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Thomas Jefferson elected
Thomas Jefferson, with his Jeffersonian democracy, sought to enforce an agrarian society with a Yeomen Farmer who produced goods independently. -
Second Great Awakening begins
The Second Great Awakening brought a huge influence on women as the majority of converts were women. Their role in church increased, bringing social reform. -
Lousisiana Purchased
President Jefferson bought the entire western area of the United States at a very cheap price. Although he did not consult anything with the government, he went ahead and bought the enormous land at very cheap price, which lead to a rapid expansion of the West. -
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War of 1812
The British continued to impress US sailors, capturing their ships and forcing them into British service, which led to a naval war between United States and Great Britain. -
McCulloch v. Maryland
The Supreme Court decision when Maryland tried to destroy the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on its bill. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise gave a temporary solution to the slavery problem. It stated that Maine would become a separate, free state and Missouri a slave state to maintain the balance, and states above the 36'30' line would be entered as a free state (and any state below a slave state). -
Andrew Jackson elected
Andrew Jackson promoted a Jacksonian democracy, in which more power was placed in the executive branch to reflect the wishes of the people. -
The Liberator begins publication
The Liberator was published by Lloyd Garrison, an adamant abolitionist, to express the awfulness of slavery and a demand of the end to the evil practice immediately. -
Nullification Crisis
The Nullification Crisis refers to President Jackson's political confrontation between the federal government and the South, where South Carolina proclaimed the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 to be unconstitutional and therefore should be nullified. Southern states threatened secession, and the federal government eventually voided the Tariffs. -
Tocqueville publishes Democracy in America
Frenchman Tocqueville analyzes the American government in his publication. -
Emerson publises Self-Reliance
Transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson published an essay about the necessity of individuality and faith in themselves. -
Dorothea Dix visits her first jail with insane inmates
Dorothea Dix really traveling to places researching the mentally ill, and fighting for a better treatment and facility. Describing the gory details in how mental patients were treated, she sought to improve their conditions. She is an example of how women proved to be useful to society, contributing social reform. -
Frederick Douglass publishes his autobiography
Frederick Douglass was a former slave who educated himself. He gave speeches regarding his experience as a slave, which attracted white abolitionists. He was regarded as the ideal black man, educated and free, and the Northern abolitionists used his image to argue that slaves should not be treated as property -
Seneca Falls Convention
Seneca Falls Convention was the first organized movement pushing for women’s rights and equality. Elizabeth Candy Stanton delivered a speech, Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, demanding social and political equality. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act allowed slave owners from the South to catch runaway slaves who escaped to the North and bring them back. This Act was opposed in the North, but the South pressured, heating the controversy. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
Uncle Tom's Cabin paints a realistic, personal narrative of the slaves in the South running for freedom and family. The bestseller attracted many readers, educating them of the inhumane practice and bringing the issue closer to home. As more people realized the evilness of slavery, more and more opposition rose. -
Thoreau publishes Walden
One of the transcendentalists, Thoreau writes about his experience with living out in nature independently, learning how to fend for himself. -
Whitman publishes Leaves of Grass (1st edition)
Transcendentalist writer Walt Whitman published his compilation of poems, which are about people and nature. -
Dred Scott decision
Dred Scott, a slave who moved to Ohio with his master, sued for his freedom since he lived in a free state and had rights to freedom. His case was denied by the Supreme Court as slaves had no right to sue, which led to much controversy over the slavery issue. -
John Brown attacks Harper's Ferry
John Brown was an abolitionist who sought to end slavery with violence, by arming himself and others like-minded to attack Harper's Ferry. He was eventually caught and sentenced, and he faced his sentence. Since then, he came to be named a martyr, dubbed a hero by some, a lunatic by others. -
Abraham Lincoln elected
Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States during the Civil War. His main goal was the preserve the Union, but he also made the abolition of slavery possible. -
Civil War begins
The Confederacy (the South) seceded from the Union, and the first battle broke out on Fort Sumter. The Civil War was mainly fought on the controversial debate of states' right to slavery.
