-
The Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant revival movement during the early nineteenth century. The movement started around 1800, had begun to gain momentum by 1820, and was in decline by 1870. Revivals were a key part of the movement and attracted hundreds of converts to new Protestant denominations. -
Period: to
time span
-
Mexican Rule of California
The victory in the Mexican War of Independence from Spain in 1821 marked the beginning of Mexican rule in California, in theory, though in practice the First Mexican Empire did during its reign. The 1824 Constitution of Mexico refers to Alta California as a "territory". -
The Tight Election of 1824
John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson in 1824 by garnering more electoral votes through the House of Representatives, even though Jackson originally received more popular and electoral votes. -
Fighting for Better Pay
The phrase “strength in numbers” applies to many situations. During the 1830s and 1840s, American workers in many different industries realized that groups were stronger than individuals. -
The Abolition Movement
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, was the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. 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 the white settlement of their ancestral lands. -
The Black War Hawk
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. -
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos in putting up armed resistance to the centralist government of Mexico. -
The Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down; unemployment went up, and pessimism abounded. ... Banks collapsed, businesses failed, prices declined, and thousands of workers lost their jobs. -
Trails to the West
Hundreds of thousands of Americans traveled westward during the migration of the 1840s and 1850s. Pioneers had a choice of trails, but none was easy. The Oregon Trail alone claimed some 34,000 lives—most from accidents or cholera. -
Opposition to Immigration
Thus nativism has become a general term for opposition to immigration based on fears that immigrants will "distort or spoil" existing cultural values. In situations where immigrants greatly outnumber the original inhabitants, nativist movements seek to prevent cultural change. -
The Election of 1840
In the Presidential election, Whig General William Henry Harrison defeated Democratic President Martin Van Buren. Harrison won by a margin of 5% in the popular vote but dominated the electoral college. ... The 1840 Presidential Election was one of major controversy. -
Manifest Destiny
the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable. -
Annexation of Texas
The Texas annexation was the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America. Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836. -
Women’s Rights and Seneca Falls
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention in the United States. Held in July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, the meeting launched the women's suffrage movement, which more than seven decades later ensured women the right to vote. -
The Forty-Niners
Arriving in covered wagons, clipper ships, and on horseback, some 300,000 migrants, known as “forty-niners” (named for the year they began to arrive in California, 1849), staked claims to spots of land around the river, where they used pans to extract gold from silt deposits. -
Moving to the Midwest
Poverty and hunger were not the only push factors that affected immigrants. Civil unrest, or open conflict within a society, also encouraged people to leave their home countries. For example, in the middle of the 19th century, areas in Germany experienced a series of revolutions. As a result, many Germans fled to the United States.
You are not authorized to access this page.