History of America 1827

New Harmony folds; Owen out $125,000. Indiana March 29, 1827
The New Harmony community officially disbanded today, costing Robert Owen, its founder, a tremendous sum of money, at least the £125,000 he paid for the land in 1825. Owen began his radical project in communal living two years ago when he posted invitations to join his community on the Wabash River at no cost. All the work and the property in New Harmony was to be shared and members were to have equal status. The 56 year-old Owen came to America to attempt to establish his ideas for social change because they were not widely accepted n his native Scotland.

Blackface Jim Crow in minstrel show
Louisville, Kentucky, 1828
A new form of entertainment was born this year on a Louisville stage when Thomas “Daddy” Rice a comedian from New York performed a song-and-dance act with his face painted black to resemble a Negro. Rice portrayed a character named “Jim Crow” based on a stable boy who lived behind Rice’s theatre.

Cherokee agree to cede traditional lands.
Washington Dec. 20, 1828
The government announced today that the Cherokee Indians have decided to cede their traditional lands in the Arkansas Territory to the United States and to migrate voluntarily to lands west of the Mississippi River, which is known as Indian Territory. This peaceful group of Cherokees have lived in Arkansas for years. Increasing numbers of American citizens have moved into the area.

Jackson is President after tough race. Washington Dec. 3, 1828.
Backed by the fledgling Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States today, defeating his long-time rival and sitting President John Quincy Adams. Jackson, a former senator from Tennessee and hero of the Battle of New Orleans, polled 187 electoral votes to 89 for Adams, the son of a former President.
While either man campaigned formally, their backers turned the election into perhaps the most viscous yet. Jackson forces pictured Adams as an aristocrat with European leanings.

English built steam-locomotive makes trial run. Penn. Aug. 8, 1829.
As onlookers cheered and canon roared, Horatio Allen set out today to test his English-built steam locomotive, the Stourbridge Lion. With its emblazoned red lion’s head and mass of spluttering valves and joints, the behemoth was an awesome sight, but many feared its seven-ton weight would crush the hemlock-and-iron track built here by the Delaware and Hudson Company. Undaunted, Allen lurched forward at a confident 10 miles per hour for three miles, then returned to the great acclaim of the crowd. Despite its impressive showing, the locomotive will not run again until the railway, is reinforced.

Unruly Jacksonians mob White House
Washington Mar. 4, 1829..
People of every colour, size and shape mobbed the first floor of the White house this afternoon to celebrate the inauguration of “their” President, Andrew Jackson. Last month Jackson swore to oust from office “all men appointed “against the will of the people or are incompetent”. Still, his critics note that Jackson’s best friend, John Eaton, has been named Secretary of War even though he has no experience of war.

First Covered wagons cross the Rockies. 1830
The first wagon train to cross the Rocky Mountains reached the uper Wind River this summer. Led by Jedediah Strong Smith and his partner in the rocky Mountain Fur company, William Sublette, the covered wagons left the western reachesof the Missouri River and made the 500 mile journey through Indian country in about 6 weeks. The explorers report that heavily loaded wagons and even milk cows can safely - and rather easily - cross the prairies and Rockies and go on to the Pacific Ocean.

British Crew raises Union Jack at Astoria. Oregon Dec. 13, 1830
History was made today as Captain Black, a British naval officer aboard the Racoon, landed here and took charge of Fort Astoria. With 4 soldiers and 4 sailors, Black raised the Union Jack, broke a bottle of Madeira on the flagpole and declared the post Fort George. three rounds were fired and the fort was officially British. More importantly it signals the end of John Jacob Astor’s venture, the Pacific Fur Co.

Population nears 13 million. 1830
The latest census has recorded the population of the United States at 12,866,020, an overall increase of more than 3 million people (including 150,000 immigrants) since the last census a decade ago.

Delmonico’s opens for business in New York
New York City. 1831.
Two Swiss cafe owners John and Peter Delmonico, have opened a European style dining room that New Yorkers have taken to calling a “restaurant.” Derived form Parisian models, Delmonico’s at 23-25 William Street, offers patrons the chance to order all kinds of food from vegetables and salads to ice cream and pastries - from a menu rather than the custom of eating whatever is presented.

Clay is nominated to oppose Jackson. Baltimore Dec. 12, 1831.
The Whig Party nominated Henry Clay of Kentucky as its presidential candidate at the national convention today. The party declared it would do everything in its power to “deprecate the re-election of Andrew Jackson.” John Sergeant of Pennsylvania won the vice-presidential nomination.

Nat Turner leads revolt. Jerusalem, Virginia Nov. 11. 1831
Nat Turner a literate slave and radical preacher, was hanged today for the crime of organising and leading a slave revolt that resulted in the death of over 50 whites.
In August Turner, along with his chief disciples, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, Henry porter and Samuel Francis, incited a group of about 30 slaves from Southampton county in the Virginia tidewater to kill whites. Whites in the County responded to the insurrection by forming a force of some 3,000 armed men to pursue the Negro rebels. During his time as a fugitive, Turner wrote an autobiography, The Confessions of Nat Turner which was published in Baltimore.

Catlin, on journey up the Missouri River, depicts lives of Indians. St. Louis Oct. 1832
The artist George Catlin has returned with sensational and sometimes shocking illustrations of Indian life along the Missouri River. In March Catlin set out on a voyage of more than 2,000 miles up river to remote Fort Union with trappers from the American Fur Company on the steam boat Yellowstone. The artist befriended the Sioux and Mandan tribes, whose colourful figures, villages and ceremonies he depicted in paint. His temerity was richly rewarded by permission to document the Mandan’s gruesome but sacred Okee-pa torture ritual.

Friction increases as slave prices rise. Virginia 1832.
Recent advances in agriculture and industry have increased the demand for slaves in the Southern states, with a corresponding rise in price of nearly 25%. This increase in demand and value has created a growing antagonism toward anti-slavery sentiments in the North and South. Free Negroes, have also become targets of hostility. Here in Virginia all meetings of free Negroes for teaching, reading and writing have been classified as “Unlawful assembly”.

Jackson slays the Bank. Washington Sept. 26, 1833.
The “Big Bank War” switched from talk to action today when President Jackson carried out his threat to withdraw federal funds form the Second Bank of the United States.
After ordering his Treasury secretary. William J. Duane, to reorganise the bank, and firing him for refusing to do so, the President has found a replacement eager to go along. Three days after moving to the Treasury from the Justice Department, Roger Taney carried out the President’s order and shifted funds to the Girard Bank of Philadelphia. Today’s move is the latest in a series of blows to the bank that President Jackson called “a Hydra-Headed Monster” and “a threat to our liberty.”

Minister introduces the potato in Idaho. Idaho 1833
The potato, a native South American tuber vegetable that has become a staple of the poor in Ireland and increasing popular in the United States, has been planted in the Idaho territory of Oregon country. Credited with introducing the vegetable here is the Rev. Henry R. Spaulding, a missionary to the Indians.

First penny paper published in New York. New York Sept. 1, 1833.
Murders! Suicides! Accidents! Read all about it! Benjamin Day, a former publisher and failing New York printer, has founded and distributed the first penny paper, The New York Sun. The four-page newspaper covers subjects Day thinks New Yorkers want to read about. Devoid of the usual political articles and editorials, the paper offers human interest news, sensational accounts of crime and horror, and police-court news with a humorous bent.

Cyrus McCormick grain reaper patented. Washington. June 21, 1834
Cyrus Hall McCormick of Virginia was awarded a patent today for the automatic grain reaping machine that is expected to bring great economic benefits to American farmers and consumers. If it is successful, the McCormick reaper will eliminate the need for hiring large numbers of labourers for harvesting, thus reducing the cost of producing food.

Race riots terrorise N.Y. & Philadelphia Philadelphia Oct. 1834
Riots that destroyed 31 houses and two churches in the city’s Negro section this summer have been condemned by a town meeting in which citizens voted in favour of reimbursements for damage done by white mobs. The riots began when nearly 500 whites entered an amusement area in the Negro quarter and attempted to drive the residents out of town. A free-for-al broke out and the whites were eventually chased from the neighbourhood. But they regrouped and returned the next night, beating Negroes and destroying their homes. On the third night of violence, a posse led by the mayor and sheriff dispersed the rioters.

Assassin fails in attempt to kill President. Washington Jan 30, 1835.
President Jackson survived an assassination attempt in the Capitol Rotunda today. Armed with two pistols, Richard Lawrence was only six feet away from the President when he puled the triggers. But both weapons misfired. Lawrence, who is a house painter, had gone around telling people he was the rightful heir to the British throne.

Texas Revolution erupts. Goliad, Texas, Dec. 20, 1835.
The long-simmering conflict between Mexico and Americans in Texas, has finally erupted into full scale war and revolution. Leaders of the secession movement today issued their declaration of independence from the dictatorship of Mexican President Santa Ana and officially proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Texas.
For more than a year the Texans have been in constant preparation for this momentous day. On October 2, the first significant battle between the Texan and Mexican armies took place on the Guadalupe River near Gonzales. This fight erupted when Mexican soldiers came to retrieve a cannon they had given to the Texans for protection against Indian attacks.

Alamo falls; all 187 defenders killed. San Antonio, Texas, March 6 1836
The Alamo, defended by 187 Texans who have been besieged by up to 5,000 Mexican regular forces, has been captured. Reports indicate that no prisoners were taken and all Texan combatants were killed. The struggle began on February 26, when General Santa Ana led his huge Mexican force into San Antonio to put down the Texas rebellion the same day, Colonels William B Travis of South Carolina and James Bowie of Tennessee and their Texas forces retreated to the Alamo, an old Spanish mission, to make their stand against Santa Ana’s advancing cavalry. After refusing Santa Ana’s demand for unconditional surrender, the Mexicans ran up the red flag, the traditional

Military symbol that the Mexican army would offer no quarter to the Alamo defenders.
For 12 days the Mexican forces bombarded the fortress with intense artillery fire, reducing the old mission to a ruin. Early this morning the massed Mexican infantry began its frontal attack on the Alamo. Reporters say that the beleaguered defenders inflicted more than 1,000 casualties on the Mexicans, but within an hour all the Texans were dead. Once Santa Ana had overrun the Alamo, he ordered that the bodies of the 187 defenders be piled up like cordwood and burned. Although sparing the lives of some 30 Texan non-combatants.

Texans seize Santa Ana. Apr. 21, 1836
Tghe Texas army commanded by General Sam Houston, launched a surprise attack on Mexico’s forces earlier today, routed them and took general Santa Ana prisoner. I addition to the massacre of the Alamo, this general, three weeks ago, this general captured 300 Texas soldiers at Goliad and executed them all by firing squad.

Houston is First President.
Texas Oct. 22, 1836.
General Sam Houston was sworn in last week as the first President of the new republic of Texas. Houston is originally from Tennessee where he served as Governor. A colourful character he lived with the Indians for several years. He took a squaw for his bride and was called “The Raven”.

Arkansas in union as a slave state.
Little Rock, June 15, 1836.
After a long wait, Arkansas became the 25th state to join the union today. President Andrew Jackson signed the act granting statehood. Free-state senators delayed approval of the admission until another free state, Michigan, could be admitted. This will mean the union will have 13 free-states & 13 slave states.

First white women to go out West arrive. Oregon Country Sept 1, 1837.
When two Protestant missionaries Revs. Whitman and Spalding, arrived at the junction of the Colombia and Snake Rivers here today, they were accompanied by their wives, Narcissa and Eliza. They are the first white women to have travelled overland to this destination. In doing so they also brought the first wagons west of Fort Laramie. Whitman and Spalding have been sent to Oregon by the American Home Mission Society to establish a mission for the local Indians in the hope that they can be converted. The trip has not been an easy one, especially for Mrs Spalding. She suffered terribly, having been run over by a runaway mule team and thrown from her horse after it stumbled into a wasps nest.

Financial Panic in US. Oct 12, 1837
In Washington a move to stem the financial panic that is sweeping the country, Congress today authorised the issue of $10 million in short term government notes. Another measure, to create an independent federal Treasury, is still with the House.
The 120-year boom in business, industry, banking, transportation and Western land has led to extensive borrowing, fuelled by the recent demise of the conservative Bank of the United states. The order that the government land should be paid for in coin has caused large amounts of hard money to be withdrawn from circulation.
As a result banks have been failing all over the country and unemployment has soared. The high cost of flour has caused riots in New York

Jackson leaves office with $90 in his pocket. Tennessee March 17,1837
His days of glory behind him, Andrew Jackson returned to his home, The Hermitage, here today lamenting that he left Washington. “With barely $90 in my pocket” But the old soldier and war hero who served as the President for eight years left his nation a legacy far richer - and to some critics more controversial. His legacy, Jacksonian -Democracy, is based on the belief that there is a deep conflict between the haves and have-nots.

15,000 Indians in three tribes die of smallpox.
Nth. Dakota August 1837
Another devastating smallpox epidemic has swept through the Indian communities on the Missouri River, almost annihilating the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes.A steamboat representing the American fur Company that came up the river in June is though to have been the origin of the epidemic. In the tree months since, the Mandan tribe has been reduced form 2,000 people to fewer than 100.

Non-slave Michigan 26th state in union. Detroit Jan 26,1837.
Three years after the territorial legislature first petitioned congress for permission to form a state, Michigan has joined the union. A delay was caused by the need to hold a convention, draw up a constitution, and have it ratified by the electorate.

The “Trail of Tears” 18,000 Cherokees driven from homelands. Missouri Dec. 1838
The forced removal of the Cherokees mainly from Georgia, to the Indian territory west of the Mississippi, is about to be completed . The removal process began on October 1, and is expected to be concluded in early spring. The United States army is conducting the transfer operation under General Winfield Scott. The forced removal policy has been roundly denounced by most humanists and constitutional experts. While the Supreme court has essentially ruled that the Indians had the legal right to remain at their ancestral homes in Georgia, President Jackson did not feel that way.

Underground Railroad helps slaves flee. Philadelphia 1838.
The abolitionist Robert Puvis has been named president of the now formally established Underground Railroad. This network of private homes and establishments has long been at work helping slaves to escape and protecting fugitive Negroes from the violence of their pursuers. Southern slave owners put their losses at over £200,000 a year from slaves who flee across the Mason-Dixon line.

Oberlin is accepting women as students. Ohio Oct. 30, 1838.
With this years class, Oberlin College becomes the nation’s first institution of higher learning to admit women to its college programmes on an equal basis with men. Oberln had previously had boys and girls together in its primary and secondary programmes and older girls studied in its female seminary. When the four women who entered today, applied last spring, the authorities saw no reason not to admit qualified applicants simply because of their sex.

Mormon headquarters is moved to Illinois. Nauvoo, Illinois, May 1839.
As a result of heated and unrelenting hostility experienced in the state of Missouri, Joseph Smith has led his band of followers to the Commerce Purchase in the state of Illinois. Life in Missouri had become far to dangerous for the Mormons especially after an attack last October which left 17 Mormons dead.

Morse makes 1st photographs in America. New York, Dec. 1839.
New Yorkers are flocking to have their portraits made by a technique that captures camera images on copper plates. The technique, developed in France by Louis Daguerre, as introduced here by two New Yorkers Draper and morse, the latter better known as a painter and inventor of the telegraph. A daguerrotype as the picture is called, is made by coating a copper plate with silver and exposing it to iodine fumes to make it light-sensitive.

“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too“ win. Washington Dec. 2, 1840.
William Henry Harrison the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, was elected President of the United States today. A wealthy Whig, Harrison won the hearts of America’s voters with his ”Log Cabin and hard Cider“ campaign.
For Harrison and his running mate John Tyler, a twosome hailed as ”Tippecanoe and Tyler Too“ during the campaign it was a solid victory over a former foe, the outgoing President Martin van Buren, who, just four years earlier defeated Harrison in the contest for chief executive. Today, Harrison polled 234 electorial votes to just 60 for van Buren, almost the reverse of the 170-73 electoral victory that Van Buren scored in 1836. It was only by happenstance that Harrison stumbled on what was to become the major theme of his campaign. One of his detractors observed early in the campaign that if someone gave Harrison a supply of hard cider, a small pension and his choice of how to spend his time, the old warrior would sit happily by his log cabin for the rest of his days. The Harrison forces worked this to their advantage by having him run his campaign from a log cabin built atop a wagon bed to which was attached a barrel of hard cider, thus emphasising his links to the common man.

17 Million people - new land a magnet. Washington 1840.
The nation’s population grew by nearly a third in the past decade, to just over 17 million, the latest census shows. Some 600,000 immigrants contributed to the growth, with the opening of new lands a major factor. Missouri nearly tripled its population to 383,000.

Anti-slavery meeting: women barred. London June 12, 1840
American abolitionist Wendell Philips made the first motion at the World Anti-Slavery Convention today, calling for a complete list of the delegates, including “all persons bearing credentials from any anti-slavery society” The word “person” was carefully chosen, for Phillips realised that a rejection of the women delegates from the American party was imminent.

Harrison dies after inaugural in cold. Washington Apr. 4, 1841.
President Harrison is dead!. Beloved by many Americans as “Old Tippecanoe” the 68 year-old Virginian died today, just 31 days after taking office. It is expected that he will be succeeded by his fellow Whig, Vice President John Tyler, although the Constitution is not explicit on a lie of succession in the event of a Presidents death. The oldest man ever elected president, Harrison is the first to die in office.
Funeral plans are under way.
The President’s brief tenure was marked by ill health stemming from a bout of pneumonia that set in shortly after Inauguration day.

1st Oregon Trail wagons cross the Rockies. Sacramento, California November 1841.
The first covered wagon train o cross the Rocky Mountains over the recently opened Oregon Trail arrived in Sacramento this month. The leader of the expedition is 25-year-old John Bidwell, who says he is from Missouri. Bidwell organised a group called the Western Immigration Society back home and more than 500 would-be adventurers signed on to make the journey. Most however abandoned the project

Californian seeks onions, strikes gold. Los Angeles Nov. 22, 1842
While scrounging about in search of gold, Francisco Lopez got hungry. So he plunged his sheath knife into the ground in search of wild onions. Lopez found onions and more. In the onion’s roots he found gold dust, and that has touched off a small gold rush in San Feliciano Canyon. Today, Abel Stearns, a trader, sent 20 ounces of the placer to the Mint in Philadelphia for assay. While experts say this field is “played out” there may be gold nearby.

Fremont & Kit Carson explore far West. 1842.
News has arrived that Lieutenant John Fremont has successfully completed the first major American scientific expedition into the Rocky Mountains. Fremont, the son-in- law of Senator Thomas Hart Benson of Missouri, left Wyoming on May 2, stopped in St. Louis May 22. For supplies and a guide, and began their march to the mountains on June 10. Principal reason for the success of the expedition is the expert guide Christopher “Kit” Carson!.

Crusader Dickens pays a visit to U.S. Cleveland, Ohio Apr. 25, 1842
Charles Dickens, the marvel of British letters who at the age of 30 has already penned three acclaimed novels - The Pickwick Papers(1837), Oliver Twist (1838) and Nicholas Nickleby (1839) - arrived here today on the latest stop of his American tour. He and his wife landed in New York in January and on February 14 were feted at the Box Ball, a gala named for the authors nom de plume and held at the Park Theatre.

Barnum takes over the American Museum. New York, Jan 1, 1842.
The dog named Apollo that plays dominoes and the midget named Caroline Clark who plays solitaire will no doubt continue to be a vital part of the American Museum. However, the house of exhibition situated on lower Broadway, which reopened this morning under new management, is expected to put an even greater emphasis on curiosities. The new proprietor Phineas T Barnum, is a 31-year-old Connecticut showman who once presented Joice Heth, a former Negro slave who said that she nursed the infant George Washington a century ago.