Timeline of United States history (1820–1859) facts for kids

This section of the Timeline of United States history concerns events from 1820 to 1859.

1820s

Presidency of James Monroe

U.S. territorial extent in 1820

• 1820 – Massachusetts divided in two with the admission of Maine as a state.
• 1820 – U.S. presidential election, 1820: James Monroe reelected president unopposed, Daniel D. Tompkins reelected vice president.
• 1821 – President Monroe and Vice President Tompkins begin second terms
• 1821 – Missouri becomes a state
• 1821 – Florida becomes a U.S. territory; the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty goes into effect
• 1823 – Monroe Doctrine proclaimed
• 1824 – Gibbons v. Ogden (22 US 1 1824) affirms federal over state authority in interstate commerce. Gibbons' business partner is Cornelius Vanderbilt.
• 1824 – U.S. presidential election, 1824: Presidential results inconclusive. John C. Calhoun elected the vice president.
• 1825 – John Quincy Adams elected president by the House of Representatives;

Presidency of John Quincy Adams

• 1825 – Adams becomes the sixth President; John C. Calhoun, Vice President
• 1825 – Erie Canal is finally completed
• 1826 – Former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on the same day, which happens to be on the fiftieth anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of independence.
• 1828 – U.S. presidential election, 1828: Andrew Jackson elected president; John C. Calhoun reelected vice president
• December 22, 1828 - First Lady-designate Rachel Jackson dies of a heart attack.

Presidency of Andrew Jackson

• 1829 – Andrew Jackson becomes the 7th President; Vice President Calhoun begins second term

1830s

U.S. territorial extent in 1830

• 1830s – Second Great Awakening is the religious revival movement
• 1830s – Oregon Trail which comes into use by settlers migrating to the Pacific Northwest
• 1830 – Indian Removal Act
• 1831 – Nat Turner's revolt
• 1831 – The Liberator begins publication in 1831
• 1831 – Cyrus McCormick invents the mechanical reaper
• 1831 – Petticoat affair (also known as the Eaton affair)
• 1832 – Worcester v. State of Georgia the Supreme Court rules in favor of Cherokees; President Jackson ignores the ruling
• 1832 – Maria Stewart is the first black American woman to give speech in front of a mixed audience
• 1832 – Black Hawk War
• 1832 – Tariff of 1832
• 1832 – Ordinance of Nullification passed by South Carolina
• 1832 – Department of Indian Affairs established
• 1832 – 1832 United States presidential election: Andrew Jackson reelected president; Martin Van Buren elected vice president
• 1832 – Jackson vetoes the charter renewal of the Second Bank of the United States, bringing to a head the Bank War and ultimately leading to the Panic of 1837
• 1832 – John C. Calhoun resigns as vice president
• 1833 – The Force Bill expands presidential powers
• 1833 – President Jackson begins second term; Martin Van Buren becomes Vice President
• 1834 – Slavery debates at Lane Theological Seminary are one of the first major public discussions of the topic
• 1835 – Mexican President Santa Anna annuls the 1824 constitution, precipitating a civil war which spawns the Texas War for Independence.
• 1835 – Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America published
• 1835 – Second Seminole War begins in Florida as members of the Seminole tribe resist relocation
• 1836 – Mexican President Santa Anna's army defeats Texas rebels at Battle of the Alamo
• 1836 - Battle of Goliad
• 1836 - Santa Anna deposed after losing the Battle of San Jacinto and recognizing Texan independence.
• 1836 – Creek War of 1836
• 1836 – Samuel Colt invents the revolver
• 1836 – Original "gag rule" imposed when U.S. House of Representatives bars discussion of antislavery petitions
• 1836 – Specie Circular issued
• 1836 – Arkansas becomes a state
• 1836 - Texas is the Lone Star Republic
• 1836 – U.S. presidential election, 1836: Martin Van Buren elected president, no one is elected vice president.
• 1837 - Richard M. Johnson elected vice president by the Senate.

Presidency of Martin Van Buren

• 1837 – Van Buren becomes the eighth President; Johnson, Vice President
• 1837 – U.S. recognizes the Republic of Texas
• 1837 – Caroline affair
• 1837 – Michigan becomes a state
• 1837 – Oberlin College begins enrolling female students, becoming first coeducational college in the U.S.
• 1837 – Panic of 1837
• 1837 – Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge reverses Dartmouth College v. Woodward: property rights can be overridden by public eyed
• 1838 – Forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from the southeastern U.S. leads to over 4,000 deaths in the Trail of Tears
• 1838 – Aroostook War
• 1839 – Amistad case

1840s

U.S. territorial extent in 1840

• 1840 – 1840 United States presidential election: William Henry Harrison is elected president; John Tyler is elected vice president
• 1841 – John Quincy Adams argues the Amistad Case before the Supreme Court

Presidency of William Henry Harrison

• March 4 – Harrison becomes the ninth President; John Tyler, Vice President
• March 6 - Supreme Court finds for Amistad defendants. Freeing them.
• April 4 – Harrison dies after only a month in office

Presidency of John Tyler

• April 6, 1841 - Vice President Tyler becomes the tenth President
• September 11, 1841 - Harrison's former cabinet resigns en masse. Only Daniel Webster remains.
• 1842 – Webster–Ashburton Treaty
• 1842 – The Dorr Rebellion: A civil war in Rhode Island
• 1843 – Attempt to impeach President Tyler fails
• 1843 - Emigrants begin their  journey along the Oregon Trail.
• 1844 – Oregon message
• 1844 – U.S. presidential election, 1844, James K. Polk is elected president; George M. Dallas is elected vice president
• 1845 – Texas annexation

Presidency of James K. Polk

• 1845 – Polk becomes the 11th President ; Dallas, Vice President
• 1845 – Florida and Texas become states
• 1846 – The U.S.–Mexican War begins
• 1846 - Bear Flag revolt in Alta California, which is momentarily independent.
• 1846 – Iowa becomes a state
• 1846 – Wilmot Proviso
• 1846 - The United States and  Great Britain sign the  Oregon Treaty
• 1847 - Abraham Lincoln introduces himself to the world by his introduction of the Spot Resolutions in the House.
• 1847 - Battle of Buena Vista
• 1847 - Battle of Veracruz
• 1848 – Wisconsin becomes a state
• 1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican–American War
• 1848 – Dred Scott sues for his freedom
• 1848 – U.S. presidential election, 1848; Zachary Taylor is elected president; Millard Fillmore is elected vice president

Presidency of Zachary Taylor

• 1849 – Taylor becomes the 12th President; Fillmore, Vice President
• 1849 – California Gold Rush begins

1850s

• 1850 – Clayton–Bulwer Treaty
• 1850 – President Taylor threatens to veto Compromise of 1850 even if it means Civil War.
• June 3–11 -The secessionist Nashville Convention held in Nashville, Tennessee.

Presidency of Millard Fillmore

• July 9, 1850 – President Taylor dies, Vice President Fillmore becomes the 13th President
• September 9–20, 1850 – The Compromise of 1850, including the notorious Fugitive Slave Act passed
• September 9, 1850 – California becomes a state
• November 1850 - Nashville Convention reconvenes; Satisfied with the Compromise, it declares the Union intact-for the moment.
• 1852 – U.S. presidential election, 1852: Franklin Pierce elected president; William R. King elected vice president
• 1853 – Commodore Matthew Perry opens Japan

Presidency of Franklin Pierce

Further information: Bleeding Kansas

• 1853 – Pierce becomes the 14th President; King, Vice President
• 1853 – Vice President King dies after only six weeks in office.
• 1853 – Gadsden Purchase from Mexico
• 1854 – Kansas–Nebraska Act; nullified Missouri Compromise
• 1854 – Ostend Manifesto
• 1854 – Whig Party collapses
• 1854 – Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan
• 1854 – Walker Expedition into Nicaragua
• 1855 – The Farmers' High School, which becomes Penn State University is founded.
• 1856 – Sack of Lawrence, Kansas
• 1856 – Pottawatomie massacre
• 1856 – Preston Brooks beats Charles Sumner with his walking stick on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building
• 1856 – U.S. presidential election, 1856: James Buchanan elected president; John C. Breckinridge, vice president

Presidency of James Buchanan

• 1857 – Buchanan becomes the 15th President; Breckinridge, Vice President
• 1857 – Dred Scott v. Sandford 60 US 393 1857 declares that slaves and blacks descended from slaves were not American citizens and cannot sue
• 1857 – Utah War
• 1857 – Lecompton Constitution rejected in Kansas Territory
• 1857 – Panic of 1857
• 1857 - San Francisco Board of Education established Minns Evening Normal School for current and prospective teachers, which becomes San Jose State University
• 1858 – Transatlantic cable laid
• 1858 – Minnesota becomes a state
• 1858 – Lincoln-Douglas Debates
• 1858 – U.S. is party to Treaty of Tientsin
• 1859 – John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
• 1859 – Comstock Lode discovered