Passed for a second time by the House on March 3, 1847, but eventually rejected by the senate again. Despite its failure to pass, the Proviso raised serious constitutional and political questions as to the acceptability of slavery. The Wilmot Proviso, attached as an amendment to an appropriations bill, essentially aimed to prevent slavery from occurring in any territory ceded from Mexico after...
The white population of Culpeper County, Virginia was dismayed when their church services were inexcusably disrupted by the boisterous activities of some African Americans. As a petition to the State Legislature, drafted by a number of the county's white citizens in 1846, states, their worshipping services are of late so interrupted by drinking, particularly by Negroes on the Sabbath, that they...
Around 1846, the students of Centenary College decided to take a stand. Fifty-three of the pupils signed a petition for the removal of a professor from their institute of higher education. In adding their names to the list, the students accused Professor Jones of, participating in ... the shooting of the boys Unfortunately, the petition gave no further explanation of the alleged incident. However,...
As of May 2, 1847 the New Orleans Court Recorder reported that thousands of whites had been sentenced to the workhouse for acts of vagrancy. Often times the courts handed down these sentences without proof, trial, or opportunity to appeal. The fate of these vagrants represents a common occurrence throughout the South. Around this time period in South Carolina the leadership sold vagrants into...
By the summer of 1847, the Mexican War had been going on for just over a year. Newspapers kept citizens up to date with daily progress by their American troops south of the border, including lists of the casualties as well as those enlisting. New Orleans residents opened up their Times Picayunes the morning of July 8 to read a familiar notice, entitled Departure of Troops. It announced...
After reading through the Plantations letters and the excerpts provided by classmates I think that the overall theme is that monetary importance and gaining income is all that truly mattered. A few of the interpretations that I have read from classmates mention that they were surprised about the “care and compassion” that both supervisor Lewellyn and Mr. Cameron had toward the slaves. However,...
The factory eventually constructed by Smith along the canal played a key role in both stimulating the local economy and eventually in the Civil War. The canal and rail connections found in Augusta made it ideal for wartime industry like the production of gun powder. In fact the canal attracted such a broad array of war time industries during the Civil War that the citizens of Augusta began to...
As the Mexican War continued through 1847, Americans expressed a growing amount of opposition to a war that originally promised as an easy victory was growing into a drawn-out costly endeavor. In July 1847, former Whig Senator William Cabell Rives spoke at the University of Virginia against the war. He emphasized that the US had no right to “interfere with the institutions of other countries'...
Dr. Charles Meigs, an obstetrician and professor at Jefferson Medical College, became apprehensive as his four-month course on obstetrics and the diseases of women drew to an end. Although medical knowledge and information about the human body and disorders had grown extensively by 1847, the medical education system did not provide an adequate amount of time to cover the abundance of information....
On January 22 1847, a peculiar event took place at the Jonesborough hatter shop. On this occasion, whites and blacks of the town congregated for what was known as a Negro Party. Together, members of both races cast aside racial differences in order to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Every guest, despite their race, took part in the festivities which included feasting and dancing. The merriment...