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Thomas Jefferson Elected President
The election constitutes the first peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another in the United States. -
Gabriel Prosser Slave Revolt
Gabriel Prosser was the leader of an unsuccessful slave revolt in Richmond, Virginia -
Second Great Awakening Began
A series of religious revivals starting in 1801, based on Methodism and Baptism. -
Louisiana Purchase
a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. -
Marbury vs. Madison
the first U.S. Supreme Court case to apply the principle of "judicial review" -- the power of federal courts to void acts of Congress in conflict with the Constitution. -
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. -
Embargo Act
a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson on December 22, 1807. -
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
a naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, on June 22, 1807, between the British warship HMS Leopard and the American frigate USS Chesapeake. -
Eli Whitney Patented the Cotton Gin
a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
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. 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
Toured the British textile mills in 1810. Made sketches of what he observed. Returned to America and improved Slater's cotton spinning machine. Opened first integrated cotton mil in Waltham, MA -
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward
This decision placed important restrictions on the ability of state governments to control corporations. -
End of the War of 1812
The Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America is signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium, ending the War of 1812 -
The British Burn Washington DC
During the War of 1812, British forces under General Robert Ross overwhelm American militiamen at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, and march unopposed into Washington, D.C. -
Death of Tecumseh
Tecumseh's death marked the end of Indian resistance east of the Mississippi River, and soon after most of the depleted tribes were forced west. -
Battle of New Orleans
Great Britain and the United States signed a treaty in Ghent, Belgium that effectively ended the War of 1812. News was slow to cross the pond, however, and on January 8, 1815, the two sides met in what is remembered as one of the conflict’s biggest and most decisive engagements -
Hartford Convention
Federalist delegates gathered in Hartford, Connecticut, to discuss the impact of the War of 1812 on their home states' economies. -
Treaty of Ghent Ratified
The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. -
Era of Good Feeling Began
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
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. -
James Monroe Elected president
When he was sworn into office on March 4, 1817, Monroe became the first U.S. president to have his ceremony outdoors and give his inaugural address to the public. -
Anglo-American Convention
Resolved lingering boundary disputes between British North America and the United States -
Adams-Onis Treaty
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. -
McCulloch vs. Maryland
the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution to create the Second Bank of the United States and that the state of Maryland lacked the power to tax the Bank. -
Missouri Compromise
an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free -
Panic of 1819
the impressive post-War of 1812 economic expansion ended. Banks throughout the country failed; mortgages were foreclosed, forcing people out of their homes and off their farms. Falling prices impaired agriculture and manufacturing, triggering widespread unemployment. -
Denmark Vesey Slave Revolt
Dissatisfied with his second-class status as a freedman and determined to help relieve the far more oppressive conditions of bondsmen he knew, Vesey planned and organized the uprising of city and plantation blacks. The plan reportedly called for the rebels to attack guardhouses and arsenals, seize their arms, kill all whites, burn and destroy the city, and free the slaves. As many as 9,000 blacks may have been involved -
Monroe Doctrine
President James Monroe used his annual message to Congress for a bold assertion: ‘The American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.’ Along with such other statements as George Washington’s Farewell Address and John Hay’s Open Door notes regarding China, this ‘Monroe Doctrine’ became a cornerstone of American foreign policy. -
John Quincy Adams Elected President (Corrupt Bargain)
John Quincy Adams named Henry Clay to be his secretary of state, Jackson denounced the election as "the corrupt bargain -
Gibbons vs. Ogden
Did Congress have the power to give Gibbons a license to operate his ferry superseded the state of New York's power to grant Ogden to monopoly. -
Erie Canal Completed
A fleet of boats, led by Governor Dewitt Clinton aboard the Seneca Chief sailed from Buffalo to New York City in record time—just ten days. -
Robert Owen Founded the New Harmony Community
Purchased the town with the intention of creating a new Utopian community. -
Tariff of Abominations
The tariff sought to protect northern and western agricultural products from competition with foreign imports -
Lyman Beecher Delivered His "Six Sermons on Intemperance"
Six sermons on the nature, occasions, signs, evils, and remedy of intemperance. -
Andrew Jackson Elected President
served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of Congress. -
Catherine Beecher Published "Essays On the Education of female Teachers"
Essay on the importance of women as teachers. -
Indian Removal Act
Authorized Andrew Jackson to negotiate land-exchange treaties with tribes living east of the Mississippi. Forced emigration of Indians to the west. -
Joseph Smith Founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Deciphered the book of Mormon from some golden plates given to him by an angel. -
Black Hawk War
A war in Illinois between an alliance of Sauk and Fox Indians under Black Hawk against white settlers in an effort to overturn an illegal treaty ceding tribal lands in that state to the US -
Worcester vs. Georgia
Marshall affirmed and explained the rights of the tribes to remain free from the authority of state governments. -
Andrew Jackson Vetoed the Re-Charter of the Second Bank of the United States
Argued that in the form presented to him it was incompatible with "justice," "sound policy" and the Constitution. -
Nullification Crisis Began
When South Carolina adopted the ordinance to nullify the tariff acts and label them unconstitutional. -
Creation of the Whig Party in the US
Formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party. -
Treaty of New Echota
An agreement that the Cherokee would remove themselves from their land and take up new land in the West. -
Charles B Finney Lead Religious Revivals in Western New York
Charles Grandison Finney is credited with being one of the most forceful American evangelists, one who was greatly responsible for the rise of religious fervor in western New York from the 1820s to the 1850s. -
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. -
First McGuffey Reader Published
A traditional reader including stories, poems, and new word drills. -
Texas Declared Independence from Mexico
Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. -
Battle of the Alamo
Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar. -
Andrew Jackson Issued Specie Circular
It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver. -
Horace Mann Elected Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education
He began the work which was to place him in the foremost rank of American educators. (1st position in US) -
Panic of 1837
Bank of the US failed, cotton prices fell, businesses went bankrupt, and there was widespread unemployment and distress. -
Martin Van Buren Elected President
Eighth President of the US -
Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the "Divinity School Address"
Speech he gave to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School on July 15, 1838. -
Trail of Tears began
Apart from 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. -
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
A treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies. -
Treaty of Wanghia with China
Signed by the US and China, it assured the United States the same trading concessions granted to other powers, greatly expanding America's trade with the Chinese. -
Beginning of Manifest Destiny
The belief that Americans had the right / duty to expand westward across the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. -
James Polk Elected President
Served as the 11th President of the United States. -
US Annexation of Texas
The Incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America -
Start of Mexican War
The conflict started, in part, over a disagreement about which river was Mexico's true northern border: the Nueces or the Rio Grande. -
Bear Flag Revolt
A revolt of American settlers in California against Mexican rule. -
John Humphrey Noyes Founded the Oneida Community
The Oneida Community was a perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes in Oneida, New York. ... The Oneida Community practiced communalism (in the sense of communal property and possessions), complex marriage, male sexual continence, and mutual criticism. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Ended Mexican-American War; Mexico gave up all claims to land from Texas to California for $ 15 million. -
Gold Rush Began in California
Began when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. -
Henry David Thoreau Published "Civil Disobedience"
Resistance to Civil Government is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. -
Commodore Matthew Perry Entered Tokyo Harbor Opening Japan to the US
Commodore Matthew Perry, representing the US government, sails into Tokyo Bay, Japan, with a squadron of four vessels -
Kanagawa Treaty
Ended Japan's two-hundred year period of economic isolation, establishing an American consulate in Japan and securing American coaling rights in Japanese ports.