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Important Events in the 19th Century
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Louisiana Purchase
The United States purchased 828,000 square miles, known as the Louisiana Territory, from France for $15 million. This purchase doubled the size of the United States and gave the new country room to expand. -
War of 1812 Begins
The War of 1812 fought between Britain and America. America deemed Britain’s blockade of French ports to be unfair. Britain was boarding U.S. and other neutral ships to check cargo they suspected were imports or exports of French ports. -
Treaty of Córdoba
This treaty established Mexico’s independence from Spain after the Mexican War of Independence had concluded. Spain did not recognize Mexico’s independence until 1836, 15 years after the Treaty of Córdoba. -
Indian Removal Act
This act granted the president rights to grant Indian tribes unsettled western prairie land in exchange for their lands within U.S. state borders. In the Southeast, there were five tribes, the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and Creek tribes, who refused to trade their ancestral lands and cultivated farms for unknown lands in the Indian Territory. These tribes were eventually forcefully removed by U.S. military coercion. -
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836, and was not recognized by the U.S. until a year later, in 1837. Texas was absorbed into the U.S. as a state in 1845. -
The Great Famine of Ireland
A famine that occurred in Ireland between 1845 and 1849 when the potato crop failed. Late blight, a disease that destroys the leaves and edible roots of the plant, was the cause of the failed crop. The crop failure of 1845 was followed by the even more devastating failures every year until 1849. The population of Ireland fell from 8.4 million before the famine, to 6.6 million after. About one million people died from starvation or diseases from the blight, and about two million Irish emigrated. -
Suez Canal is Constructed
In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps came to an agreement with the Ottoman governor of Egypt to begin construction of the Suez Canal. The canal is 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez and connects the Mediterranean and the Red seas. In 1859, construction began. After it was complete, it was not large enough to support most ships, however major improvement would come in later years and it would soon become one of the most used shipping lanes in the world. -
American Civil War Begins
The American Civil War was fought between the Confederate army and the Union army. The Confederate army was based in the southern part of the U.S. and the Union was based in the northern part of the U.S. The Confederacy wanted to secede to protect their right to own slaves. The Union did not see them as a sovereign country, but states in rebellion. -
Eiffel Tower Inaugurated in Paris
Assembly began in 1887 and was completed in 1889. The tower consists of 18,000 pieces and held together by 2,500,000 rivets. It was built to be shown during the World’s Fair of 1889 and was intended to be a temporary piece, but due to its success it remained a permanent installation. Later radio antenna were added to aid with digital radio broadcasting in the city. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
A legal case where the U.S. Supreme Court put forward the “Separate but Equal” statement, relating to laws that mandated racial segregation between white students and African American students in public schools. They decided that this segregation was constitutional as long as the separate facilities provided were in fact equal. This case would later be overturned in 1954 in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case.