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United States History Chronology in 1840-1865 Essay

July 17, 2022 by Essay Writer

In the year 1840, William Henry Harrison of the Whig party won the presidency. In 1841, and less than a month in office, Harrison dies and John Tyler takes up office. In 1843, Richard Hoe invented the Rotary Printing Press that made printing of photographs easier and improved on the quality of newspapers. In 1844, the Baltimore-Washington telegraph is established and James Polk is elected president. In 1845, there occurs a mass Irish immigration into America due to a potato famine. In 1846, a Mexican American war begins over the Texas border.

Later on, David Wilmot (D-PA) a representative offers an amendment to a war appropriators bill i.e. “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist” (Adams and Harbert 43), in territories won from Mexico, which fails. In 1847, presidential contender General Lewis Cass (D) recommends that every region choose whether to be “a liberated territory” or “a slave region.” It is in this same year that the first Chinese immigrants arrive in New York. In 1848, Zachary Taylor is elected president and a Women’s Rights Convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. New York becomes the base for the Cunard Steamship Line making it the center to and from New York (Adams and Harbert 44).

In New York, the first communal society in the U.S, Onieda Community is formed. In the course of year, there is a German immigration as a result of an abortive revolution in Germany and gold is discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California. In addition, Linus Yale invented a pin tumbler lock, which his son later brushed on making it smaller. In 1849, California applies for admission to the United States and is granted in 1850 by Senators Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas. Also in this year, the first manual dishwasher was patented by Joel Houghton. In 1851, Moses Farmer and Dr. William Channing invented a firebox, which alerted the fire department of any fire and was first used in Massachusetts.

In 1852, the author Harriet Beecher Stowe has his book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin published and this greatly influences anti-slavery feelings. In this same year, Franklin Pierce is elected president. In 1853, an African-American chef, George Crum, invented the Potato Chips. In 1854, the railroad reaches the Mississippi River with the Kansas Nebraska Act allowing these two territories to be slave owning if they so chose as it repealed slavery limitations set by the Missouri Compromise (Adams and Harbert 1986).

Later on in the year, the Republican Party is formed. Senatorial candidates Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln start a series of debates where Douglas comes up with a Freeport Doctrine, which states that; territorial legislatures can bar slavery by either passing such a law or not enforcing slavery laws. In the year 1854, Elisha Graves Otis made the first elevator brakes, which enhanced on their security. After two years, Gail Borden formulated concentrated milk, which was utilized during civil war. In 1857, a new depression begins as New York and St. Louis are connected by rail.

In this year, Joseph Gavetty invented the toilet paper. In the year 1858, George M. Pullman devises “sleeping cars on trains” (Adams and Harbert 45). Later on in the year, the Ladies Christian Association later known as the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) is formed. In 1859, in hopes of starting a slave revolt, abolitionist John Brown stages a raid on Harpers Ferry (Virginia) but it fails. Georgia enacts legislation allowing any black man indicted for vagrancy to be sold and passed a law banning wills or deeds that granted freedom to slaves. In irony, President James Buchanan opposed the slave trade then banned searches of U.S ships by British patrols and thus the trade continued.

In 1860, the Pony Express is started and the Democratic Party splits with the southerners walking out of the nominating convention protesting against Douglas calming down “free” states. Later on in the year, Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the U.S. When the proposal to resolve the secession crisis fails, South Carolina secedes from the union and in 1861 Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee all join in. Together, they form the Confederate States of America (CSA) with Jefferson Davis elected as president.

Kansas later joins the Union as a free state. Abraham Lincoln sends a supply ship into South Carolina territorial waters to bring food; given a choice between an attack on the fort or submission, the Carolinians attack and a civil war begins. The south eventually wins this very real and bloody war under General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. General George McClellan then organizes an expanded Union army that begins to block all confederate ports. Later on during that year detective, Allen Pinkerton uncovers a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

The president hires him to form a secret service (now the Secret Service). Also in this year, Yale grants the country’s first Ph.D. In 1862, New Orleans was captured and the Congress abolished slavery in Columbia and in the U.S. In 1863, black soldiers were allowed to join the army and “free” slaves were allowed to live in the Confederate States. In 1864, the United States currencies with the words “In God We Trust.” Later in 1864, Rillieux Nobert devises manifold upshot vacuity sugar evaporator that simplified manufacturing of sugar capability, quicker and securer with the end- product becoming better quality. Sugar manufacturing factories around the world ultimately implemented his machinery. Lincoln is re-elected and in 1865, assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s theatre (Adams and Harbert 45).

Work Cited

Adams, Henry and Harbert, Earl. History of the United States of America during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson. New York, NY: The Library of America, 1986.

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