Episodes Nearest to January 2, 1857 to January 31, 1857: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. The Ledger of a Slave Trader
    date January 2, 1857 to January 31, 1857map RICHMOND, Virginiatags African-Americans, Economy, Slavery

    For Mlle. Templeman and Goodwin of Richmond, Virginia, January 2 to the 31 in 1857 was a time of rather lucrative business.They sold a great deal of merchandise and had made a significant amount of profit. In fact, their sales business had seen mostly boon time since they first established in Richmond in 1849. However, for their merchandise, times were not so good. They found their families...

  2. Proslavery Party Convention and Territorial Legislature Meet in Lecompton, Kansas
    date January 12, 1857map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    Lecompton was a busy town on the south bank of the Kansas river that served as the territory's capital. There, the Proslavery Party Convention and the Territorial Legislature convened to draft the new constitution to be adopted once Kansas gained statehood. Much debate centered around electoral law. The Territorial Legislature, ignoring the recommendations of Governor John W. Geary, followed...

  3. Widespread and Acute Forebodings of Possible Slave Rebellions
    date January, 1857 to February, 1857map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Crime/Violence, Slavery

    A New Orleans newspaper editor published news of “slave disturbances' throughout the South. The Times Picayune of New Orleans, Louisiana reported, “the increased discontents have as often shown that a remedy has not been reached;it is not to be disguised that violent offenses, breaches of the peace, and homicides have multiplied, especially of late;' Other reports from various...

  4. Richest County in the Union
    date January 3, 1857map DOUGHERTY, Georgiatags Economy, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    Different cultures define wealth in very different ways. In the minds of the citizens of Dougherty County, Georgia in the late 1850s, they were very wealthy indeed. According to the South Carolina Times in January of 1857, this plantation county claimed to be the richest County in the Union, excepting those containing the great cities. As evidence, they cited the per capita average of nine slaves...

  5. This Sin Polluted Earth
    date January 3, 1857map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    On January 3, 1857 cries of pain echoed throughout the plantation. The crack of the whip onto bare skin had an unmistakable sound. All those who witnessed the brutal whipping cringed with each crack. The slave's back was already covered with old scars; some several years old and some only days old. Mary Boyden became used to seeing her father discipline unruly slaves, but this...

  6. Reverand Glennie Baptizes in Litchfield
    date February 6, 1857map GEORGETOWN, South Carolinatags Church/Religious-Activity

    On February 6, 1857, Reverend Alexander Glennie visited a plantation in Litchfield, South Carolina. On this particular morning, he performed morning services and conducted three adult baptisms. The act of baptism is a vital part of Christianity, and was highly regarded as an important event in one's life during this time. To Christians in South Carolina, and in the general region, to be baptized...

  7. Hunter Amendment adopted in Congress
    date February 24, 1857map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy

    After one day of debate on the Senate floor, the Hunter Amendment, named after Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia, was passed by a vote of 32-12. The Hunter Amendment to the Tariff of 1857 included a reduction in all tariff schedules by twenty to twenty-five percent. Hunter's bill, which reduced the duty on iron from thirty to twenty-four percent, caused iron manufacturers in Pennsylvania to...

  8. The Southern Commercial Convention
    date December 8, 1856 to December 10, 1856map CHATHAM, Georgiatags Economy, Slavery

    On December 8th 1856 the Southern Commercial Convention met in Savannah. Over six hundred delegates were in attendance at the convention from ten southern states to discuss topics relevant to the South and its livelihood. On the first day of the convention the Virginian James Lyons was appointed the permanent president of the convention. After his appointment, Lyons gave a speech maintaining...

  9. Tariff of 1857
    date March 3, 1857map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy

    Passed with some hope to elude the impending economic crisis, the Tariff of 1857 was the lowest tariff enacted by Congress since 1816. The tariff was partially passed in order to rectify the conflict between the woolen manufacturers and producers, both of whom were badly hit with the 1846 tariff, which had raised the duties on raw wools to thirty percent and reduced that on flannels and blankets...

  10. Dred Scott v. Sanford
    date March 6, 1857map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Dred Scott was a slave living in Missouri. Between the years of 1833 and 1843 Scott lived in Illinois (a free state) and a part of the Louisiana Territory that barred slavery under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. When he returned home to Missouri, Scott claimed that after living in a free state he had become a free man and was no longer a slave. Scott's master, Mr. John F. A. Sanford, claimed...

  11. The Revival of the Slave Trade
    date November 29, 1856map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags Slavery

    Although the United States had passed legislation in 1807, ending the slave trade in the United States, some southerners still pushed for its renewal. In the Southern Commercial Convention of December 1856, certain members of the assemblage created a discourse on the issue, evoking heated responses from both sides. Some thought the revival of the slave trade would alienate the South from other...

  12. The Effects of the Dred Scott Decision
    date March 10, 1857map RICHMOND, Virginiatags African-Americans, Law, Slavery

    The Dred Scott decision of March 6, 1857, brought to a head the tension surrounding the issue of slavery in the United States.In the case, the Supreme Court ruled that Scott was still a slave, and therefore, and no right to file suit in a United States court as he was not a citizen and did not have the rights of such.The Enquirer, a Democratic newspaper, greeted this decision with great applause.The...

  13. The Changing Nature of the Institution of Slavery
    date March 12, 1857map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Economy, Government, Law, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In the Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, Chief Justice Roger Taney delivered the opinion of the court, concluding that people of African decent, whether or not they were bound by slavery or free, could never become citizens of the United States and furthermore, that Congress had no right to create or administer territories. It was also the opinion of the Court that the Constitution could...

  14. A Northerner in Virginia
    date September 19, 1856 to 1856map ALEXANDRIA CITY, Virginiatags Politics, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    Relations between people from each side of the divide between slave and free states proved to be contentious in the years preceding the Civil War. On September 19, 1856, the Chicago Tribune reported a peculiar incident involving a Northerner who had made his way South. The captain of ship from Maine docked his ship in the port at Alexandria, Virginia. Upon hearing the results of the election...

  15. The Daily Picayune reaches out for Support from its Readers
    date November 7, 1856map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Migration/Transportation, Slavery

    In June of 1856, the Pro Slavery Party of the Kansas Territory elected the city of New Orleans to manage the affairs of the party. This entailed disbursing funds to aid the cause and keeping their foreign friends abreast of current situations in the territory. The slavery advocates in Kansas were presumably too wrapped up in fighting abolitionists and Free Soilers to concern themselves with running...

  16. The Presidential Election
    date November 4, 1856map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    During the summer before the Presidential Election of 1856 slavery was on the forefront of political discourse due to the increasingly violent battles in Kansas to determine whether the territory would be slave or free. The three candidates for President, Democrat James Buchanan, Republican John Fremont and the Whig/ American Millard Fillmore were thus reticent of the fact that they would need...

  17. Republicans Run their First Presidential Candidate
    date November 4, 1856map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    The Republican Party was formed as an anti-slavery party and in the presidential election of 1856, John Fremont became the party's first candidate for president. Ironically, Fremont was the only candidate in the presidential election from the South, yet he was also the only one who spoke out against slavery. Fremont campaigned to wipe out what he felt to be the two biggest sins plaguing the...

  18. African Slave Trade in the United States
    date April 1, 1857map NEW YORK, New Yorktags African-Americans, Slave Trade

    The United States Congress outlawed the African slave trade in 1808, but there were some who still took part in the slave trade, knowing it was illegal. Some southerners even talked about reviving the slave trade in the mid-1850s, but most Americans opposed this idea, and numerous slave smugglers were put on trial in the United States. According to the New York Herald, "the United States...

  19. Property of a Newspaper Owner
    date October 15, 1856 to October 16, 1856map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Economy, Government, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Joseph Addison Waddell was a wealthy and influential man in nineteenth-century Augusta County, Virginia. He owned the Staunton Spectator from 1856-1860. The Spectator reached many residents of Augusta County. He kept an extensive diary during his life, of which the years 1855-1865 are still preserved. On October 15, 1856, after having contemplated the hopeless Know-Nothing campaign...

  20. Meeting of the Board of Alderman
    date October 14, 1856map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Slavery

    On October 14, 1856 the Board of Alderman held a city council meeting to discuss the climate in the city of New Orleans. In the meeting, the Mayor advocated for the increase of the police force by more than one hundred men. The call for an increased police force stemmed from his desire to protect “the persons and property of our citizens (Daily Picayune, Oct 14, pg. 4).' In other words,...

  21. Songs in Slave Society
    date October 13, 1856map ORANGE, Floridatags Song, Slave

    The life of a slave was a grim one during the 19th century. Most slaves belonged to large plantations that required labor intensive work. Large groups of slaves would work on these plantations utilizing the resources the Americas had to offer so that their plantation owners could remain profitable. Because of this permanent life of servitude, many slaves tried to escape while dying in...

  22. The Know-Nothing Riot in Baltimore
    date October 8, 1856map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Crime/Violence, War

    Xenophobic men established the Know Nothing or American Party in the late 1940s in response to the growing number of immigrants, particularly Irish Catholics flooding into the United States because of the Irish Famine of 1845. They were known as the Know Nothing Party because when asked questions about the organization and their affiliation with it, members responded that they knew nothing. The...

  23. The Publishing of Abolitionist Literature
    date October 7, 1856map HENRICO, Virginiatags Race-Relations, Slavery

    Harriet Beecher Stowe just published Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp in 1856. In the book, Stowe posits that slavery caused the corrosion of society. Dred is the second book by Stowe that centered on the topic of slavery. Stowe's first work, Uncle Tom's Cabin which was published in 1853, also addressed the issue of slavery and highlighted the institutions' inadequacies. Raised...

  24. A New Bride's Suicide
    date June 5, 1856 to 1856map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Health/Death, Women

    The servants thought the new bride, Mrs. Nancy Gray, had simply laid down to rest. Though shutting up the house on a Thursday morning was an unusual step, she had felt indisposed recently and so they thought nothing of it. It was not until the middle of the day, when a serving woman came to ask about dinner, that they realized something was amiss. Nancy Gray was not asleep; she was found in a closet,...

  25. The Hate Crime In Louisville
    date May 20, 1857map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags racial violence, African-Americans

    The hate crime that occurred in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 20, 1857, was "one of the most shocking instances of cruelty and of mob violence that has transpired in this country for years." A group of slaves from Louisville had been accused of a crime. A white jury found the slaves not guilty, which angered a mob of whites who wanted the slaves executed for a crime that they clearly did not commit....