Episodes Nearest to February 20, 1845: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. 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...

  2. 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...

  3. 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...

  4. E.W. Hubard Advises his Nephew on Gentlemanly Ways
    date February 9, 1845map BUCKINGHAM, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Education, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On February 9, 1845, E.W. Hubard of Washington, D.C. wrote a letter to his nephew, James L. Hubard, of Buckingham County, Virginia. James was a young man at the time, still in the formative stages of his life, and it appears that he and his uncle corresponded regularly about education, family life, and women in central and northern Virginia. E.W. began the letter by acknowledging his receipt of...

  5. 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....

  6. 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...

  7. The Louisiana Constitution of 1845
    date January 14, 1845map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Education, Race-Relations, Slavery

    By 1845, the public mind of Louisiana had decided that the state's current constitution, constructed in 1812, was too outmoded and contained too prominent elements of an aristocratic mindset. The Jacksonian idea of “equal ability of all' and the Democratic Party's characterization of the “common man' was pervasive, while the wealthy landowners and aristocrats still in...

  8. Runaway Slaves in Ohio
    date January 8, 1845map HAMILTON, Ohiotags Slavery, fugitive slave

    More often than not, Ohio citizens showed no signs of guilt for the part they played in helping fugitive slaves. A Cincinnati newspaper editor bristled at the suggestion that his fellow Ohioans had deliberately committed crimes. "We have seen no evidence of it," he wrote in 1845. "We are not aware that any of them entered the slave States for the sake of helping off slaves. Being in those states,...

  9. 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...

  10. 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...

  11. Massachusetts Judge Driven from South Carolina
    date November, 1844map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Economy, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The people of Charleston were not above standing up for what they believed in, even at the expense appearing rude and overzealous. Judge Samuel Hoar of Concord, Massachusetts, and his daughter, Elizabeth, traveled to Charleston in November of 1844. Their intentions were not known when the trip was announced; however, soon after they arrived, it became clear that the Massachusetts judge had come...

  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. 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...

  14. Dental Surgery in the 1840s
    date October 31, 1844map DINWIDDIE, Virginiatags Health/Death

    A dental surgeon by the name of Peter J. Cairnes placed an ad in The Republican convincing the readers of the merits of dental surgery. Dr. Cairnes urges the public to start taking care of their children's teeth starting anywhere between the ages of seven and nine. Dr. Cairnes also offered a reduced rate for any slave owner or tobacco factory owner whose slave was in need of a tooth extraction....

  15. 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...

  16. Van Buren for a Second Term
    date October 20, 1844map DINWIDDIE, Virginiatags Politics

    On the morning of Tuesday October 20, 1840, The American Statesman newspaper of Petersburg, Virginia ran an article on the merits of President Martin Van Buren, who was then running for a second term as President. The article openly endorsed Van Buren's candidacy for President to the newspaper's readership and the greater Petersburg community by refuting the claims of the popular...

  17. 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...

  18. 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...

  19. 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...

  20. 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...

  21. An Explosive Accident
    date October 3, 1844map ANNE ARUNDEL, Marylandtags Arts/Leisure, Economy

    During the early eighteenth century, the northern portion of the Anne Arundel County developed an economy not based on agriculture, but on iron ore. Iron ore became the staple of the area and was crucial in the development of a regional transportation center. The reliance on tobacco, Anne Arundel's traditional major cash crop, lessened through the nineteenth century allowing for blacksmithing...

  22. 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...

  23. The Romance of Love Letters between Albemarle and Richmond, Virginia
    date August 26, 1844 to October 30, 1844map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Migration/Transportation, Women

    During the late summer and fall of 1844, B. Johnson Barbour and Caroline H. Watson had little else on their minds than what the next post would bring as they anticipated November 7 - the day when they would finally be united as husband and wife. The distance that separated the young couple heightened their anticipation, for Caroline lived in Richmond while Barbour lived in the rural county of Albemarle,...

  24. 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...

  25. 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...