Episodes Nearest to October 14, 1850 to August 1, 1851: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Virginia Constitutional Convention
    date October 14, 1850 to August 1, 1851map HENRICO, Virginiatags Slavery

    On March 4, 1850, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act providing for the election of delegates to a convention in order to create a new constitution, or amend the existing one. A controversy over the degree to which slave populations could determine seats in the General Assembly precipitated this call for change; under the current constitution, the western part of the state felt that the...

  2. Opposition to the Temperance Movement in Buncombe County
    date March, 1851map BUNCOMBE, North Carolinatags Church/Religious-Activity

    In March of 1851, a vicious battle raged in Buncombe County, North Carolina between the Sons of Temperance and their local opposition. The members of the Buncombe Sons of Temperance consisted of men who were in favor of the moderation of alcohol consumption. The opponents of this order acted out against the Sons in spurts of violence. A Knoxville, Tennessee newspaper picked up this story and claimed...

  3. Paternalism, Slaveholders, and the Guilty Conscience
    date February 27, 1851map ADAMS, Mississippitags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    On February 27, 1851, John M. Folkes wrote a letter in response to a request he had received from a man named Benjamin Drake. In his reply, he addressed Drake's plea for Folkes to surrender a number of his slaves. Throughout the letter, there was a tacit understanding of Drake's financial difficulties; one can assume from Folkes' reply that the end aspiration of Drake's request is...

  4. Crime and Instant Punishment in Gold Rush California
    date March 8, 1851 to April 27, 1851map YUBA, Californiatags Stephen Chapin David, gold rush, Crime/Violence, Vigilantes

    In California there was lots of gold to be had, but not everyone would strike it rich.  While early gold rush merchants Stephen Chapin David and his older brother Josiah ran their store near the mining camps in 1851, they were surrounded by all sorts of people.  In close quarters you could not always trust the people around you.  Stephen recounted upon his return from the city in March 1851,...

  5. Arson Terrorizes Leesburg
    date February 3, 1851map LOUDOUN, Virginiatags Crime/Violence

    In the winter of 1851, the town of Leesburg in Loudoun County, Va, was hit by an epidemic. This plague, however, did not bring illness. It instead brought fire. According to an article in the Leesburg newspaper The Washingtonian, a series of fires had spread throughout the town. First, it wasthe firingof a barn belonging to Mr. Hempstone and the stabbing of Mr. Vandevater's horse. Then,...

  6. A Fugitive Slave Case in Knox County
    date April, 1851map KNOX, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Law, Slavery

    In April of 1851, a fugitive slave case involving a black man by the name of Sydney was decided in the Knox County Circuit Court. Sydney's counsel argued that he was a free black man born in Tennessee, whom at an unspecified date was kidnapped and smuggled across the state line to Alabama. There, he was subsequently sold into bondage. The case arose when Sydney escaped from his master and returned...

  7. Gold Rush Merchants: Everything has a Price
    date October 25, 1850 to May 4, 1851map YUBA, Californiatags Merchants, Stephen Chapin David, gold rush

    There was gold in California and everyone wanted their share.  In that spirit, in early September, 1850, 17-year old Stephen Chapin David and his older brother Josiah arrived in Gold Rush California.  Entrepreneurial skills showed quickly as Stephen purchased newspapers before boarding the ship to sell to the other sailors.  While early searching for gold did not prove as lucrative as hoped,...

  8. Bill against Fugitive Slave Act introduced in New York Legislature
    date January 25, 1851map HENRICO, Virginiatags Race-Relations, Slavery

    A small portion of the New York Legislature pushed for a bill which was against the Fugitive Slave Act. A similar Bill had been passed earlier in Vermont. The main conflict in this situation is difference between a state and federal law, which takes precedence etc. The South was using the power of the Federal government to keep the Fugitive Slave Act alive.<br />Shortly after these Bills...

  9. Arrival of Fugitive Slave Henry Long
    date January 14, 1851map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Henry Long ran away from his Master in Richmond, Virginia and was eventually caught in New York City. Judge Judson of New York City ordered Long to be brought back to Virginia. Much commotion was caused on the trip back to Virginia because of the fear of an uprising of blacks. Long was guarded by as many as 200 police officers at one time when stepping on to a ferry leaving New York. Long would...

  10. Bartle Family murdered
    date May 3, 1851map HENRICO, Virginiatags Agriculture, Crime/Violence

    On May 3rd three members of the Bartle family were brutally murdered by an Italian man who had worked the Bartle's fields. Accounts stated that there was an altercation the week prior to the murder between Bartle and the Italian worker over wages he felt he deserved. The family members killed were all struck in the head with a blunt object and were all found in a gruesome manner<br />Events...

  11. Fugitive Law approved in Indiana
    date January 4, 1851map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Governor Wright's approval of this law showed the strong support which both he and state of Indiana had for the Union. In his message on Jan 4th, 1851 he eloquently summed up his feelings on the matter, “There is no safety for property or life except in the absolute supremacy of the law: no higher duty of the citizen than to maintain by word and deed, that supremacy, as we value the heritage,...

  12. Sale of Medicines
    date May 29, 1851map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Education

    The front page of many Southern newspapers contained ads for aliments ranging from ulcers to gonorrhea. The remedies were listed as “infallible,' “secret' and “invaluable'. Often the ads were reprinted for months or years at a time and placed in the same spot everyday.<br />Most often the ads were structured towards women and those being afflicted by venereal disease....

  13. Sojourner Truth: Feminist and Abolitionist Speech
    date May 28, 1851 to May 29, 1851map SUMMIT, Ohiotags Sojourner Truth, Women's Rights Movement., Slavery, Feminist Movement, Abolitionist Movement

    Sojourner Truth, an emancipated slave, had a vision in 1843 that convinced her that God wanted her to speak the truth about Americans' sins against African Americans as well as women. She presented these two causes as "inextricably intertwined." Sojourner Truth became a public speaker in many events in antislavery and women's rights.

    On May 28-29, 1851, Truth gave a particularly compelling...

  14. Sentiment from Eastern Virginians towards Western Virginians
    date May 30, 1851map HENRICO, Virginiatags Slavery

    Eastern Virginians complained of over-representation of Western Virginians for the amount of Taxes which they paid to the state. In a letter to the Richmond Whig on May 30th, 1851 an Eastern Virginian went as far as saying that the west was undoing what had been done by the revolution of 1776. <br />Trouble persisted because of the differences over slavery within the state. Cries from both...

  15. Harriet Tubman makes her first trip to escort slaves to freedom
    date December, 1850map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Migration/Transportation, Slavery

    In December of 1850, Harriet Tubman, escaped slave from Dorchester County, Maryland made her first attempt at freeing enslaved blacks in the South. Tubman had just recently escaped from the Slave state of Maryland to being a free person of Color in Philadelphia, in 1849. Tubman became involved very quickly with abolitionist movements and began to save her money in hopes of returning to purchase...

  16. James Cody Sues John Baily Over Slander Regarding Illegal Trade
    date December 11, 1850map BRYAN, Georgiatags African-Americans, Agriculture, Economy, Law, Slavery

    James Cody of Bryan County, Georgia prided himself in having a good reputation as a respectable Southern man. When his neighbor John Baily accused him of buying rice from a slave without written permission from the slave's owner, he was extremely offended. He considered these accusations to be false and demanded to meet John Baily in court to settle this slanderous dispute. Cody felt that Baily's...

  17. Miners' and Manufacturers' Convention Held in Richmond, Virginia
    date December 5, 1850 to December 6, 1850map HENRICO, Virginiatags Agriculture

    On December 5th and 6th, 1850, local agrarian worker and miners convened in Richmond, Virginia by the order of Virginia Delegates, to publish a memorandum to Congress. The purpose of the memorandum was to report to Congress on the state of the Virginia economy. There were many workers from the Atlantic regions of the United States present at the conference from a variety of industries, including...

  18. Mob Expels Wesleyan Minister for Abolitionist Agitation
    date May 18, 1851 to August 15, 1851map GUILFORD, North Carolinatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The mob had made up its mind. Wesleyan Methodist preacher Jesse McBride had stirred too much controversy among whites and slaves in Guilford County. Intending to run McBride out of the county, about two-hundred men gathered on May 23, 1851 outside of the church where he would preach that morning. For six hours McBride had been on the road, not finishing the 18 mile journey to his Liberty Hill...

  19. The Implications of Racist Railroad Policies
    date 1851map MACON, Georgiatags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The Macon and Western Railroad adopted a new policy in 1851 which prohibited all black people, regardless of their freed or enslaved status, from boarding any train unless they could prove the legitimacy of their travel. All African Americans had to have a written pass issued by the individual's owner or trustee. The office and the conductor both required a copy of it, and if the office was...

  20. A Woman's Worth
    date 1851map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery, Women

    When reading novels from nineteenth century, one often sees an overbearing mother whose only joy in life is finding suitable matches for her infinite number of daughters. In these stories, the daughter does not normally have much, if any, say as to whom she will wed. On Tuesday October 25, 1851, Mary Jane Boggs Holladay of Virginia was busy in preparation for her marriage. She was confronted with...

  21. Contraception of the 1840's and 1850's
    date 1851map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Health/Death, Women

    NEW EDITION OF DR WEISSELHOFF'S SCIENTIFIC WORK ON THE SUBJECT OF CHILD-BIRTH screamed an ad in Lexington's The Valley Star. The proclamation, which ran on Thursday, February 26, 1849, advertised a new book containing insights into birth control. Years before John Stuart Mill and his wife handed out condoms in a London subway, this paper in a small Virginia town danced around the issue a...

  22. A Good Christian
    date 1851map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Women

    As a sociable southerner, one expected certain attributes from you: manners, dress that suited your means, Christianity. Although Mary Jane Holladay wrote in her diary that it was her constant prayer that she should be able to please her husband and have a loving marriage, she was quite anxious when it came to religion. In her opinion, it was better to spend time wrestling with and testing her faith...

  23. Seed Planted for Central Park
    date 1851map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Arts/Leisure, Health/Death, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In 1851, a journalist put into words an ideology that would start a new trend in urban development. He proposed the construction of a huge public park that would "be enjoyed by thousands of all classes, without distinction." The ideals of Romanticism and the Republican view of the importance of nature were at a peak among educated Americans at this time and this commentator proposed a way to manifest...

  24. Abolitionism Takes a Whipping in Virginia
    date 1851map GRAYSON, Virginiatags Abolition, Vigilance Committee

    All that John Gornith heard as he stood tied to an oak tree in the Virginia woods was the crack of the whip. In 1851, the Vigilance Committee of Grayson County, Virginia arrested Gornith for spreading abolitionist propaganda. The Committee forced Gornith, a friend of an Ohio abolitionist, to renounce his abolitionist sentiments and leave the state, but not before tying him to a tree to "receive...

  25. Philip Claiborne Gooch drafts a letter to obtain subscribers for his medical journal
    date November 12, 1850map HENRICO, Virginiatags Health/Death

    On November 12, 1850, Dr. Philip Claiborne Gooch (1825 , 1855), celebrated Virginian physician, wrote a letter to mail out to potential subscribers of new medical journal he was founding “The Stethoscope'. His letter proposes that “the subscriber to embark in the responsible undertaking, and will issue the first “The Stethoscope' or “VIRGINIA MEDICAL GAZETTE' on the...