Episodes Nearest to October 1, 1849: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Mississippi Convention
    date October 1, 1849map JACKSON, Mississippitags Law

    Many southern leaders, in particular the radical senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, felt the need for the South to unite in order to address the issue of slavery in the new territories. To that end, a by-partisan convention was held in Jackson Mississippi, the first day of October, 1849. <br />The convention called on slaveholders to migrate southwest, increasing their voice in the...

  2. California applies for statehood as a free state
    date October 18, 1849map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Law

    After the Missouri Compromise in 1820, the battle over the issue of slavery in the emerging western territories was largely settled, as equal number of slave and non-slave states were added to the union. However, the issue was re-energized on February 2nd 1848, when Mexico ceded the territories of California and New Mexico to the United States. <br />At that point, the number of slave and...

  3. The Ball continues in motion
    date September 1, 1849map PICKENS, South Carolinatags Government, Politics

    Controversy surrounding the Wilmot Proviso built up in 1848 and 1849. A Southern paper, the Keowee Courier, denounced the Proviso and called it unconstitutional and against the spirit of the union. However, according to the paper, Northern Democrats were beginning to unite against the proviso. It will be a glorious day for the Republic when the people of the States determine to unite upon...

  4. The Account of a Slave Trader
    date November 15, 1849map HENRICO, Virginiatags Race-Relations, Slavery

    As its economy flourished with rapid growth in the iron industry, Richmond developed into one of the largest producers of tobacco and flour, not only in the United States, but the world. In a time when the slave trade provided a solution to America's desire for cheap labor, Richmond became a hub for exchange facilitation. The extension of new railroads into surrounding areas created a sense...

  5. President Zachary Taylor addresses Cuban Filibuster Activity
    date August 11, 1849map JACKSON, Mississippitags War

    At the midpoint of the nineteenth century, several attempts by Cuban separatists, most notably Venezuelan native Narciso Lopez, to rid Cuba of Spanish rule caught national and international attention, though none were so public as the first during the summer of 1849. The first attempt for a Cuban filibuster invasion was openly advertised throughout the US; in New York, Baltimore, Boston and New...

  6. The Single Inaugural Address of President Zachary Taylor
    date December 4, 1849map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Compromise of 1850, Inaugural Address, Taylor, President, Politics

    President Zachary Taylor's only inaugural address of the year 1849 is, at first glance, a rather typical political address from a rather typical president. He is one president in the long line of ex-military men to join politics. Like many, he was not especially interested in politics and more coerced into it. Taylor and his address are an important because he is one of the presidents in the run-up...

  7. The Crisis of 1849
    date July 25, 1849map MOSQUITO, Floridatags Politics, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    Shots went off. John Barker turned and sprinted towards his house, but the Indians were too quick. They overtook him, stabbing and killing him instantly. Caleb Lyndon Brayton, frontier neighbor to Barker, stood there stunned. He had just conversed with the Indian party on the road to Captain Gattis' house, seeing nothing unusual in their appearance. How could this have happened? The adrenaline...

  8. Prospectus for 1850
    date December 13, 1849map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Education, Government, Law, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    During the antebellum period newspapers frequently published editorials that prophesized the events to come. These special prospectuses gave readers a direct insight into the minds of the editors by outlining their principles and beliefs. The National Era was a weekly abolitionist newspaper and the editor of the paper, Mr. Bailey, was interested in publishing literary ideas as well as developments...

  9. Seminole Attack
    date July, 1849map JACKSON, Floridatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, War

    After the end of the Second Seminole War in Florida (August 1842), peace between the Seminoles and the American settlers lasted for only seven years. In July of 1849, five warriors, acting independently, left the reservation to kill and pillage at the American settlements. Seminole leadership turned over three of the rebellious warriors and the hand of a fourth who was killed by the whites for...

  10. California Gold Rush
    date 1849map TALLAPOOSA, Alabamatags Migration/Transportation

    The California Gold rush occurred many hundreds of miles from the American South, but its affect was felt throughout the country, drawing large populations of “49ers from most of the Southern States. <br />Alabama in particular was affected. While small in comparison to the California gold rush, a gold rush in the Alabama Creek lands in the 1830's lead to the spread of gold mining...

  11. Cholera Epidemic
    date 1849map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Health/Death

    In late May, 1949 the Virginia legislature reconvened, though their work and discussion was often interrupted by the fears regarding the Cholera outbreak affecting the region, especially Richmond where the legislature met.<br />After much discussion and debate on whether it was necessary to leave, the legislature decided to move to the Fauquier Springs Hotel (though more like a country club)...

  12. Nathaniel Wilkinson House
    date 1849map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Gothic Architecture, New Orelans

    Located at 1015 South Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Nathaniel Wilkinson House serves as a reflection of the Romantic Gothic architecture that invaded the region during the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Erected in 1849, an Englishman named Nathaniel Newton Wilkinson attempted to capture the Gothic style in his own residential structure. Undoubtedly unpopular within Louisiana...

  13. The Power of the Bible
    date 1849map WORCESTER, Massachusettstags Slave Trade, Freed Slaves, Church, African-Americans

     

    Walking all alone through the dirt roads of Vermont on a bitterly cold winter day, Aaron found himself astonished. Aaron's astonishment had nothing to do with the journey itself; it was far removed from the runaway slave advertisements he had grown accustomed to seeing on the sidewalks of Ohio claiming his name, from the days in which he had to hide whenever there were newcomers in town,...

  14. "Whiteness", Power and Control
    date 1849map ST LOUIS, Missouritags African-Americans, Slavery, Crime/Violence

    William Wells Brown was owned by Dr. Young, but was hired out to work for different masters throughout his slavery. One of those masters was Mr. Lovejoy, who was a printer. While returning from an errand to the "Missouri Republican" to pick up type, William was attacked by several slave-holders sons. He could not make his escape, being heavily outnumbered and carrying the substantial type, so William...

  15. The Early Plight of Women in the Medical Field
    date January 1, 1850map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Women, Education, Health, Medicine/Health

    Late in 1849, famed author Fredrika Bremer arrived in America on a visit from Sweden.  Her writings were well known in America and upon an invitation to visit she gladly accepted.  Well aware of the high regard for women in America, she was intent on studying their position and value.

    During her two year stay in America, Ms. Bremer visited and was entertained by some of the most prominent...

  16. The Education of Women - Mid 1800's
    date February 1, 1850map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Education, Women, Education

    Fredrika Bremer was a well-known writer living in Sweden.   By invitation in late 1849, she came to America for a visit.  As she was very much an advocate for the betterment of women in her country, her trip was much anticipated as she had heard of the high regard for American women.  Her writings were very well known in America at the time and she was well received during her two-year visit...

  17. The Southern Press
    date May 25, 1849map PICKENS, South Carolinatags Economy, Government, Politics

    The Keowee Courier published Senator Butler's contention that shocked the local town of South Carolina that the Southern Press was not to be found in the North. His statement read that not a Southern newspaper is to be seen in a large newspaper reading room in Washington D.C. Finally, the Courier insisted that Southerners must open their eyes to the truth and tyranny of the North. The...

  18. Poe's "Sepulchre by the Sea": Love and Death in Victorian America
    date May, 1849 to 1849map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Cult of Death, Disease, Poetry, Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee, tuberculosis, love

    Edgar Allan Poe spent his final months in poverty, tormented by grief, drowning his depression in alcohol and poetry. In May 1849, in his small New York cottage, he wrote what was to be his last completed poem, “Annabel Lee,” in which he returned to the themes that had haunted him for much of his life. The poem, set long ago in a kingdom by the sea, describes the speaker’s undying love for...

  19. Riot Turns Macbeth Performance into Real Tragedy
    date May 10, 1849map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Crime/Violence, Urban Society

    On the night of May 10, 1849 a riot erupted at the Astor Place Theater in New York City. Leading up to the riot, there had been a rivalry between the English actor Edward Macready and the American actor Edwin Forrest. Baker wrote that this rivalry began when Forrest believed that Macready sabotaged his recent tour of England. The nativist trend in the United States at the time did not help...

  20. Dividing up for Rights
    date March 7, 1850map MONTGOMERY, Marylandtags Government, Politics

    After the revolution, it became even more important for government regulation for boundaries to be established between states. Since America remained dedicated to keeping power in state governments, officials came together and established the exact separation of the regions that respective governments oversaw. One such circumstance arose when it came time for the Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware...

  21. Reaction to the death of John C. Calhoun
    date April 12, 1850map PICKENS, South Carolinatags Government, Politics

    It was a solemn scene to witness wrote the Keowee Courier on April 1st, 1850. One of the greatest political figures of the 19th century had just died and the atmosphere surrounding his death was incredible. Both Chambers were crowded to overflowing, and the stillness that pervaded the vast assemblage told plainly that some great calamity had happened to the country. Calhoun, born in Abbeville in...

  22. Slave Trade
    date April 12, 1850map PICKENS, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Economy, Slavery

    Enticing a willing buyer to purchase a slave was not easy. But there were characteristics that Norton and Steele dramatically emphasized to gain interest in the slaves they wanted to sell. They offered young boys and girls who were desirable, because they are smart and 'copper coloured' and also posses other skills like being good nurses. Choosing to find a willing buyer through the newspaper,...

  23. Typhoid As A Slave Killer
    date April 16, 1850map DOOLY, Georgiatags African-Americans, Health/Death, Slavery

    On April 16, 1850, a plantation slave died from typhoid fever after having been sick for six weeks. The slave got up after four weeks of bed rest and subsequently entered a delusional state. The plantation's overseer, Hal Sonbeck, sent for the Doct and he cupt it and bled it and blistered it but he cold not rase it anymore. In a letter to the plantation owner, Iveson Lewis Brookes, Hal informed...

  24. The Burial of John C. Calhoun, Statesman
    date April 26, 1850map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Health/Death, Politics

    In the early months of 1850, tuberculosis was shaping up to be the one opponent John C. Calhoun was unable to beat. Come March 4, Senator James Mason of Virginia had to read one of Calhoun's last speeches in the Senate, an ominous prediction of what the slavery debate would ultimately do to the cords which bound these states together in one common union. Calhoun never saw the cords finally snap...

  25. Malcolm H. Addison Gets Religion
    date March 4, 1849map TERRITORY, Territorytags Church/Religious-Activity, Education

    At the McKenzie College on the Texas frontier religion was taken seriously. The Reverend John Witherspoon Pettigrew McKenzie founded the school and was also its headmaster. Malcolm H. Addison attended McKenzie College and like most college students both past and present, he received letters from his parents. For Addison, the subject of these letters inevitably turned to a questioning of the status...