Section #3 - Turning Point Events
1835-1848 Manifest Destiny
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Manifest Destiny 1835-1848 | |
| 1835 | The so-called Five Civilized Tribes are driven out of their homelands along the Trail of Tears. Despite the Supreme Court ruling in Worcester v Georgia stating that the southeastern tribes may not be forced out of their homelands, the state of Georgia ignores the decision. President Jackson encourages John Ridge, son of a Cherokee chief, to work out a deal which ends with the Treaty of Ochota and some 120,000 native peoples driven across the Mississippi to Oklahoma. Four years later both Ridge and his father are assassinated by tribal opponents. Causal Theme: Racism, Manifest Destiny, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 73 in Prelude |
| 1836 | Angelina Grimke writes her “Appeal to Christian Women in the South” to end slavery. Nina Grimke is born in Charleston, teaches Sunday school with black children present, and pleads with her Presbyterian congregation to end slavery. She flees to Philadelphia, joins the Garrison lecturers. In her Appeal she writes: “I have seen slavery. I know it has horrors that can never be described. I was brought up under its wing: I witnessed for many years its demoralizing influences, and its destructiveness to human happiness.” Causal Theme: Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 71 in Prelude |
| 1836 | JQ Adams ignores a Southern “Gag Order” against reading anti-slavery petitions. In a blatant effort to stifle public debate over slavery, the House passes a bill by 117-68 which would end the tradition of reading constituent petitions on the floor. Adams regards this as a violation of the First Amendment – and continues to read letters into the record despite threats of censure. Causal Theme: Abolition, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 74 in Prelude |
| 1836 | Mexican troops massacre hundreds of American settlers at the Alamo and the town of Goliad. What begins in 1823 with Stephen Austin and 300 American families occupying 1.5 million acres of Mexican land grows by 1835 into some 38,000 Anglo settlers and 5,000 enslaved souls spread out across 250 million acres. At that point, President Lopez de Santa Ana has had enough, and he decides to evict the intruders. On March 5, 1836 his 16 day siege on Americans at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio ends with some 257 defenders killed, including Davey Crockett and Sam Bowie. Then three weeks later another 450 prisoners are murdered in the town of Goliad. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Manifest Destiny Learn More: Read Chapter 75 in Prelude |
| 1836 | The Republic of Texas is founded after Santa Anna defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto. Six weeks after The Alamo, General Sam Houston inflicts a devastating loss for Mexico at San Jacinto. Santa Ana is captured at the battle and signs a treat granting the Americans their independence. Thus the Republic of Texas is born, although officials in Mexico City refuse to acknowledge the treaty. Causal Theme: Manifest Destiny, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 75 in Prelude |
| 1837 | John C. Calhoun delivers his “Slavery Is A Positive Good” speech in the Senate. As he says: “I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good–a positive good.” Henceforth Calhoun’s argument will become standard fare for the South. Not only does slavery enable the South’s superior economy and lifestyles to flourish, but it also benefits those enslaved by awakening them to Christian salvation and providing superior care to whites trapped in northern factories and sweatshops. Causal Theme: Racism, Sectional Wealth Learn More: Read Chapter 82 in Prelude |
| 1837 | Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy is murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois. Lovejoy is an ordained Presbyterian minister who moves from Maine to Missouri where he edits a religious newspaper, The St. Louis Observer. But his anti-Catholic and pro-abolition stances alienate the public and a mob destroys his printing presses. He moves to Alton, Illinois and runs into trouble after opening an Anti-Slavery Society outlet and continuing to call for emancipation. In fear for his life, Lovejoy and 20 armed supporters gather at his Alton Observer warehouse before being overwhelmed by another mob. Lovejoy dies from five bullet wounds and his building is burned to the ground. A subsequent trial dismisses charges against all defendants. Causal Theme: Abolition, Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 83 in Prelude |
| 1837 | Calvinist John Brown vows to “consecrate my life to destroying slavery.” Upon learning of Lovejoy’s murder in Alton, the 37 year old Brown stands in his Congregationalist Church in Ohio and dedicates his future to the abolitionist cause. He traces this to an incident when he is twelve and sees a Black boy beaten with a fire shovel. But Brown is unique here in that he works and lives among Blacks for years, regards them as equals in every way, and fully capable of assimilation into white society. Over time, Brown and his sons will play vital roles in the fight to end slavery, first in Kansas and later at Harper’s Ferry. Causal Theme: Abolition, Slavery Expansion, Second Awakening Learn More: Read Chapter 84 in Prelude |
| 1838 | Joshua Giddings is elected to House from Ohio. Giddings is self-educated and teaches school before becoming a lawyer in partnership with future Congressman, Benjamin Wade. He opposes slavery and sets up an Underground Railroad station in his law office in Jefferson, Ohio. Elected to the U.S. House as a Whig in 1838, he immediately joins JQ Adams as an outspoken advocate of abolition. Causal Theme: Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 80 in Prelude |
| 1840 | New York abolitionists under Gerrit Smith form their Liberty Party. The philanthropist Smith, joined by the Tappan brothers and journalist James Birney, becomes convinced that Garrison’s reliance on “moral suasion” in newspapers and traveling lecturers will not end slavery. Instead they decide to focus on political action. In 1840, they found the Liberty Party, dedicated to abolition, and nominate Birney as their presidential candidate. While getting only a few votes in 1840, Birney receives 2.3% in 1844 in the final party run. Causal Theme: Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 115 in Prelude |
| 1840 | The North gains seats in the House after the Biennial Census results. After 50 years, the U.S. population is no longer equally divided between the northern and southern states as it was in 1790. In fact, the 1840 Census reports a 57-43% split in favor of the North, giving them a sizable edge in the allocation of seats, and voting power, in the U.S. House. Causal Theme: Voting Power Learn More: Read Interlude 4 in Prelude |
| 1840 | Bogus research by Dr. Samuel Morton finds that Negroes are a different and inferior race. A Quaker by birth, Morton has outstanding academic credentials and is a founder of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1832, where he teaches anatomy. His Bible study convinces him that each race was created as a separate species rather than varieties within the same specie. To prove his theory he embarks on a study to measure relative skull sizes. In his 1840 Crania Americana publication he reports that Caucasian skulls average 87 cubic inches versus 80 cu. for Indians and 78 cu. For Negroes. This leads him to conclude that the three races were created separately and that Caucasians are the intellectually superior race. Causal Theme: Racism, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 170 in Prelude |
| 1841 | Frederick Douglass delivers his first address to a white audience on Nantucket Island. At age twenty, Douglass flees from slavery in Maryland to reside in New York. Once there he marries, joins the AME Church, becomes a preacher and reads Garrison’s Liberator paper. After the two men meet, Garrison invites Douglass to speak at an anti-slavery rally held on Nantucket Island. His eloquence as an emotional orator is immediately evident, and Garrison invites him to join his abolitionist mission as a traveling lecturer, which he does for the next four years. Causal Theme: Abolition, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 100 in Prelude |
| 1841 | The South is alarmed by the Supreme Court ruling in the Amistad Affair. The case involves some 53 Africans kidnapped from Nigeria and sent to Cuba to work on a sugar plantation. They are given Spanish names, like “Cinque,” to appear to be Cubans and avoid laws against the international slave trade. They are then loaded onto the Spanish ship La Amistad to complete their journey. But the captives break free, kill the ship’s captain, and set sail for freedom, ending unexpectedly in the port of Long Island. When Spain insists that the remaining 36 hostages be returned to Cuba, a trial reaches the Supreme Court with JQ Adams arguing on behalf of the captives. In the end, the Taney Court finds 7-1 that the men were Africans, not Cubans, and should be set free. The South regards the outcome as a possible legal threat to slavery. Causal Theme: Abolition, Black Experience, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 88 in Prelude |
| 1841 | Henry Clay’s “American System” economic vision is set back by the death of President Harrison. Thirty-two days after becoming the first Whig President, Harrison dies, and John Tyler, a Virginian added only to balance the ticket, rushes forward to declare himself the rightful successor. Tyler, quickly labeled “His Accidency,” vetoes all of the Whig policies aimed at building Clay’s diverse economy, while effectively defending the South’s States’ Rights views and agricultural priorities. Causal Theme: Sectional Wealth, States’ Rights, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read 1840 Interlude in Prelude |
| 1841 | Another violent race riot breaks out in Cincinnati. Located just across the Ohio River from the Slave State of Kentucky, Cincinnati has a population of some 2200 Freedmen as of 1841. Most are segregated in the “Bottoms” and “Bucktown” areas, living peaceably in the vicinity of the Bethel AME and Union Baptist Churches and three schools run by the Coloured Education Society. But their presence is never accepted by the majority of their white neighbors. On the night of September 3, 1841, a rampage begins with a white mob assaulting a candy store owned by an avowed abolitionist. But unlike the 1836 riot, a group of armed Freedmen, led by a 28 year old Major James Wilkerson, fight back. It continues until the local militia steps in when a 6 pound cannon appears. Arrests are limited to 300 Freedmen. Causal Theme: Racism, Black Experience, Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 101 in Prelude |
| 1842 | The Supreme Court affirms the Fugitive Slave Act in Prigg v Pennsylvania. Margaret Morgan is living in Pennsylvania with her husband after believing she has been set free by her Maryland owner, John Ashmore. But then Ashmore’s heir sends a bounty hunter, Edward Prigg, to reclaim her and her two children, which he does. In turn, Prigg is arrested and found guilty of violating Pennsylvania’s Personal Liberty statute. On appeal the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rules 8-1 against the state statute and in favor of Prigg, with Justice Joseph Story writing the decision. While Margaret Morgan returns to slavery and is never heard of again, Judge Story’s ruling opens a loophole requiring that “cooperating” from local magistrates will henceforth be required. Causal Theme: Black Experience, Abolition, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 102 in Prelude |
| 1843 | Garrison reacts to the Prigg ruling by demanding an end to the Union. Abolitionist Garrison is shocked by the High Court’s ruling in Prigg, saying: “The slaveholding power (may now) roam without molestation through the Northern states seeking whomever it may devour.” His subsequent editorials in the Liberator call for those enslaved to free themselves by running away, before demanding an end to the Union — a proposal approved by the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Causal Theme: Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 102 in Prelude |
| 1843 | Douglass joins Garrison’s “Lecturers” preaching moral suasion to end slavery. During his two years as a roving Lecturer. Garrison travels across the North speaking to white audiences and facing constant threats to his safety. In 1845 he publishes his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. From this point on he becomes famous on his own and begins to distance himself from Garrison on his way to affiliating more with the NY abolitionists. Causal Theme: Abolition, Black Experience, Racism, Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 115 in Prelude |
| 1842 | The South suffers another legal setback in the Creole case ruling. Three weeks after the Prigg decision, a British court in Nassau frees 135 enslaved Blacks after their mutiny aboard the Richmond owned ship Creole. The captives, born in America and owned by Americans, are on their way to the auctions houses in New Orleans when they break free, killing the ship’s captain and an agent. Their leader is 25 year old Madison Washington who guides the ship to the colony of Nassau where slavery is banned. After the British Governor there, Sir Francis Coburn, frees 116 of the men, the U.S. government protests. Coburn brushes this aside, adding that Nassau has no extradition treaties with America. Causal Theme: Abolition, Black Experience, Legal Rulings, Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 104 in Prelude |
| 1842 | Joshua Giddings is forced to resign from the House for supporting the Creole decision. Ten weeks after the decision, a debate in the U.S. House finds abolitionist Joshua Giddings arguing that: “When a ship belonging to the citizens of a state leaves the waters of that state, and enters upon the high seas, the persons on board cease to be subject to the slave laws of that state and are governed by the law of the United States.” He follows saying: “Slavery is an abridgement of the natural rights of man.” Southerners see a “once free, forever free” assertion in his remarks along with a hint of betrayal in favoring British law. They pass a resolution by 125-69 demanding that he resign his seat. He does so, only to be returned six weeks later in a special election. Causal Theme: Abolition, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 104 in Prelude |
| 1843 | The Democrat Party begin to be reshaped by the election of Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas is born in 1813 in Vermont, and educated at a New York Academy before moving to Illinois and serving as the State’s Attorney General at twenty-two. In 1840 he moves to Springfield, where he is Secretary of State and then Justice on Illinois’ Supreme Court. He courts Mary Todd before losing her to fellow layer, Abraham Lincoln. Once in Congress, he is known as The Little Giant, on the forefront of the Young American Movement calling especially for westward expansion, including slavery. Douglas is a racist and a white supremacist who will later inherit his deceased wife’s Mississippi plantation. His policies will later cause a schism within his own party. Causal Theme: Racism, Sectional Wealth, Political Upheaval, Territorial Constitutions Learn More: Read Chapter 115 in Prelude |
| 1843 | Preacher Henry Highland Garnet delivers his “Call to Rebellion” speech. As a lad of nine he escapes from slavery in Maryland and becomes a shoemaker in New York City. He studies at the African Free School under abolitionist Theodore Wright before moving to Boston, influenced by Reverend Finney’s “New School,” and begins editing his National Watchman newspaper. His popularity leads to addressing the 1843 National Negro Convention in Buffalo. It is a call to arms: “Years have rolled on, and tens of thousands have been borne on streams of blood and tears, to the shores of eternity. The Christian Churches have stood idly by and watched. TO SUCH DEGREDATION IT IS SINFUL IN THE EXTREME FOR YOU TO MAKE VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION… the time has come for the slaves to “strike the blow” for themselves! Brethren, arise, arise! Strike for your lives and liberties. You cannot be more oppressed than you have been¬—you cannot suffer greater cruelties than you have already. Rather die free¬men than live to be slaves. Remember that you are FOUR MILLIONS!” Causal Theme: Black Experience, Racism, Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 110 in Prelude |
| 1845 | Schisms over slavery divide both the Methodist and Baptist Churches. At the Methodists General Counsel meeting in 1844, Reverend Orange Scott sponsors a proposal for all clergy to free their slaves or resign. This results in Southern members breaking away to form the Methodist Episcopal Church of the South. The breach with the North’s Wesleyan Methodist Church will last 94 years before reunification. Meanwhile Baptist clergy led by Abel Brown, Elon Galusha and other members of the Anti-Slavery Society call upon Elder George Reeves to free his slaves or leave the church. Southerners respond angrily: “We are no longer willing to work in societies where slave holders are called sinners and reviled as thiefs.” Thus the Southern Baptist Convention is born. These two church divisions prompt Henry Clay to say: “The sundering of the religious ties which have hitherto bound our people together, I consider the greatest source of danger to our country.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Racism, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 112 in Prelude |
| 1845 | Presbyterian Reverend James Henley Thornwell leads the clerical defense of slavery for the South. Thornwell graduates from Harvard Divinity School before returning to his home state of South Carolina where he lives on a 300 acre plantation using slave labor to grow indigo. His spellbinding sermons find Daniel Webster calling him “the greatest pulpit orator I have ever heard.” In them, Thornwell argues that slavery is verified in the Old Testament (Genesis 9:25) and that it is “God’s plan” for a prosperous society and a path for the Africans to Christian salvation. At the same time, he refuses to regard those enslaved as inferior and demands that they be properly cared for. Thus saith the “John C. Calhoun of the Pulpit.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 113 in Prelude |
| 1845 | President James Knox Polk’s election sets the stage for the western expansion of slavery. Andrew Jackson’s influence in the Democrat Party reasserts itself when the “Dark Horse” candidate James Polk, his Tennessee protégé, is nominated over two stalemated northerners, Martin Van Buren and Lewis Cass. His support for annexing Texas meets the public spirit of Manifest Destiny, and he defeats the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, by a razor thin margin of 49.6% to 48.1%. Once in office, he sets his sights on annexing Texas, and, despite protests against imperialism, the proposal passes the Senate by 27-25 with only two Whigs in support. Mexico breaks diplomatic relations and Polk responds by sending Zachary Taylor and 2,400 troops to the Nueces River in May 1845, ostensibly for defensive purposes. Causal Theme: Manifest Destiny, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 116 in Prelude |
| 1846 | The fateful Mexican War gets underway. For almost a year President Polk attempts to buy Texas from the Mexican government. Louisiana Senator John Slidell arrives in November 1845 with a $28.5 million offer for an enlarged Texas plus New Mexico. But just then, President Herrera is replaced by hawkish General Manuel Paredes who refuses to meet. On January 12, 1846 Polk orders Taylor to advance 150 miles southwest to the Rio Grande border at Matamoros, where they are attacked with 16 killed. On May 13, Congress declares war on Mexico by 40-2 in the Senate and 174-14 in the House. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Sectional Wealth Learn More: Read Chapter 117 in Prelude |
| 1846 | America occupies California after The Bear Flag Revolt. On June 8, 1846, a small band of Americans led by local Americans William Ide and Ezekiel Merritt enter the town of Sonoma, 45 miles north of San Francisco and arrest General Mariano Vallejo, Mexico’s Commandante of Norther California. They are then joined by Captain John C. Fremont of western explorer fame, who leads some 55 troops into San Francisco under a bed sheet flag displaying a grizzly bear. They take over The Presidio and claim California for the United States. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 121 in Prelude |
| 1846 | The Wilmot Proviso shocks the South. Amidst battlefield successes at Resaca de la Palma and Alta California, President Polk sends a military funding bill for $2 million to the House. Its approval seems certain until David Wilmot, a freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania, offers an amendment approving the bill but only: “Provided that, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico…neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted.” A r… Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Sectional Economics, Territorial Constitutions, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 120 in Prelude |
| 1847 | Political maneuvering follows General Winfield Scott conquest of Mexico City. The war ends after 21 months with 18,000 casualties for the Americans (including Henry Clay, Jr.) and 35,000 for the Mexicans. The question in Washington then centers on the acquisition of land. Secretary of State James Buchanan hopes to curry Southern support for a presidential run by reversing his prior opposition to all cessions. Racist John C. Calhoun favors new land for slavery, but not annexing Mexico: “We have never dreamt of incorporating into our Union any but the Caucasian race – the free white race. To incorporate Mexico, would be the very first instance of (including) an Indian race. Ours, sir, is the government of the white man.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Racism Learn More: Read Chapter 130 in Prelude |
| 1847 | One term Congressman Abraham Lincoln denounces the war as “a sheer deception.” Abraham Lincoln is born in a log cabin in Kentucky before migrating to Illinois to make his way in the world. He is self-taught, but blessed with a keen intellect and a winning personality. He apprentices with a law firm, then opens his own shop before Mary Todd chooses him over rival Stephen Douglas. In 1847 he is the only Illinois Whig elected to the House and becomes a protégé of Henry Clay. On December 22, 1847, he delivers his famous “spot speech” questioning Polk’s claim that Mexico began the war by attacking Americans on U.S. soil. Stephen Douglas will later point to this speech as evidence of Lincoln’s lack of patriotism. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 134 in Prelude |
| 1847 | Democrats propose “Popular Sovereignty” elections as an alternative to the Wilmot Proviso. While the Proviso is tabled in the Senate, its threatened ban on slavery in any new land ceded by Mexico remains alarming to the South. This causes Lewis Cass and Stephen Douglas to propose “Popular Sovereignty,” a compromise whereby settlers in any new Territory would be asked to vote on whether to be designated a Slave or Free State in their constitution. Over the next decade, “pop sov” will become the policy of the Democrat Party. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Sectional Wealth Learn More: Read Chapter 135 in Prelude |