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Second Great Awakening Began
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States.Revivals were a key part of the movement and attracted hundreds of converts to new Protestant denominations. -
Eli Whitney Patented the Cotton Gin
In 1794, U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
Gabriel Prosser Slave Revolt
Gabriel Prosser, a literate enslaved blacksmith, planned a large slave rebellion in the Richmond area in the summer of 1800. -
Thomas Jefferson Elected President
The election of Thomas Jefferson as the third president constitutes the first peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another in the United States. -
Louisiana Purchase
The United States acquired the domain of Louisiana territory (some 828,000 square miles of land) from France for several million francs. -
Marbury v Madison
This was a U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws, statutes, and some government actions that contravene the U.S. Constitution. -
Beginning of Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark's mission was to explore the unknown territory of the Louisiana Territory, establish trade with the Natives and confirm the authority of the United States in the region. One of their goals was to find a waterway from the US to the Pacific Ocean. -
Embargo Act
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson on December 22, 1807. It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports -
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
The Chesapeake–Leopard affair was a naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia between the British warship HMS Leopard and the American frigate USS Chesapeake. The crew of Leopard pursued, attacked, and boarded the American frigate, looking for deserters from the Royal Navy. -
Non-Intercourse Act
This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. Its intent was to damage the economies of the United Kingdom and France. Like its predecessor, the Embargo Act, it was mostly ineffective, and contributed to the coming of the War of 1812. -
James Madison Elected President
The Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney decisively and became the sixth president of the United States. -
Francis Cabot Lowell Smuggled Memorized Textile Mill Plans from Manchester, England
On a trip to England at age 36, he was impressed by British textile mills. Like Samuel Slater before him, Lowell was inspired to create his own manufacturing enterprise in the United States. They introduced a power loom, based on the British model, with significant technological improvements. -
Lyman Beecher Delivered His "Six Sermons on Intemperance"
He was a Presbyterian minister, leading revivalist and social reformer. The Six Sermons were on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and. Remedy of Intemperance. -
Beginning of Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny, in U.S. history, the supposed inevitability of the continued territorial expansion of the boundaries of the United States westward to the Pacific and beyond. Before the American Civil War (1861–65), the idea of Manifest Destiny was used to validate continental acquisitions in the Oregon Country, Texas, New Mexico, and California. -
Death of Tecumseh
Shawnee Indian chief, orator, military leader, and advocate of intertribal Indian alliance who directed Indian resistance to white rule in the Ohio River valley. In the War of 1812 he joined British forces for the capture of Detroit and the invasion of Ohio -
The British Burn Washington DC
During the War of 1812, British forces under General Robert Ross overwhelm American militiamen at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, and march unopposed into Washington, D.C -
Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was a series of meetings from December 15, 1814 – January 5, 1815, in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, in which the New England Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 and the political problems arising from the federal government -
Robert Owen Founded the New Harmony Community
George Rapp's Harmony Society decided to relocate to Pennsylvania. Owen renamed it New Harmony and established the village as his preliminary model for a utopian community. -
Battle of New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans, (January 8, 1815), U.S. victory against Great Britain in the War of 1812 and the final major battle of that conflict. Both the British and American troops were unaware of the peace treaty that had been signed between the two countries in Ghent, Belgium, a few weeks prior, and so the Battle of New Orleans occurred despite the agreements made across the Atlantic. -
Era of Good Feeling Began
The “Era of Good Feelings” began in 1815 in the mood of victory that swept the nation at the end of the War of 1812. Exaltation replaced the bitter political divisions between Federalists and Republicans, between northern and southern states, and between east-coast cities and settlers on the western frontier. -
Treaty of Ghent Ratified
The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. Peace negotiations began in Ghent, Belgium -
End of the War of 1812
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James Monroe Elected President
Born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, James Monroe fought under George Washington and studied law with Thomas Jefferson. He was elected the fifth president of the United States in 1817 -
Anglo-American Convention
The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland -
Rush-Bagot Treaty
The Rush–Bagot Treaty or Rush–Bagot Disarmament was a treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, following the War of 1812. -
McCulloch v Maryland
McCulloch v. Maryland, U.S. Supreme Court case decided in 1819, in which Chief Justice John Marshall affirmed the constitutional doctrine of Congress’ “implied powers.” It determined that Congress had not only the powers expressly conferred upon it by the Constitution but also all authority “appropriate” to carry out such powers. -
Panic of 1819
In 1819, the impressive post-War of 1812 economic expansion ended. Banks throughout the country failed; mortgages were foreclosed, forcing people out of their homes and off their farms. Falling prices impaired agriculture and manufacturing, triggering widespread unemployment. -
Dartmouth College v Woodward
Dartmouth College case, formally Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward (4 Wheat. 518 [1819]), U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court held that the charter of Dartmouth College granted in 1769 by King George III of England was a contract and, as such, could not be impaired by the New Hampshire legislature. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty, was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted -
Denmark Vesey Slave Revolt
Denmark Vesey was a literate, skilled carpenter and leader among African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina. He was accused and convicted of being the ringleader of "the rising," a major potential slave revolt planned for the city in June 1822 -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas beginning in 1823. -
Gibbons v Ogden
Gibbons v. Ogden, (1824), U.S. Supreme Court case establishing the principle that states cannot, by legislative enactment, interfere with the power of Congress to regulate commerce. -
John Quincy Adams Elected President (Corrupts Bargain)
The 1824 presidential election marked the final collapse of the Republican-Federalist political framework. Andrew Jackson received more electoral and popular votes than any other candidate, but not the majority of 131 electoral votes needed to win the election. -
Erie Canal Completed
It was built to create a navigable water route from New York City and the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. -
Tariff of Abominations
The "Tariff of Abominations" was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States on May 19, 1828, designed to protect industry in the northern United States. -
Andrew Jackson Elected President
After narrowly losing to John Quincy Adams in the contentious 1824 presidential election, Jackson returned four years later to win redemption, soundly defeating Adams and becoming the nation’s seventh president -
Catherine Beecher Published Essays on the Education of Female Teachers
She published a seminal essay on the importance of women as teachers, "Suggestions Respecting Improvements in Education." In this essay, she promoted women as natural teachers, but also advocated for an expansion and development of teacher training programs, claiming that the work of a teacher was more important to society than that of a lawyer or doctor. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands. -
Joseph Smith Founded the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian, Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. -
Worcester v Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515, was a case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional -
Andrew Jackson Vetoed the Re-Charter of the Second Bank of the United States
Jackson Vetoes Re-Charter of the Second Bank of the US. Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill re-chartering the Second Bank in July 1832 by arguing that in the form presented to him it was incompatible with “justice,” “sound policy” and the Constitution. -
Nullification Crisis Began
The convention declared that the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and unenforceable within the state of South Carolina after February 1, 1833. They said that attempts to use force to collect the taxes would lead to the state's secession. -
Black Hawk War
At the centre of the Black Hawk War was a treaty between the Sauk and Fox peoples and the United States that had been signed in St. Louis in November 1804, by which the Indians agreed to cede to the United States all of their lands east of the Mississippi and some claims west of it. -
Creation of the Whig Party in the US
The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829–1837) and his Democratic Party. -
Treaty of New Echota
Treaty of New Echota, signed by a small minority of the Cherokee, ceded to the United States all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River for $5 million. The overwhelming majority of tribal members repudiated the treaty -
Charles B Finney Lead Religious Revivals in Western New York
Charles Grandison Finney is credited with being one of the most forceful American evangelists, one who was greatly responsible for the rise of religious fervor in western New York from the 1820s to the 1850s. -
Transcendental Club's First Meeting
During the meetings of the Club many of the important Transcendentalist ideas were developed. Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern United States. It arose as a reaction to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time. -
First McGuffey Reader Published
McGuffey Readers were a series of graded primers for grade levels 1-6. They were widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, and are still used today in some private schools and in homeschooling. -
Texas Declared Independence from Mexico
Slavery was against Mexican law, but Americans brought slaves to Texas. Many American settlers and Tejanos, or Mexicans who lived in Texas, wanted to break away from Mexico. They did not like laws made by Santa Anna, Mexico's president. The Tejanos and Texans decided to fight for independence. -
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar, killing the Texian defenders. -
Andrew Jackson Issued Specie Circular
The Specie Circular is a United States presidential executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson in 1836 pursuant to the Coinage Act and carried out by his successor, President Martin Van Buren. It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver. -
Horace Mann Elected Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education
Horace Mann was an American politician and education reformer, best known for promoting universal public education and teacher training in "normal schools." -
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up. Pessimism abounded during the time. -
Martin Van Buren Elected President
Van Buren subscribed to the political theories of Thomas Jefferson, who had favored states' rights over a strong federal government. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1821, and soon created an efficient state political organization known as the Albany Regency -
Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the "Divinity School Address"
Emerson presented his speech to a group of graduating divinity students, their professors, and local ministers. In this address, Emerson made comments that were radical for their time. Emerson proclaimed many of the tenets of Transcendentalism against a more conventional Unitarian theology. He argued that moral intuition is a better guide to the moral sentiment than religious doctrine, and insisted upon the presence of true moral sentiment in each individual. -
Trail of Tears Began
In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. -
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
This was a treaty that resolved several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (the region that became Canada). -
Treaty of Wanghia with China
The Treaty of Wanghia was a diplomatic agreement between Qing-dynasty China and the United States -
James Polk Elected President
The United States presidential election of 1844 was the 15th quadrennial presidential election, held from November 1, to December 4, 1844. Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas. -
US Annexation of Texas
The annexation led quickly to war with Mexico in 1846. The victorious United States came away with control of the American Southwest and California through the Treaty of Guadalupe in 1848. -
Start of the Mexican War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the American intervention in Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848 -
Bear Flag Revolt
During the Bear Flag Revolt, from June to July 1846, a small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic. -
John Humphrey Noyes Founded the Oneida Community
The Oneida Community practiced communalism (in the sense of communal property and possessions), complex marriage, male sexual continence, and mutual criticism. -
Gold Rush Began in California
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad in search for gold -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the U.S.-Mexican War. Signed on 2 February 1848, it is the oldest treaty still in force between the United States and Mexico -
Henry David Thoreau Published Civil Disobedience
Resistance to Civil Government is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. -
Commodore Matthew Perry Entered Tokyo Harbor Opening Japan to the US
The United States and the Opening to Japan, 1853. On July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world. -
Gadsden Purchase
he Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. -
Kanagawa Treaty
In Tokyo, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan.
