Romanticism By emwhales 1803 Louisiana Purchase extends the Nation's territory to the Rocky Mountains 1804 Lewis and Clark's expedition begins 1807 Robert Fulton's Steamboat makes first trip from New York City to Albany 1812 The United States declares war on Great Britain 1814 The Bombardment of Fort Mchenry inspires Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner" 1817 William Cullen Bryant publishes early draft of "Thanatopsis" in a Boston magazine 1820 Missouri Compromise bans slavery in parts of new territories 1825 Completion and success of Erie Canal starts canal building throughout the Nation 1827 Edgar Allan Poe publishes his first collection of poems, Tamerlane 1831 Cyrus Mccormick invents the Mechanical Reaper 1837 Samuel Morse patents Electromagnetic Telegraph 1838 U.S. Army marches with the Cherokees of Georgia on the "Trail of Tears" to Oklahoma 1846 Mexican War begins 1846 Abraham Lincoln is first elected to Congress 1848 Mexican War ends; U.S. expands borders 1848 California Gold Rush begins 1848 Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes the Scarlet Letter 1850 California admitted to the Union 1851 Herman Melville publishes Moby Dick 1851 Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes The House of Seven Gables 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin
