Episodes Around: 18570907 to 18580802

  1. First Transatlantic Telegram
    date 1857 to August 16, 1858map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Economy, Migration/Transportation

    Following the success of a New York-Newfoundland telegraph line, philanthropist Cyrus Field convinced the governments of American and Great Britain to fund a transatlantic line. It would take 2,500 miles of cable to complete the job, and construction was interrupted often by errors. Cables snapped, ships wrecked, and money was running out. Meanwhile, the American South was watching the progress...

  2. Debate over the Lecompton Constitution rages in Kansas.
    date September 7, 1857 to August 2, 1858map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Race-Relations, Slavery

    Kansas began the process of beginning to apply for statehood in late summer 1857. First, the citizens had to come up with and ratify a state constitution. Proslavery forces within the state drew up the so-called “Lecompton Constitution' at a convention which Free Soil parties boycotted. Indeed, at the Convention there was never any option to vote against slavery. The proslavery forces refused...