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The Election of 1840 involved the Whig party hero William Henry Harrison and the previous President Martin Van Buren who ran for re-election. Harrison won and died one month in office.
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After the rebellion at sea, the U.S. supreme court rules negroes are free. The United states v. The Amistad started, and La Amistad stated that africans were spanish property, and Gilpin argued they needed to be returned.
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George Latimer escapes the plantation he was a slave on and goes up north, only to be caught and returned. One of the first examples of how the fugitive slave law worked.
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Mexican President Antonio Lopez de santa anna threatens if Texas is annexed by the U.S. it would be considered an act of war by Mexico.
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Goodyear patents vulcanization of rubber, and changes the world industialy, and economically. Tires are made and it modernizes cars.
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The United States congress approves the annexation of Texas regardless if Mexico wants a war. The U.S. prepares for Mexico to retaliate.
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Congress is presented the idea that slavery in territories that are aquired after the war with Mexico would be banned. The name for this bill is the Wilmot Proviso. Wilmot comes from DAvid Wilmot.
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5,000 American troops under General Zachary Taylor use their superiority in artillery to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops under Antonio López de Santa Anna, defeating the Mexicans the next day.
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The Treaty of Guadalupe is signed to insure peace between Mexico and the U.S., and we get Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and the rest of Colorado and Wyoming for $15 million.
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The "Conductor" of the underground railroad escapes a maryland plantation with her two brothers for the first time. She is later found, brought back, and does it again, but successfully.
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United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
