Episodes Nearest to January 17, 1843: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Senator Lewis F. Linn and the Environmental Movement
    date January 17, 1843map ST LOUIS, Missouritags Economy, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Regarded by his contemporaries as one of the first mercantile environmentalists, Missouri Senator Lewis Linn attracted much attention during his life. As a doctor early in his life, Linn had seen thousands of cases of dysentery, malaria and other diseases that resulted from life along the Mississippi river. In low-water seasons, the outbreak of diseases increased as blockages in the river forced...

  2. Singleton Mercer's Murder of Mahlon Heberton
    date February 6, 1843 to February 10, 1843map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Singleton Mercer, Sarah Mercer, The Monks of Monk Hall, George Lippard, The Quaker City, Mahlon Heberton, William Warren

    Singleton Mercer was the face of a sensationalized American news story that took place in Philadelphia. Singleton’s sister, Sarah, was lured to a brothel by Mahlon Heberton, and then raped at gunpoint. When his 16-year-old sister was raped by 24-year-old Heberton, who had promised her marriage before casting her off, Singleton Mercer first attempted to kill Sarah, and then killed Heberton, on...

  3. Eugene Davis' Appeal for Temperance
    date October 23, 1842 to 1842map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Politics, Women

    On October 23, 1842, Eugene Davis wrote a draft of a speech advocating temperance in Albemarle County. While in the North many cities had embraced the temperance movement, in the South, country counties like Albemarle led the way for social and moral reform. Evangelical congregations and women in particular expected the temperance movement to solve common social vices and fashion a society rooted...

  4. The Murder and Trial of Singleton Mercer
    date February 10, 1843 to April 14, 1843map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Insanity Defense, George Lippard, Singleton Mercer, Heberton, Sarah Mercer, John Finch, The Monks of Monk Hall, The Quaker City, Murder, Philadelphia

    On 10 February 1843 Singleton Mercer shot and killed Mahlon Hutchinson Heberton aboard the ferry John Finch. Public sympathy for Mercer was high and just over a month later, on 28 March, Mercer was acquitted of the charges on the grounds of insanity— a relatively new and controversial defense. The defense was controversial because the murder was one of revenge. Heberton, often described as handsome...

  5. Poor Whites in the Low Country
    date March 31, 1843map GEORGETOWN, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    Edmund Ruffin, a Virginian planter, was constantly observing his surroundings as he journeyed from the Santee River to the Waccamaw River. Making his way through a swampy pine barren, Ruffin found little trace of any cultivation or civilized inhabitation. The few people in the area raised cattle and, since their animals grazed on the open land, the concept of property ownership was completely foreign...

  6. Inheriting Property
    date September 22, 1842map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    By the 1840s, it was clear to most Americans that the United States existed on a fair bit of land. This vast space stretched westward, father than many imaginations even reached. Word trickled back east of rich soil and bountiful harvests, but also of great hardships. Thousands of Native Americans perished on the over 2000 mile long Trail of Tears in 1838.

    It was in this context that O.G....

  7. The Loss of a Steamboat
    date September, 1842map ADAMS, Mississippitags Agriculture, Economy, Migration/Transportation

    In September 1842, the Vicksburg, a steamboat, was headed for New Orleans. On board were 145 bales of John A. Quitman's cotton. However, only 17 of the bales actually reached New Orleans as expected. The Vicksburg had an accident, and one hundred and twenty eight of Quitman's bales were unaccounted for. An accident such as this would have been very bad news for any southern...

  8. “Few of you are wise enough, and good enough to be trusted with liberty.”
    date September 11, 1842map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Abolitionism, african americans, Religion

    Upon entering the vibrant city of Georgetown and embarking upon a new career path as a teacher, Miss Caroline Healey Dall found herself at once confronted with questions she relied upon her religious convictions to answer. In her diary, Caroline documented her day-to-day life and travels, as well as her dreams, passions, and concerns.   After the Panic of 1837 left her father bankrupt, Caroline...

  9. The Attempted Murder of William Goyens
    date August 27, 1842 to August 28, 1842map TERRITORY, Territorytags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    There was a knock on the door of Adolphus Sterne's office. The townsmen that entered requested that Sterne issue a warrant for the arrest of William Simons. They informed Sterne that Simons had tried to kill a free African American blacksmith named William Goyens. Sterne did as the men asked and then did not hear about Goyens or Simons for the rest of the evening. The next day Sterne learned...

  10. White Interference with the Slave System
    date August 19, 1842map CLARKE, Georgiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In August 1842, J. H. Arnold of Walton County, Georgia placed an announcement in the Athens Southern Banner offering a 50 reward to anyone who found his runaway slave. In most ways this ad was like any other runaway slave reward announcements. It reflected the basic ideology of slavery that the slave was property that rightfully belonged to its owner and should be returned if found. In this particular...

  11. The Successful Georgia Whig Convention of 1843
    date June 19, 1843 to June 20, 1843map BALDWIN, Georgiatags Government, Politics

    Georgia Whig leaders were ready for a fresh start when they convened at the state capitol in June of 1843. The purpose of this convention-the largest body of the kind which has ever been held in Georgia - was to nominate Whig Party candidates for Congress, a candidate for the 1844 Georgia gubernatorial race, and delegates to represent the Georgia Whig Party at the 1844 Whig National Convention in...

  12. Professor Morse's Electric Telegraph - A review of the operation of the technology as well as the impact it had on the control and difusion of information.
    date August, 1842map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Telecommunication, Telegraph, Diffusion of Information

    Alfred Vail waited for the message to arrive on the wire. His superior, Mr. Morse, had prepared the paper, and was about to send the message from the Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

    The demonstration that was about to be undertaken was one that would introduce to America the ability to send a message via the new electrical telegraph. In August 1842, the Tribune described the operation...

  13. 1843 Milledgeville Tax Ordinance Burdens Blacks
    date 1843map BALDWIN, Georgiatags African-Americans, Economy, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In August of 1843, the city of Milledgeville, GA published an ordinance announcing new tax rates that had been issued for the purpose of extinguishing the indebtedness incurred during past years. Taxable property included land, houses, stock, inventory, modes of transportation, entertainers, and luxury items, but the list also included various classes of people. White men, free black men and women,...

  14. Easy Money in the Slave Trade
    date 1843map JACKSON, Mississippitags African-Americans, Economy, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Nicholas Kinney, of Miller's Bend, Mississippi, was in a bind. His cotton crop had failed and his debts were quickly mounting. In an 1843 letter to his brother, who lived in Staunton, Virginia, Kinney proposed multiple methods to earn some quick money to satisfy his debtors. The most promising option was to begin actively engaging in the slave trade. Young healthy slaves could...

  15. Song of the Abolitionist
    date 1843map PLYMOUTH, Massachusettstags American Anti-Slavery Soc, William Lloyd Garrison, Abolitionism

    Hingham, Massachusetts was a hotspot of abolitionist activity.  The town’s anti-slavery society held a large regional celebration of British emancipation in 1844. This celebration marked the tenth anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British holdings of the West Indies. Many anti-slavery advocates held annual celebrations throughout the region.   Jarius Lincoln held the position of...

  16. Slaves Drown While Fishing
    date August 1, 1842map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On a blustery summer day, August 1, 1842, a fishing boat in which five slaves were traveling was swamped and capsized. Because of the nature of the gale that had blown ashore that blustery Charleston day, all five were presumed dead. The slaves were: Jefferson and George, property of Mr. J. Jeannerett, Ned of Mr. Mellichamp, William of Mrs. C. Macbeth, and a slave boy, Issac, of Mrs. Hughes. Although...

  17. Methodist Split
    date January 7, 1843 to January 7, 1844map MACON, Georgiatags Church/Religious-Activity

    The Methodist Episcopal Church was founded by John Wesley in 1784, during which time it was opposed to slavery. Later in the 19th century the church weakened its position on slavery, although clergy were still expected not to own slaves. It was only when a southern bishop marries a woman who owned slaves, thus becoming a slave owner himself, that conflict arouse. During a general conference in 1844,...

  18. Improving Schools in Augusta County, Virginia
    date July 28, 1842map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Education, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Pride was the driving force of Augusta County, Virginia- pride and patriotism not only for the country, but for the county as well. Augustan citizens therefore became quite disgruntled when one of the adjoining counties earned the venerable title, Athens of the Valley due to the assiduous efforts it made to improve its county's schools. One agitated Augusta resident in particular took it upon...

  19. Charles Dickens and the Women of Lowell, Massachusetts
    date 1842map MIDDLESEX, Massachusettstags Industrial Revolution, Cotton Mills, Charles Dickens, Lowell, women's rights

    He said he wasn’t going to compare the textile factories at Lowell, Massachusetts, to the ones in his home country of England, but how could he not? After all, Charles Dickens would make it his life’s work to critique the deplorable working conditions that his fellow countrymen had to suffer through on a daily basis. “The contrast would be a strong one,” Dickens wrote in comparing Lowell...

  20. The Supreme Court Takes a Stance on Fugitive Slavery and States Rights
    date 1842map YORK, Pennsylvaniatags Prigg v Pennsylvania, federal power, state rights, Fugitive Slave Act, Civil War

    In 1837, attorney Edward Prigg was commissioned on behalf of Margaret Ashmore to recapture and bring Margaret Morgan from Pennsylvania back to Maryland. Morgan had lived in virtual freedom, but was never formally emancipated by the Ashmore family. In accordance with Pennsylvania’s Law of 1826, Prigg took Morgan before a county justice for a hearing at which the justice declined cognizance of the...

  21. 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,...

  22. Southern Living and the Almanac
    date August 19, 1843map HENRICO, Virginiatags Agriculture, Arts/Leisure

    Literature in the antebellum South came in many forms. If a farmer, city-dweller or plantation owner wanted a little light reading, for example, they could always crack open a book or leaf through the local newspaper. Printing in the years leading up to the Civil War was more advanced than ever, and as a result, printed material began to blanket every corner of the United States.

    Even with...

  23. Samuel Whitall's Correspondence with Mr. J. A. Washington
    date June 16, 1842map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Health/Death, Women

    Samuel Whitall was the overseer on the Mt. Vernon plantation, owned by the brother of President George Washington, Master John Augustine Washington. Mr. Whitall lived on a portion of the plantation known as Union Farm, and had daily correspondence with Master Washington about the state of the plantation. This included anything from daily proceedings, like crop production, to more serious matters,...

  24. A Father's Last Wish
    date September 7, 1843map ESSEX, Virginiatags Law, Women

    A formal and standard law of wills was vital to the American property system and was fundamental for the transfer of assets. Most landowning men wrote wills in the antebellum South that described the distribution of property within members of ones immediate family and organized the preferred maintenance of ones estate after death.

    William Oliver, a native of Essex County, handwrote his...

  25. Gopher John
    date April 18, 1842map HILLSBOROUGH, Floridatags African-Americans, Native-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    Officially, Gopher John was Major General McCall's interpreter, but during those long and informal nights on the Florida frontier, John was also his cook and friend. He was someone to talk to, and he cooked a yellow perch dish that really would have done honor to your cuisine at home. McCall and John were deep in the Florida wilderness, surrounding a fire in Wahoo Swamp, and the Major General...