Episodes Nearest to December 2, 1851 to January 2, 1852: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Impact of Religion in New England Education
    date December 2, 1851 to January 2, 1852map PLYMOUTH, Massachusettstags Educational System, Religion, Puritan Education

    In New England, the Puritans required every town to establish public schools supported by all families. After settling in the United States, the first buildings they constructed were a house of worship and a school. This exemplifies that education and religion were the two most important beliefs that the Puritans held. According to New England First Fruits, “After God… reared convenient places...

  2. Measure to Prohibit the Introduction of Slaves for Sale Into Georgia
    date November, 1851 to December, 1851map BALDWIN, Georgiatags Economy, Government, Politics, Slavery

    In 1851, Mr. McDougald introduced a bill to the Georgia legislature that would have banned further importation of slaves for sale into the state. The purpose of the bill was supposedly to ensure the survival of slavery in the state, but it was largely opposed. People disagreed on the real intentions of the bill, and on what the consequences of it would be. The Georgia Telegraph called the...

  3. Bringing Women's Education Close to Home
    date January 8, 1852map CLARKE, Georgiatags Economy, Education, Migration/Transportation, Women

    An Old Citizen of Athens, as he called himself, wrote an editorial for the Southern Banner in January 1852 complaining about the way Athenians were educating their daughters. He argued that instead of sending their daughters to large overgrown establishment outside of Athens, they should take advantage of the good teachers and schools available closer to home. There are two advantages that this...

  4. Christiana Riot Trial for Treason
    date November 24, 1851map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Fugitive Slave Act, Christiana, Riot

    The slave owner Edward Gorsuch traveled to Pennsylvania, along with several men, two of whom were federal marshals, to retrieve six of his slaves that had escaped from his plantation years earlier.  Gorsuch planned to confront William Parker, the owner of a tenant house, about harboring his fugitive slaves.  An altercation between the two groups of people developed and Gorsuch was killed during...

  5. European Tastes in the Antebellum South
    date November 20, 1851map CLARKE, Georgiatags Arts/Leisure

    In November of 1851 the Athens Southern Banner announced that a famous French musician, Monsieur Andrieu, would be giving three concerts in Athens. The newspaper encouraged Athenians to attend saying that Andreiu was well received in Charleston and Augusta where he had been performing. The announcement also told Athenians that the accompanist would, give imitations of the great Prima Donnas...

  6. Slave Runs Away from Harsh Master
    date November, 1851map GREENSVILLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In November 1851, a 36-year-old slave by the name of Charles was reported missing. Charles' abrupt disappearance enraged his master, John C. Kerric. On November 22, 1851, Kerric wrote an impassioned letter to his friend, Robert T. Hubard, describing his unfortunate situation. Kerric explained that Charles ran away and was purchased by a plantation owner on the "other side of the mountain." He...

  7. George Wythe Randolph Moves his Business
    date November 5, 1851map BUCKINGHAM, Virginiatags Agriculture, Economy, Migration/Transportation

    In a letter dated November 5, 1851, George Wythe Randolph wrote to his brother Dr. Benjamin F. Randolph concerning the relocation of his, to that point, profitable business. At the time of this particular correspondence, George was in Richmond, Virginia and he was writing back home to Buckingham County, where Benjamin had established himself as a prudent physician and a prosperous community member....

  8. The Cotton Planter's Convention at Macon and its Broader Implications
    date October 27, 1851map MACON, Georgiatags Agriculture, Economy, Politics

    The 1851 Cotton Planter's Convention in Macon, GA brought together 261 cotton farmers, who were agitated by recent criticisms of their economic practices. More importantly, Charles Goethe Baylor came to the Convention to address the planters while on temporary leave from his position as the United States consul at Amsterdam. The merchants of Amsterdam had authorized him to tender cash advances,...

  9. U.S. Marshall Protected by Fugitive Slave Act
    date October 1, 1851 to June 21, 1852map ONONDAGA, New Yorktags Crime/Violence, Economy, Law, Slavery, Urban Life/Boosterism, Slavery

    In 1851, United States Deputy Marshall Henry W. Allen arrested freed slave William Henry in Syracuse, New York. Allen claimed Henry was a fugitive slave from Missouri. Though Henry was temporarily aided in escaping by local abolitionists, Marshall Allen and police arrested William Henry. This arrest happened in a brutal manner and William Henry was "excessively bruized in the struggle and was taken...

  10. Adoption of an Ordinance in Marietta
    date February 13, 1852map COBB, Georgiatags African-Americans, Government, Law, Migration/Transportation, Slavery, Women

    Jenny, an African American woman residing in Marietta, Georgia, desperately wanted to move. In 1852, the local government of Marietta passed an ordinance against negroes hiring out their own time or living on lots to themselves. This new law was greatly at odds with Jenny's current living situation. Jenny believed that under the law she would no longer prosper at her current residence. Faced...

  11. The Campaign of Louis Kossuth and the Slavery Question
    date October 20, 1851map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Slavery, Abolition, The New York Times, Louis Kossuth

    In 1851, Hungarian revolutionary Louis Kossuth became an international celebrity who found himself trapped in the divisive slavery politics of the United States. He gained notoriety worldwide as a brilliant crusader for the liberty of his country, and upon announcing a tour around the United States to enlist support for his cause, Kossuth was met with the enthusiasm of the American media. The New...

  12. Abolitionists Free Suspected Runaway Slave
    date October 4, 1851map ONONDAGA, New Yorktags Abolitionism, Abolitionist violence, Violence

    On Wednesday October 4, 1851, Syracuse city police, led by Deputy U.S. Marshall Allen, arrested an African American man by the name of Jerry McHenry.  John M. Reynolds of Marion County, Indiana, claimed McHenry to be his slave, and as a result, McHenry was taken into custody as a runaway slave and set for trial.  However, Reynolds would soon be surprised by an unexpected turn of events that neither...

  13. This episode discusses is a specific event that occurred due to the establishment of the Fugitive Slave Laws in the 1850s called the Jerry Rescue.
    date October 1, 1851map OSWEGO, New Yorktags Jerry Rescue, Fugitive Slave Law, Slavery

    William “Jerry” Henry was a Missouri slave during this time period. He grew tired of the brutality and sought freedom in the north. He successfully escaped from Missouri and went to Syracuse, New York, which was a popular immigration city. He lived and worked in the city for a while, but in October 1852, U.S. Marshal Allen arrested him. The officer tricked him into cooperating by saying he was...

  14. Doctor C.K. Winston and the University of Nashville Medical School
    date March 13, 1852map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Health/Death, Education

    Doctors C.K. and J.D. Winston declared their services available to the people of Nashville on March 13, 1852. The two doctors provided both the practice of general medicine and surgery. The advertisement gave the locations of their offices, the first on Cherry Street and the second out of Doctor J.D. Winston's home on Vine Street. Doctor C.K. Winston gained significant praise in the medical...

  15. Southern Benefits from the Compromise of 1850
    date September 5, 1851map BARNWELL, South Carolinatags Government, Law, Politics, Slavery

    The North and South had reached a stalemate, the compromise measures had been debated for over ten months. Finally, an agreement was reached. In September of 1850 the provisions that would become the Compromise of 1850 were passed. About a year later, on September 5, 1851, Winchester Graham, a representative from South Carolina, gave a speech in Barnwell, S.C. that defended his support of the...

  16. A la Mode
    date May 6, 1851 to 1851map ROCKBRIDGE, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Urban-Life/Boosterism, Women

    On May 6, 1951, John P. Lightner of Rockbridge County received a letter from his traveling cousin. The author of the letter was finally able to see what city life was like He described Fifth Street as being packed; everywhere he looked he saw merchants with small stands trying to sell veggies, fowl, and more flowers than one could possibly imagine. That night, he bought tickets for six dollars each,...

  17. Crop Variation
    date April, 1852map JEFFERSON, Floridatags Agriculture

    It was the middle of April and the time for planting crops in the Western Florida county of Leon. At Chemonnie Plantation, except for a small piece of ground near the southwest edge of the plantation, the crop was all planted. The crop referred to by John Evans, the plantation overseer, in his bi-monthly letter to the plantation owner George Noble Jones was the king-cotton. Having addressed the...

  18. The Culpeper Medical Society
    date April 17, 1852map CULPEPER, Virginiatags Health/Death, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In April of 1852, the regular practitioners of medicine in Culpeper County, Virginia, decided it was time they organized. They issued a statement of the services they would provide and the fees at which they would provide those, proclaiming themselves, the Culpeper Medical Society. Their proclamation listed a variety of techniques and operations, with prices in the adjacent column. The services...

  19. A Pennsylvania Court Convicts Under the Fugitive Slave Law
    date August 8, 1851map MARSHALL, Mississippitags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    As the news of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 reached Holly Springs, Mississippi, the citizens were very anxious to see how the North would uphold the laws. The law stated that if one captures a fugitive slave, it is the responsibility of the law enforcement and citizens to aide in the returning of those slaves to their rightful owners. The people of Mississippi knew that slaves would attempt...

  20. Albert Brown Defends the Homestead Bill
    date April 28, 1852map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Agriculture, Law, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    Before Congress ratified it, the Homestead Bill was a hotly contested piece of legislation. The Homestead Act eventually gave approximately 160 acres of undeveloped land in the west to any man of twenty one years, on the condition that he must build a house of 12 x 14 feet and live on the property for five years. This would not be a problem for people to fulfill who are coming looking for a life...

  21. Commutation of Jordan Hatcher
    date May 7, 1852map HENRICO, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Slavery

    On 7 May 1852, Virginia Governor Joseph Johnson commuted the death sentence of Jordan Hatcher, a tobacco factory slave, to sale and transportation from Virginia for the crime of murdering the overseer of his factory, William Jackson, on 25 February 1852. Johnson's commutation ignited a tumultuous debate and uproar throughout the state of Virginia. On the night of the commutation, a violent...

  22. Cotton Planters Convention
    date July 26, 1851map LEON, Floridatags Agriculture, Economy

    The Cotton farmers of Florida came together in hopes of stabilizing pricing and markets. Judge Broome was the chairman of this convention and created the report which was used to analyze Cotton production and output. They came to the conclusion that a price minimum was essential and blamed irregular output for their pricing problems. This convention sparked interest in other southern cotton growing...

  23. Maryland General Assembly of 1852
    date May, 1852map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Church/Religious-Activity

    The Maryland General Assembly of 1852 was overtaken by an anti-Catholic fervor that produced a series of laws intended to insult and restrict the rising Catholic immigrant population from Ireland. A prohibition on the sale of liquor was imposed as one of the first acts of the General Assembly. Irish immigrants were not only some of the most frequent customers of liquor stores, but had increasingly...

  24. 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...

  25. 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...