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Second Great Awakening Began
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement. -
Eli Whitney Patented the Cotton Gin
A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, allowing for much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The fibers are then processed into various cotton goods such as linens, while any undamaged cotton is used largely for textiles like clothing. -
Gabriel Prosser Slave Revolt
Gabriel, today commonly—if incorrectly—known as Gabriel Prosser, was a literate enslaved blacksmith who planned a large slave rebellion in the Richmond area in the summer of 1800. -
Thomas Jefferson elected president
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Marbury vs. Madison
Marbury vs. Madison is a landmark case by the United States Supreme Court which forms the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. -
Beginning of Lewis and Clark Expedition
One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. -
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
The Chesapeake–Leopard affair was a naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia between the British warship HMS Leopard and the American frigate USS Chesapeake -
Embargo Act
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson on December 22, 1807. It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. -
James Madison Elected President
The Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney decisively. -
Non-Intercourse Act
In the last sixteen days of President Thomas Jefferson's presidency, the Congress replaced the Embargo Act of 1807 with the almost unenforceable Non-Intercourse Act of March 1809. This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. -
Francis Cabot Lowell Smuggled Memorized Textile Mill Plans From Manchester, England
In just six years, Francis Cabot Lowell built up an American textile manufacturing industry. He was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1775, and became a successful merchant. On a trip to England at age 36, he was impressed by British textile mills. -
Beginning of Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico. -
Death of Tecumseh
The leader of the Indian forces was Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief who organized intertribal resistance to the encroachment of white settlers on Indian lands. He was killed in the fighting. -
Robert Owen Founded the New Harmony Community
During the early part of the 19th century, New Harmony was the site of two attempts to establish Utopian communities. The first, Harmonie (1814-1825), was founded by the Harmonie Society, a group of Separatists from the German Lutheran Church. -
The British Burn Washington DC
The Burning of Washington was a British attack against Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, during the War of 1812. -
Hartford Convention
The Federalists met in the Hartford Convention to express their opposition to the war. They even discussed the idea of secession. When the war ended in something of a victory for the US, the Federalists appeared to be unpatriotic and defeatist. -
Treaty of Ghent Ratified
The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. -
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was the last major battle of the War of 1812. -
End of the War of 1812
Results of the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States involved with no geographical changes. The main result of the war was two centuries of peace between the United States and Britain. -
James Monroe Elected President
Born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, James Monroe fought under George Washington and studied law with Thomas Jefferson. He was elected the fifth president of the United States. -
Era of Good Feeling Began
The Era of Good Feelings marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812. -
Rush-Bagot Treaty
The Rush–Bagot Treaty or Rush–Bagot Disarmament, was a treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, following the War of 1812. -
Anglo-American Convention
The Anglo-American Convention set the boundary between the Missouri Territory in the United States and British North America (later Canada) at the forty-ninth parallel. -
McCulloch vs. Maryland
McCulloch vs. Maryland was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. -
Panic of 1819
The Panic of 1819 was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States followed by a general collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821. -
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward
A case in which the Court held that the charter to Dartmouth College was a contract between private parties, and that the New Hampshire government's attempt to turn the College into a public institution was unconstitutional under the contract clause. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty, was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. -
Denmark Vesey Slave Revolt
The plot organized by Denmark Vesey, a free black carpenter, in Charleston, South Carolina was perhaps the largest slave conspiracy in North American history. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in The Americas beginning in 1823. -
John Quincy Adams Elected President (Corrupt Bargain)
To the surprise of many, the House elected John Quincy Adams over rival Andrew Jackson. It was widely believed that Clay, the Speaker of the House at the time, convinced Congress to elect Adams, who then made Clay his Secretary of State. Jackson's supporters denounced this as a "corrupt bargain." -
Gibbons vs. Ogden
Gibbons v. Ogden was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce, granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, encompassed the power to regulate navigation. -
Erie Canal Completed
Built between 1817 and 1825, the original Erie Canal traversed 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo. It was the longest artificial waterway and the greatest public works project in North America. The canal put New York on the map as the Empire State—the leader in population, industry, and economic strength. -
Lyman Beecher Delivered His "Six Sermons on Intemperance"
Beecher delivered many sermons on the evil behind drinking alcohol. -
Tariff of Abominations
The "Tariff of Abominations" was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States on May 19, 1828, designed to protect industry in the northern United States. -
Andrew Jackson Elected President
The United States presidential election of 1828 was the 11th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, October 31, to Tuesday, December 2, 1828. It featured a re-match between incumbent President John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson, who won a plurality of the electoral college vote in the 1824 election. -
Charles B. Finney Lead Religious Revivals in Western New York
Huge sermon that turned into one of the biggest revivals of all time. -
Joseph Smith Founded the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Indian tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands. -
Worcester vs. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia was a case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional. -
Andrew Jackson Vetoed the Re-Charter of the Second National Bank of the United States
Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill re-chartering the Second Bank by arguing that in the form presented to him it was incompatible with “justice,” “sound policy” and the Constitution. -
Nullification Crisis Began
The Nullification Crisis was a United States sectional political crisis in 1832-33, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, which involved a confrontation between South Carolina and the federal government -
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. -
Creation of the Whig Party in the U.S.
It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829–37) and his Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of the US Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization, banking, and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing. -
Catherine Beecher Published Essays on the Education of Female Teachers
Beecher wrote about the processes involved with prepping women for the classroom. -
Treaty of New Echota
It cost three men their lives and provided the legal basis for the Trail of Tears, the forcible removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia. -
First McGuffey Reader Published
A traditional reader including stories, poems, and new word drills. -
Martin Van Buren Elected President
Martin Van Buren was an American statesman who served as the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. -
Andrew Jackson Issued Specie Circular
The Specie Circular is a United States presidential executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson in 1836 pursuant to the Coinage Act and carried out by his successor, President Martin Van Buren. It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver. -
Battle of the Alamo
On February 23, 1836, a Mexican force numbering in the thousands and led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began a siege of the fort. Though vastly outnumbered, the Alamo’s 200 defenders–commanded by James Bowie and William Travis and including the famed frontiersman Davy Crockett–held out courageously for 13 days before the Mexican invaders finally overpowered them. -
Texas Declared Independence from Mexico
On March 2, 1836, Texas formally declared its independence from Mexico. The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos, now commonly referred to as the "birthplace of Texas." -
Transcendental Club's First Meeting
Frederic Henry Hedge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Ripley, and George Putnam met in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 8, 1836, to discuss the formation of a new club; their first official meeting was held eleven days later at Ripley's house in Boston. -
Horace Mann Elected Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education
Horace Mann was an American educational reformer and Whig politician dedicated to promoting public education. -
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up. -
Trail of Tears Began
In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the "Divinity School Address"
The "Divinity School Address" is the common name for the speech Ralph Waldo Emerson gave to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School. -
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (Canada) -
James Polk Elected President
James Knox Polk was an American politician who served as the 11th President of the United States. He previously was elected the 13th Speaker of the House of Representatives and Governor of Tennessee. -
Treaty of Wanghia with China
Treaty that made trade with China much easier and less taxed. -
U.S. Annexation of Texas
In 1844, Congress finally agreed to annex the territory of Texas. On December 29, 1845, Texas entered the United States as a slave state, broadening the irrepressible differences in the United States over the issue of slavery and setting off the Mexican-American War. -
Start of the Mexican War
The Mexican-American War marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. -
Bear Flag Revolt
Bear Flag Revolt was a short-lived independence rebellion precipitated by American settlers in California's Sacramento Valley against Mexican authorities. -
John Humphrey Noyes Founded the Oneida Community
The Oneida Community was a Perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 in Oneida, New York. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. -
Henry David Thoreau Published Civil Disobedience
Civil Disobedience is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. -
Gold Rush Began in California
The discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 sparked the Gold Rush, arguably one of the most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century. -
Commodore Matthew Perry Entered Tokyo Harbor Opening Japan to the U.S.
Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy, commanding a squadron of two steamers and two sailing vessels, sailed into Tôkyô harbor aboard the frigate Susquehanna. -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States purchased via a treaty signed on December 30, 1853, by James Gadsden, U.S. ambassador to Mexico at that time -
Kanagawa Treaty
Treaty of Kanagawa was Japan's first treaty with a Western nation. Concluded by representatives of the United States and Japan at Kanagawa (now part of Yokohama), it marked the end of Japan's period of seclusion (1639–1854).
