Timeline of United States history (1820–1859)

This section of the Timeline of United States history concerns events from 1820 to 1859.

1820s

*1820 - New England Textile mills expanded
*1820 - Missouri Compromise
*1820 - Maine becomes a state
*1820 - U.S. presidential election, 1820
*1821 - Missouri becomes a state
*1823 - Monroe Doctrine
*1824 - Gibbons v. Ogden affirms federal over state authority in interstate commerce
*1824 - U.S. presidential election, 1824, results inconclusive.
*1825 - John Quincy Adams elected President by The House of Representatives.
*1825 - Erie Canal complete
*1826- Former presidents Jefferson and Adams die within hours of each other on Independence Day
*1828 - South Carolina Exposition and Protest was published during the Nullification Crisis
*1828 - Baltimore and Ohio Railroads begin construction
*1828 - U.S. presidential election, 1828
*1829 - Andrew Jackson becomes President of the United States

1830s

*1830s - Second Great Awakening
*early 1830s-Oregon Trail comes into use
*1830 - Indian Removal Act
*1831 - Nat Turner's revolt
*1831 - "The Liberator" begins publication
*1831 - Cyrus McCormick invents the reaper
*1831 - Petticoat Affair (also known as the Eaton Affair)
*1832 - "Worcester v. State of Georgia" - U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Cherokees; President Jackson ignores the ruling
*1832 - Black Hawk War
*1832 - Tariff of 1831
*1832 - Ordinance of Nullification passed by South Carolina
*1832 - Seminole War begins
*1832 - Department of Indian Affairs established
*1832 - Jackson re-elected amid struggle with Nicholas Biddle over the fate of the Second Bank of the United States; this struggle leads to the Panic of 1837
*1833 - John C. Calhoun resigns as Vice President
*1833 - Force Bill passed
*1834 - Slavery debates at Lane Theological Seminary
*1835 - Texas War for Independence begins
*1835 - Alexis De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" published
*1836 - Battle of the Alamo, Battle of San Jacinto
*1836 - Creek War of 1836
*1836 - Samuel Colt invents revolver
*1836 - Gag Rule imposed
*1836 - Specie Circular issued
*1836 - Arkansas becomes a state
*1836 - U.S. presidential election, 1836
*1837 - Martin Van Buren becomes President
*1837 - U.S. recognizes the Republic of Texas
*1837 - Caroline Affair
*1837 - Michigan becomes a state
*1837 - Oberlin College enrolls first female students, first coeducation in United States
*1837 - Panic of 1837
*1837 - Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge reverses Dartmouth College v. Woodward; property rights can be overridden by public need
*1838-1839 - The Trail of Tears
*1838 - Aroostook War
*1839 - "Amistad" case

1840s

*1840 - United States presidential election, 1840
*1841 - William Henry Harrison becomes President
*1841 - John Quincy Adams argues the Amistad Case before the Supreme Court
*1841 - President Harrison dies after only a month in office
*1841 - John Tyler becomes President
*1842 - Webster-Ashburton Treaty
*1842 - The Dorr Rebellion: A civil war in Rhode Island
*1843 - Attempt to impeach President Tyler fails
*1844 - U.S. presidential election, 1844
*1844 - Oregon message
*1845 - Texas Annexation
*1845 - James K. Polk becomes President
*1845 - Florida and Texas become states
*1846 - The U.S.-Mexican War begins
*1846 - Iowa becomes a state
*1846 - Wilmot Proviso
*1848 - U.S. presidential election, 1848
*1848 - Wisconsin becomes a state
*1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War
*1849 - Zachary Taylor becomes President
*1849 - California Gold Rush begins

1850s

*1850 - President Taylor threatens to veto Compromise of 1850 even if it means Civil War.
*1850 - Zachary Taylor drops dead, Millard Fillmore becomes President
*1850 - Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
*1850 - Compromise of 1850 passed
*1850 - California becomes a state
*1852 - U.S. presidential election, 1852
*1853 - Franklin Pierce becomes President
*1853 - Commodore Matthew Perry opens Japan
*1853 - Gadsden Purchase
*1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act; nullified Missouri Compromise
*1854 - Ostend Manifesto
*1854 - Convention of Kanagawa
*1854 - Walker Expedition
*1855 - The Farmers' High School, which becomes Penn State University is founded.
*1856 - Sack of Lawrence, Kansas
*1856 - Pottawatomie Massacre
*1856 - Preston Brooks canes Charles Sumner on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building
*1856 - U.S. presidential election, 1856
*1857 - James Buchanan becomes President
*1857 - "Dred Scott v. Sandford" 60 US 393 1857 declares that blacks are not citizens of the United States and cannot sue
*1857 - Utah War
*1857 - LeCompton Constitution rejected in Kansas Territory
*1857 - Panic of 1857
*1858 - Transatlantic cable laid
*1858 - Minnesota becomes a state
*1858 - Lincoln-Douglas Debates
*1858 - U.S. is party to Treaty of Tientsin
*1859 - Harper's Ferry Raid (John Brown's Raid)
*1859 - Comstock Lode discovered
*1859 - Darwin's Origin of Species published

In Detail

1825

John Quincy Adams, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, is inaugurated the sixth President of the United States. None of the presidential candidates had a majority in this election. Although Andrew Jackson had more electoral votes, the House of Representatives voted Adams into office over Jackson. Erie Canal opens.

1826

On July 4, 1826, former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both died on the 50th anniversary of the United States of America’s independence from Britain within hours of each other. President John Quincy Adams attends the first congress of American nations in Panama.

1827

The Martin v. Mott case denied a state the right to withhold its militia from service. A Massachusetts inventor named Joseph Dixon opens the first lead pencil factory in America.

1828

Congress passes the Tariff of Abominations. This tariff was the latest in a series of tariffs designed to foster American manufacturing industries by levying a hefty duty on manufactured goods imported from abroad. These laws were deeply resented by the South, which had thrived on trade of raw materials abroad.

1829

Andrew Jackson, a democrat, is inaugurated the seventh President of the United States. He served two terms as President from 1829 to 1837. During his term, states abandoned property ownership as a prerequisite for the right to vote, broadening the electorate.

1830

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 is passed. This law effectively evicted the major Indian tribes from land east of the Mississippi and consigned them to “Indian Territory” in the West. The Act, passed on May 28, 1830, did not propose robbing the Indians of their land, but exchanging eastern for western territories. However, in practice, the Indians were often coerced or tricked into making the exchange. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began in 1830 with the publication of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith.

1831

On January 1, 1831, William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of The Liberator. This was a radical abolitionist periodical that declared slavery an abomination in the sight of God and demanded the emancipation of all slaves.

1832

In Worchester v. Georgia, the United States of America Supreme Court declared Georgia’s persecution of the Indians under the Indian Removal Act as unconstitutional. However, President Jackson refused to use federal power to enforce the Court’s decision, and instead advised the Indians to accept removal. Samuel F. B. Morse created his original model of the electromagnetic telegraph. South Carolina threatens to secede from the Union.

1833

Congress passes the Force Bill. This Bill allowed the president to use the United States of America military to enforce acts of Congress, sending a clear message to South Carolina. American Antislavery Society is established.

1834

In 1834, Cyrus McCormick patented a horse-drawn reaper, which was equipped with a cutting bar, a reel, divider, guards over reciprocating knives, and a platform on which the grain was deposited after having been cut. This device was an important step toward making large-scale faming possible with a minimal labor force. Henry Blair becomes the first African American to receive a U.S. patent, for a corn harvester. National Republicans change their name to Whigs.

1835

Andrew Jackson survives the first assassination attempt on a U.S. President, when a lunatic claiming to be an heir of the British throne points two pistols at him in the Capitol. Miraculously, both pistols misfire. Oberlin College admits African-Americans.

1836

Arkansas becomes a state. Samuel Colt invents the revolver. Cherokee people are forced to move west. First settlers of Oregon are missionaries hoping to spread Christianity to Native Americans, unknowingly bring measles to Indian children. Marcus Whitman builds mission in Oregon.

1837

Martin Van Buren is inaugurated President of the United States of America. He was the first President born under the United States flag. The United States of America recognizes the Republic of Texas. Michigan becomes a state. Horace Mann, a Massachusetts legislator, initiates educational reform, and drafts a bill that created the state’s school board. Mann advocated tax-supported schools and created the first American teacher training school. Two months after Van Buren took office, the country entered a severe economic depression, beginning with the Panic of 1837, a time when land values dropped and banks failed.

1938

Oberlin College in Ohio becomes the first institution of higher learning to admit women. Frederick Douglas escapes from slavery. Cherokee were driven from their homelands on the Trail of Tears.

1839

Mormon Leader Joseph Smith moves the religion’s headquarters to Illinois after attacks and persecutions in Missouri. Amistad case began, during which 36 slaves were tried for piracy and murder on the high seas after they mutinied on board the Amistad schooner. The Supreme Court eventually ruled the initial transport of the slaves on the Amistad was illegal, thus, the Africans held in this case traveled home in 1842.

1840

“Oregon fever” sweeps through the Mississippi Valley. Riots in Kensington, Philadelphia tear up the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad.

1841

In 1841, Whig William Henry Harrison is inaugurated President of the United States of America. At his inauguration, President Harrison gave a long speech under pouring rain. He developed pneumonia and died a month later. He was the first president to die in office. John Tyler, Harrison’s Vice-President, is inaugurated President of the United States of America. President Tyler urged Congress to adopt an annexation resolution with respect to the Republic of Texas.

1842

A Georgia doctor, Crawford Long, becomes the first physician to use an anesthetic (ether) during an operation. Webster-Ashburton Treaty is reached, settling dispute over the location of the Maine-New Brunswick border between the United States of America and Canada.

1843

Dorethea Dix files report revealing abuses of the mentally ill. Massachusetts law makers agreed to spend the money needed to provide better care for the mentally ill.

1844

The first telegraph is sent between Washington and Baltimore. Specifically, on March 24, 1844, Morse held this first public demonstration on his invention, the electric telegraph.

1845

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas was published. This book portrayed the inhumanity of slavery, and told of the liberation of Frederick Douglas, an escaped, self-educated, Maryland slave. James K. Polk is inaugurated President of the United States of America. In 1845, President Polk offers to buy California and New Mexico from Mexico, but Mexico refused. On December 29, 1845, Texas was finally admitted into the Union. The United States of America acquired the Salt Lake area as part of the settlement of the Mexican War.

1846

The Mexican War began in April 1846. Dr. William Morton, a Massachusetts dentist, is the first to use anesthesia for tooth extraction. Inventor Elias Howe is granted a patent for a sewing machine with eye-pointed needle. Richard Hoe invented the steam cylinder rotary press, a new kind of printing press that printed newspapers quickly and inexpensively. Iowa becomes a state.

1847

In 1847, the Mormon Trek began. It was the most structured mass migration to the vast western lands of the American frontier. The Mormons migrated to the present-day state of Utah.

1848

California was officially transferred to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the United States-Mexican War on February 2, 1848.A few days earlier, on January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in the run of a sawmill on the south fork of the American River, which triggered one of the largest migrations in history and led to the gold rush in 1849. A cooperative venture among six New York newspapers is launched to distribute news via telegraph to member newspapers around the country. It is called the Associated Press. First women’s rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York.

1849

Zachary Taylor, a Whig, is inaugurated as the 12th President of the United States of America. A patent is granted for Morse’s telegraph to protect a machine that marks dashes and dots on strips of paper, depending how long the telegraph key was held down. Morse developed the “Morse Code” to translate the alphabet into the combinations of dots and dashes.

1850The Compromise of 1850 is passed. The Compromise consisted of a series of five bills: California was admitted a free state; New Mexico and Utah were admitted as territories, with the slavery question to be settled later; Texas received $10 million for land it gave the New territory of New Mexico; the slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.; and a fugitive slave law was approved that made it much easier for slave owners to recapture escaped slaves by getting federal help. Millard Fillmore becomes President of the United States of America.

timeline
before=1790-1819
title=Timeline of United States history
years=1820–1859
after=1860-1899