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James Madison Becomes 4th President
James Madison was born in 1751 and raised in Orange County, Virginia. He was a history and government student at modern day Princeton. His work before becoming President included helping to frame the Virginia Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He then became President in 1808. -
Born
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hodgeville, Kentucky. He was born in a one room log cabin to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. He had a sister named Sarah and a brother who died when he was an infant. -
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Abraham Lincoln
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Elected to the Illinois General Assembly and Begins Studing Law
In a second attempt for a political position at age 24, Abraham Lincoln won the election for Illinois General Assembly. He represented the Sangamon County and was a member of the whig party. It is in the general assembly that he meets his friend John T. Stuart. Stuart was a lawyer and he encouraged Lincoln to study law, even allowing him to borrow his books. -
Charles Babbage Begins Work on the Analytical Engine
After a failed attempt to create his "difference engine", a machine able to calculate polynomials by using a numerical method called the difference method, Charles Babbage began work on the analytical engine. It used punch cards to specify inputs and calculations to have the machine perform. He was trying to build a machine that would be programmable to do any kind of calculation. It was the world's first general purpose computer. -
Webster- Ashburton Treaty
At this time, the main foreign policy issue the U.S. was having was with Great Britain about the northeast boundary line.On August 9, 1842, Daniel Weber, the U.S. Secretary of State, and Lord Ashburton, British Foreign Secretary, signed the Webster- Ashburton Treaty resolving this issue and others as well. The treaty set a boundary line through the Great Lakes and the Lake of the Woods. -
Married Mary Todd
On November 4th, 1842, Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd. They were previously engaged to marry on January 1st, 1841 but Lincoln called it off. He then suffered a period of depression before the two reunited. -
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
Just seven weeks after his son Edward Baker Lincoln was born, Abraham Lincoln was elected into the U.S. House of Representatives. His term in Congress was marked by his thoughts that the war in Mexico was "unconstitutionally" begun. He believed that sending armed troops to land that still belonged to Mexico before it was legally transferred as President Polk, the current president, had done, was beyond the power of the president and therefore unconstitutional. -
"Honest Abe"
Lincoln recieved the nick name "Honest Abe" when in the 8th Judicial circuit when he also gained the reputation of an outstanding lawyer. There are also tales of when he was a boy working as a general store clerk. One day he was counting the money in the cash register and realized he had overcharged a customer. He then walked a long distance just to return the money to a man woman who did not even realize she was overcharged. -
Sixth Debate with Stephen Douglas
During the eletion for the senator of Illinois, opponents Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held a series of popuar debates. In the sixth debate in Quincy, Illinois, The canidates talked of slavery in the Union. Lincoln said that he believed the founding Fathers thought slavery was wrong and he expected it to die on its own. -
Baseball Becomes Popular
Baseball first became popular in New York and Boston in 1860. It was a gentleman's game played with different rules than the modern game played today. The ball was thrown underhand by "the hurler" to the batter known as "the striker" to hit. The striker could not let good throws go by but it was still possible to strike out. -
Elected 16th President of the U.S.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States. His opponents were John C. Breakinridge, John Bell, and northern Democrat Stephen Douglas. Lincoln also ran against Douglas for the position as senator of Illinois after a series of popular debates that helped Lincoln win his party's nomination for presidency. It had been a threatening matter that the southern states would seceed if the republicans took over the White House. Soon after, a civil war broke out. -
Emancipation of Russian Serfs
Czar Alexander II freed 20 million serfs by issuing the Edict of Emancipation. However, the abolition of serfdom did not give serfs their full freedom. It gave peasant communities half of the farmland in the country, while the nobles kept the other half. The government paid the nobles for their land and because of this, the serfs had 49 years to pay the government for the land they had recieved. This debt kept them tied to the land even thought they were now "free." -
Delivers first Inaugural Speech
President Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861. He wanted to express his support for the north, but also did not want to cause the southern states to further loath him and his ideas. The address also did not include any plan to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it existed. The speech ends with the quote, "we are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break the bonds of affection." -
Issued the Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation stated that "all persons held as slaves" in the states that had seceeded from the union "are and henceforward shall be free." This may be misleading to some people, but the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the southern rebel states who had seceeded from the Union.The Emancipation Proclamation also stated that black men were now excepted into the Union Army and Navy. The document now remains in the National Archives in Washington, DC. -
Death
While at Ford's Theater with his wife Mary, a man named John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln in the head during the third act of "Our American Cousin." Booth thought the death of President Lincoln would aid the south. President Lincoln was then taken to and buried in Springfield, Illinois. -
King George the V is Born
George Fredrick Ernest Albert was born June 3, 1865 at Marlborough House in London. He recieved the name King George V after being crowned king in 1910.
