Episodes Nearest to February 2, 1845 to February 2, 1846: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Memphis & Charleston Railroad Chartered in Tennessee
    date February 2, 1845 to February 2, 1846map SHELBY, Tennesseetags Economy, Migration/Transportation

    The Memphis & Charleston Railroad was chartered on February 2, marking the first rail route from inland Memphis, Tennessee east toward Charleston, South Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean. Although the railroad made little progress until into the 1850s, it was important for the region not only because it linked much of what was still a “frontier' state with the rest of the coastal South but...

  2. Death in a Maryland Penitentiary
    date July 21, 1845map DORCHESTER, Marylandtags Crime/Violence, Law

    The advent of the penitentiary in the nineteenth century brought about two distinct perspectives about the use of solitary confinement as a means of punishment in the antebellum south. Southern proponents of the penitentiary argued that solitary confinement, as according to the historian Edward Ayers constituted an essential view of an enlightened government. Opponents of the newly praised penitentiary...

  3. Charles Hudson Speaks Against the Annexation of Texas
    date January 20, 1845 to December 29, 1845map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Politics, Crime/Violence, Economy, Law, Slavery, Urban Life/Boosterism

    In the fierce debate over the annexation of Texas, Charles Hudson, took the floor of the House of Representatives in hopes of preventing the admission of Texas to the Union.  A Whig member of the House of Representatives, representing Massachusetts, as well as a Universalist minister, Hudson emphasized the selfish motives of the Southern advocates for annexation.

    The admission of Texas to...

  4. A Scientific American: The Legacy of Rufus Porter, Inventor
    date August 28, 1845map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Science/Technology, invention, Journalism

    Rufus Porter was a man of many talents.  Born in 1792 in Massachusetts but moving to Maine when he was nine, Porter was apprenticed to a shoemaker by his family, but he was far too restless for that kind of life.  After leaving home he played the fiddle, traveled to Hawaii, taught dancing school, had 15 children by two wives and became one of the most accomplished mural painters of his day. ...

  5. Jacob Enders Buries a Slave Child
    date 1845map FLUVANNA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Health/Death, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In 1845 Jacob Enders, an undertaker employed by Dr. Marcus B. Buck of Fluvanna County, Virginia, constructed a coffin, dug a grave, and buried an African American child for the total fee of two dollars and seventy-five cents. This receipt of service is included in a collection of other receipts and letters; a doctor's bill from one John Thomson, dated December 29, 1840 and a letter from Buck's...

  6. Lunsford Lane Finds Freedom
    date 1845map WAKE, North Carolinatags African-Americans, Government, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Lunsford Lane, a former slave, confidently declared in his autobiography, "I strove to keep self-possessed and employed in my mind day and night planning how I might be FREE." Lunsford Lane was born a slave in Raleigh, North Carolina and self-published an autobiography in 1845 recounting his experiences in slavery and his determination to buy his and his family's freedom. Lane was born and...

  7. The Other Side of The Slave Trade
    date 1845map ALCHUA, Floridatags Slave Trade, Slavery

    A letter from Geo B. Matthew to Lord Stanley in 1845 gives us a unique insight into the way in which the slave trade was operated. Matthew gives reports of ships with "Colored" crews that have been wrecked and the crews were sold into slavery. The letter also shows us a comparison between slaves in the United States, as compared to other parts in the world.

    As opposed to obtaining slaves...

  8. Marriage in Margaret Fuller's "Woman in the Nineteenth Century"
    date 1845map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Women, Urban Society

    During the nineteenth century, one female author stood out as a voice for women during a time when many were not acknowledged.  Margaret Fuller wrote “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” and spoke with a voice for every woman who lived during the nineteenth century.  In particular, Fuller had an especially critical view toward marriage.  She explained that the idea of marriage “has been inculcated...

  9. True American, the Emancipationist Newspaper, Founded
    date June, 1845map FAYETTE, Kentuckytags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In June of 1845, the True American abolitionist newspaper was founded. Its editor, Cassius Marcellus Clay, was an outspoken abolitionist from the South (a Whig from Kentucky). His arguments against slavery usually were primarily economic in nature, thus appealing to the self-interests of farmers and small slaveholders that, at the time, were feeling the effects of severe economic depression...

  10. Death of Former President Andrew Jackson
    date June 8, 1845map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Health/Death, Race-Relations, War

    Andrew Jackson, otherwise known as “Old Hickory' and a “man of the people', was the 7th President of the United States, and the first to hail from a state other than Virginia or Massachusetts. Born in a backwoods area in the Carolinas, Jackson served during the American Revolution and eventually ended up as a lawyer in Tennessee. His later distinguished military career included...

  11. Mr. Vermillion got between me and my freedom, so I killed him.
    date October 7, 1845map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The inhumane murder of James T. Vermillion by a runaway slave sparked a manhunt in Fairfax County. The slave, owned by Mr. William Brawner of Prince William County, had not gotten very far when Mr. Vermillion caught him near his house, Pleasant Valley, in Fairfax County. Upon apprehending the runaway, Mr. Vermillion was going to take him to the magistrate for a proper conviction and return to his...

  12. Frederick Douglass Publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
    date May 28, 1845map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Education, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) grew up as a slave on a plantation in Maryland; he was the son of a white man. After 20 years of living in the horrible, violent conditions of the institution of slavery, Douglass escaped to the North. He became educated and one of the most prominent and outspoken abolitionists. This book is a narration of his life, with a preface written by another strong abolitionist,...

  13. Southern Baptist Convention Formed by 293 Representatives of Churches in the Southeastern U.S.
    date May 8, 1845 to May 12, 1845map RICHMOND, Georgiatags Agriculture, Church/Religious-Activity, Education, Slavery

    In 1845, a group of Southern Baptists broke away from the Triennial Convention and the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) due to differences on the slavery issue. This particular group of Southern Baptists did not oppose slavery, as the Triennial Convention and the ABHMS had begun to do. The Baptist Board, situated in Boston, in November of 1844, adopted certain resolutions, one of...

  14. A Street Affair in Richmond
    date October 29, 1845map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Crime/Violence

    T.C. Reynolds of Richmond, Virginia had a penchant for being hotheaded at times.Reynolds claimed that Barksdale committed an affront against him through a public insult, thereby forcing his hand to violence in order to restore his own honor.Reynolds went so far as to take out a broadside in the newspaper in order to publicly clarify his grievances, namely, that Barksdale had avoided receiving written...

  15. In the Clutches of Slavery
    date April 10, 1845map NASSAU, Floridatags florida slave history, triangle slave trade

    In the Clutches of Slavery

    As time went on and the distribution of slaves increased it became much easier to buy slaves. The fact that labor could be bought for pennies was perfect for land owners in the New World. There were many ways that people could buy and sell their slaves. For many, purchases came right from the ships, these ships were coming up from the Caribbean. The process of slavery...

  16. A Relaxing Trip down the Bayou
    date March 22, 1845map JEFFERSON, Louisianatags Arts/Leisure, Migration/Transportation, Slavery

    Lisa Rhinelander and her brother George, of New Orleans, were traveling along with some friends to a house party at a plantation on the Barataria Canal. They first traveled by railroad, then steamboat, until arriving at a point twenty miles down the river from the home they were to visit. It looked as though they had a long row ahead f them. But it turned out that their host had sent slaves to pull...

  17. Augusta, Georgia City Council Officially Endorses Henry Cumming's Proposal to Build the Augusta Canal
    date March 15, 1845map RICHMOND, Georgiatags Economy, War

    During the 1840s, Augusta, Georgia and the whole South were affected when cotton prices fell, causing an economic depression. In response, Henry Cumming conceived, promoted, and oversaw construction of the Augusta Canal, which rescued Augusta from this depression. The aim of the canal was to provide drinking water to the city, power to factories, and a new means of transportation on canal craft....

  18. Reconciling the Peculiar Institution
    date December 26, 1845map JONES, Georgiatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In December of 1845, Reverend T.M. Wilkes wrote a letter to Reverend Iveson Lewis Brookes proposing that funds be raised to secure a new Baptist missionary to preach in Jones County, Georgia. Brookes was asked to continue paying 100 to sustain the preaching activities at his Jasper County plantation and to give an additional 100 to secure the second missionary. Wilkes, also a reverend, assured Brookes...

  19. A Northerner in Norfolk
    date January 1, 1846map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags Economy, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    When one moves from Brooklyn, New York to Norfolk, Virginia during the mid-nineteenth century, culture shock is to be expected. Clement D. Newman experienced this effect when he made this relocation in 1845. Newman recounts the social life of his new town to his father in a letter dated January 1, 1846. Though Newman surely liked the town of Norfolk, he admitted that the manners and customs are...

  20. Florida Admitted as the 27th State
    date March 3, 1845map LEON, Floridatags Race-Relations, Slavery

    The presidential approval of Florida's entering the Union as a (slave) state occurred on the last day of Tyler's administration. The news reached Tallahassee five days later, and Governor Branch was officially notified ten days later. Tallahassee was filled with raucous celebration, including ringing bells, cannon reports, bonfires, and general merriment. The governor held a large reception...

  21. Influential Use of the Phrase “Manifest Destiny'
    date February 27, 1845map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    The phrase manifest destiny originated in 1844 with a journalist in New York named John O'Sullivan in his magazine called the Democratic Review, in reference to the annexation of Texas. Manifest destiny is the idea that it was God's will that the United States expand throughout the whole of the continent (though not by force) to spread liberty and democracy. O'Sullivan's...

  22. Slaves Wanted for Work in Coal Pits of Midlothian, Virginia
    date January 13, 1846map CHESTERFIELD, Virginiatags African-Americans, Slavery

    An article in the Richmond Whig calling for “coal pit hands' who would work for the coming year was published on January 13. The Midlothian Coal Mining Co. was seeking “able-bodied, healthy, well-disposed Negro men' who would work in their coal mines, and the company would pay the masters who hired these men out as well as giving the slaves an opportunity to earn their own money....

  23. Mississippi Congressman Calls for the Annexation of Texas
    date February 20, 1845map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy, Government, Law, Migration/Transportation

    In 1845, the national debate over the annexation of the young country of Texas into the Union was in full swing. Politicians stood on either side of the debate, effectively representing their constituents in the matter. John Henderson, a Congressman from Mississippi, gave a speech to Congress on February 20, 1845, in which he outlined all of the reasons why the Union should annex Texas. As Congress...

  24. Address to an Edgecombe Patriot
    date January 18, 1846map EDGECOMBE, North Carolinatags Politics, Migration/Transportation, War, Women

    On January 18th, 1846, the ladies of Edgecombe county held a ceremony to honor the volunteers of the Mexican-American War. Ever since the blood of American soldiers had been shed in Texas, the call of patriotism compelled many Americans towards war. In Edgecombe, patriotic banners and speeches had been prepared for the men who would soon be off for Mexico. Present at the ceremony was a renowned...

  25. Martin, A Slave Boy:  A Story of Ellis Gray Loring and Caroline Weston
    date January 18, 1846map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Female Aboltionists, Slave, William Lloyd Garrison, Abolishment of Slavery, Women

    On January 18, 1846, Ellis Gray Loring wrote a letter to female abolitionist Caroline Weston, pertaining to a slave boy, Martin. Ellis Gray Loring was born on April 14, 1803. After passing the Bar, Loring became a lawyer for the poor and those oppressed of their rights. In January of 1832, Loring was part of the founding of the New England Anti-­-Slavery Society in the African Baptist church in...