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1843
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| February 6, 1843 - At the Bowery Amphitheatre in New
York City, the first minstral show in the United States debuts. May 22, 1843 - The first major wagon train headed for the northwest via the Oregon Trail begins with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri. June 4, 1843 - The Black Horse Troop of the 1st United States Dragoons from Fort Scott, Kansas join a military escort into Indian Territory along the Santa Fe Trail and apprehend Jacob Snively and his Texas freebooters. June 21, 1843 - Edgar Allan Poe publishes his story "The Gold Bug" in the Dollar Newspaper. He is paid more than a dollar, however, winning the grand prize of $100. November 28, 1843 - The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by European nations as an independent nation. This date signifies Hawaiin Independence Day. |
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1844
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| April 6, 1844 - Edgar Allan Poe, the highly regarded
writer of short stories, departs his home in Philadelphia for New York
City. Although most of this best works were written while in
the City of Brotherly Love for two years, he left the city with $4.50
to his name. May 24, 1844 - Samuel B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, sends the first message over the first telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. His words were, "What God hath wrought." June 15, 1844 - The patent for vulcanization, the process for strengthening rubber, is granted to Charles Goodyear. November 1844 - Democrat James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay for president with 170 Electoral College votes to 105 for Clay. |
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1845
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| March 3, 1845 - Congress overrides a presidential
veto. President Tyler's veto of a military appropriation was
overturned. July 4, 1845 - The Congress of Texas votes for annexation to the United States of America with the majority of voters in Texas approving a consitution on October 13. These actions followed the signing of a bill by President Tyler on March 1, authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. Alexander Cartwright and his New York Knikerbockers baseball team codify the "rules of baseball" for the first time, including nine men per side. December 2, 1845 - U.S. President Polk invokes the concept of Manifest Destiny, announcing to Congress that the Monroe Doctrine should be strictly enforced and that the setlement of the West should be aggressively pursued. December 29, 1845 - The United States admits the Republic of Texas into the Union as the 28th state. American inventor Elias Howe, working as a machinist after losing his factory job in the Panic of 1837, invents the sewing machine. Howe would patent the device on September 10, 1846. |
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1846
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| January 5, 1946 - The United States House of
Representatives changes its policy toward sharing the Oregon Territory
with the United Kingdom. On June 15, the Oregon Treaty is
signed with Great Britain, fixing the boundary of the United States and
Canada at the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Straits of
Juan de Fuca. May 8, 1846 - The first conflict of the Mexican War occurs north of the Rio Grande River at Palo Alto, Texas when United States troops under the command of Major General Zachary Taylor rout a larger Mexican force. Zachary had been ordered by President Polk to sieze disputed Texas land settled by Mexicans. May 13, 1846 - War is declared by the United States against Mexico, backed by southerners while northern Whigs were in opposition. Ten days later, Mexico declares war back. June 10, 1846 - The Republic of California declares independence from Mexico. Four days later, the bear flag of the Republic of California is raised at Sonoma. July 28, 1846 - The Army of the West, under the command of Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearny, travel down the Santa Fe Trail and arrive at Bent's Old Fort en route to the conquest of New Mexico. August 14, 1846 - South of the town of Cape Girardeau in Missouri, the Cape Girardeau meteorite strikes. It is a 2.3 kg chondrite type meteorite. |
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1847
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| March 27-29, 1847 - Twelve thousand American troops
under the command of General Winfield Scott take Vera Cruz, Mexico
after a siege. May 7, 1847 - The American Medical Association is founded in Philadelphia. July 1, 1847 - The first adhesive postage stamps in the United States went on sale with Benjamin Franklin gracing the 5 cent stamp and George Washington fronting the 10 cent stamp.
July 24, 1847 - One hundred and forty-eight Mormons under Brigham Young settle at Salt Lake City, Utah after leaving Nauvoo, Illinois for the west on February 10, 1846 due to violent clashes over their beliefs, which included the practice of polygamy through the end of the 1800s. Photo above, Mormon emigrants in a covered wagon train caravan, circa 1879. Photo by C.W. Carter. September 8-15, 1847 - The Battle for Mexico City is fought, beginning two miles outside the city at King's Mill. The main assault against the fortress Capultepec came on September 12 under the command of General Winfield Scott, with combatants including Ulysses S. Grant and John Quitman's 4th Division, of which George Pickett and James Longstreet were a part. Quitman's division entered a deserted city, which had been abandoned by Santa Anna's forces during the night, on September 15. |
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1848
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| January 12, 1848 - Abraham Lincoln, as Congressman from
Springfield, Illinois, attacked President Polk's handling of the
Mexican War in a speech in the House of Representatives. January 24, 1848 - Gold was discovered in California by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in the town of Colona. Seven months later, on August 19, the New York Herald breaks the news of the gold rush to East Coast readers, prompting eighty thousand prospectors to flood California and the Barbary Coast of San Francisco in 1849. Picture below, Riverside gold mine with streambed sluice, probably located in the California's Sierra Nevada mining district. Date unknown. February 2, 1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War with Mexico relinquishing its rights to Texas above the Rio Grande River and ceding New Mexico and California to the United States. The United States also gained claims to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and part of Colorado. In exchange, the United States assumed $3 million in American claims and paid Mexico $15 million. The treaty is ratified one month later on March 10 by the U.S. Senate. Mexico would ratify the treaty on May 19. July 20, 1848 - The Declaration of Sentiments calling for equal rights for women and men is signed by 100 men and women in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Seneca Falls, New York at the 1st Women's Rights Convention led by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. November 7, 1848 - Zachary Taylor, hero of the Mexican War, defeats Lewis Cass in the presidential election of 1848. Whig Taylor garners 163 Electoral College votes to 127 for the Democratic candidate. This was the first U.S. electino held on the same date in every state. |
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1849
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| January 23, 1849 - The first woman doctor in the United
States, Elizabeth Blackwell, is granted her degree by the Medical
Institute of Geneva, New York. February 28, 1849 - With the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco after a four month twenty-one day journey around the Cape Horn from New York City, regular steamboat service is inaugurated between the east and west coasts. March 3, 1849 - The United States Department of the Interior is established. December 4, 1849 - Crazy Horse, Chief of the Oglala Sioux, is born. The first baseball uniforms are introduced by the New York Knikerbockers club; blue and white cricket outfits were used. |
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