October 15, 1849 to October 20, 1849

  1. California applies for statehood as a free state

    Date(s): October 18, 1849 Location: Washington City, District of Columbia Tag(s): 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...

  2. Alph's Lynching

    Date(s): October 15, 1849 to October 20, 1849 Location: Bentonville, Arkansas Tag(s): mob violence, Lynching, Slavery 

     

    In December of 1849, it was reported that an enslaved man by the name of Alph had been lynched for the murder of his owner, James Crawford. Alph was captured on the 15th of October and hung, without a trial, on the 20th, in Bentonville, Arkansas. The citizens alleged that Alph had “crushed Anderson’s skull and slit his throat, leaving him on the side of the road” (Jones 27). Alph...