Episodes Around: 18500825
- Slave Management in Darlington
October 13, 1849 to August 10, 1852
DARLINGTON, South Carolina
African-Americans, Agriculture, Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Economy, Law, Politics, Race-Relations, SlaveryThere were always fears of slave rebellions. In a letter dated October 13th, 1849, from E.W. Cooper, Thomas Cassels Law learned of a Negro insurrection in his home district of Darlington, South Carolina. Cooper served on an investigating committee to respond to the matter. Although they could not gather sufficient evidence to have the four leading insurrectionists hanged, they were lodged in jail...
- Governor Aaron V. Brown of Tennessee and the Question of Slavery
1850
DAVIDSON, Tennessee
Government, Politics, Race-Relations, SlaveryIn 1850, Governor Aaron V. Brown of Tennessee spoke at a benefit for an orphan's asylum in Nashville, Tennessee. During his speech at Odd Fellow's Hall, he addressed the recent progress of the United States in regarding the escalating question of slavery. Governor Brown expressed the feelings of many southerners who felt threatened by the anti-slavery rhetoric in the North. The Governor...
- Mass Slave Runaway from McIntosh, GA Plantation
1850 to December, 1850
MC INTOSH, Georgia
African-Americans, Agriculture, Crime/Violence, Economy, Race-Relations, SlaveryThings were looking promising on Mr. Thomas' plantation, Peru, in 1850. He owned over 150 slaves and 15,000 acres, all of which produced great wealth in the form of cotton and other crops. Most of his slaves had been reared on his plantation alongside him and his son ten-year old son, Edward. Both father and son felt they were very good to their slaves and provided them with ample food, clothing,...
- A Different Type of Honor
1850
AUGUSTA, Virginia
Health/Death, EducationUniversity honor systems meant something very different in nineteenth century South from what they do in the twenty-first century. The Honor Systems essentially were guides on how to be a Southern Gentlemen. The University of Virginia's Honor Code, which in the twentieth century the university defined as only outlawing lying, cheating, and stealing, included rules against spitting in public...
- The Montpelier Guard Repairs to Charleston
1850
ORANGE, Virginia
Government, Politics, WarIn 1859, John Brown endeavored to start a liberation movement among enslaved people in Virginia. A staunch abolitionist, Brown was the first white American to set about culling up a slave insurrection. He first gained the nation's attention when he led a volunteer militia during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of the previous decade. Following his involvement in that conflict, Brown was responsible...
- Amherst County Citizens Petition for a Railroad
1850 to 1851
AMHERST, Virginia
Economy, Government, Law, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/BoosterismAccording to W.W. Scott's History of Orange County, the period of time between 1848 and 1860 was relatively serene and well-organized in that particular area of central Virginia. Following the United States' triumphant victory in the Mexican War of 1848, one of Virginia's sons and a decorated hero from the war, General Zachary Taylor, was elected President. The era that began...
- The Virginia Census of 1850
1850
KANAWHA, Virginia
African-Americans, Government, Race-RelationsThe composition and make-up of Virginia was complicated and had changed since the last census, so the editors of the Martinsburg Gazette, Norman Miller and George A. Porterfield, published the 1850 census of Virginia in March 1851. It showed the free white, free colored, slave, and total population in each county of the Commonwealth Virginia. As the census broke down the Virginia population...
- Furman Promises Appropriate Education for Women
August, 1850
ANDERSON, South Carolina
Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Education, WomenReverend James C. Furman delivered a speech for opening convocation on the anniversary of Johnson Female Seminary in August of 1850. He addressed the crowd of students with the words, "women's sphere lies within the limits of private life. Home is the true scene of her influence." He stressed the meaning of women as mothers, mistresses, advisors, physicians, judges, and educators. ...
- Approximately 300 Irish workers arrive in Chattanooga to work on the Chattanooga and Nashville Railroad
August 25, 1850
DAVIDSON, Tennessee
Migration/TransportationOn Thursday, August 22, approximately 300 Irish workers arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee to work on the Chattanooga and Nashville Railroad. Plans for the construction of the Chattanooga and Nashville Railroad began in June of 1845. The railroad was conceived for the purpose of expanding commerce in Chattanooga by reducing the time it took to travel there from Nashville and other major cities, significantly...