, Louisianatags Arts/Leisure

    On January 7, 1842, Bennet Barrow went to town to get supplies in his Cab. When he left the cab, two friends, Amanda and Miss Crab of Tennessee, jumped in it and went off without Bonnets only to return one hour later from a nearby swamp. Amused, Barrow got in, turned the cab around, driving his friends to visit a Mrs. Wade. There he met up with six other friends. After piling his friends into two...