These Timelines are a detailed look at the time and the influence of Cycles. Significant events of the decade are analyzed through Twelve categories that serve as a kaleidoscopic lens through time, (see the clickable links above), as well as the position of Cycles at the time, (see the clickable folder links in the upper left corner). You can read and link up and down vertically through this Timeline, or, you can go any Category and link horizontally to the same Category in other Timelines (links are provided at the head of each Category). This cross linking is designed to provide a fast and easy way to make reading fun and interesting.
See the go to Overview here link near the top for a brief look at Cycles for this decade.
See the Matrix links above left for navigating through all Overviews and Timelines by Time, Subject, or Cycle as described in Introduction to Part II).
Note to readers: Work from the Kala-Rhythm archives is being offered here in the Timelines for the first time. We are allowing a view into the Timelines now by posting both the finished and the unfinished pages of the Timelines as editing from our references continues. Unfinished pages (like this one) contain raw data from history sources to which we give credit in our "biblio/webography". Check back for updates to this and other pages.
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1850 Pres. Taylor dies and
Fillmore becomes Pres.
1850 Clayton-Buler
Treaty is signed. US and Brit agree to neutrality of canal project across the
Isthmus of Panama; neither country is to occupy any part of Central Am.
7/9/50 Pres Taylor,
who has opposed Clay’s compromise measure, dies of cholera and Vice-President
Millard Fillmore assumes the office. Fillmore will appoint Daniel Webster.
9/9/12/50 Congress
adopts five bills based on the original resolutions of Henry Clay, and they come
to be known as the Compromises of 1850. The bills include the following: VA is
admitted to the Union as a free state; the territories of New Mexico and Utah
are org without any restriction on slavery; Texas, also not restricted as to
slavery, has boundaries set, w Texas being reimburse $10 million by the US
government for relinquishing claims to land that is now New Mexico; slave trade
in the District of Columbia is abolished after Jan 1, 1851; a new Fugitive Slave
Act provides fed jurisdiction to strengthen the act of 1793. The bill that
continues to give Northerners the most trouble is the strict Fugitives Slave
Act. Pres Fillmore signs all the acts.
September 1850 A
convention of Whigs in Syracuse splits over the Compromise of 1850. A group of
conservatives led by Francis Granger hold their own convention, condemning Senator
Seward’s radical position and supporting Fillmore’s. Eventually they will gain
control of the Am nativist group in NY. [Phy Low and Emo High - similar to Viet
Nam conflict of 1960s?]
1851 Lt.
William Lewis
Herndon makes an expedition to explore the Amazon R.
1852 Franklin
Peirce and William R. King are elected Pres and VP, respectively, on the
Democratic ticket.
11/2/52 Democrat
Franklin Pierce defeats Gen Winfield Scott for the presidency. Pierce receives
254 electoral votes to Scott’s 42.
1853 Washington
Territory is formed from part of the Oregon Territory.
1853 US fleet under
Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives in Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay), Japan. Perry
seeks protection for shipwrecked US seamen and the opening of Japanese ports to
trade.
1853 US purchases
from Mexico for $10 mil a 30,000-square-mile area (the Gadsden Purchase) in what is
now southern New Mexico and Arizona. The territory was the last addition to the US
continental boundaries (the contiguous states).
1853 Congress
authorizes survey for a transcontinental railroad route to the Pacific.
1854 US and Japan
sign the Treaty of Kanagawa, declaring peace, friendship, and commerce.
1854 US ministers
to Brit, Fr. and Spain draw up the Ostend Manifesto saying that the US should
seize Cuba by force if Spain refuses to sell it.
1854 Native
American, or Know-Nothing Party, wins many local offices in NY, Mass. and Del.
5/26/54 After much
debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act has already passed in the House, and now passes
w “squatter” or “popular sovereignty,” passes w a clear majority, and is signed
by Pres Pierce. The territories can be admitted w or without slavery, and
Stephen A. Douglas seems to have sponsored this bill for three major reasons:
he believes in self-government; he wants Southern support for his political
ambitions; and he wants to build a transcontinental railroad along a central
route. Many Northerners denounce the Act. In particular, Northerners threaten
to stop obeying the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. On this same day, Wendell
Phillips and others lead and anti-slavery mob to attack a Federal court house in
Boston where an accused fugitive slave, Anthony Burns, is held. They are
thwarted by authorities, but call attention to the case, and 50,000 citizens
turn out a few days later to watch Burns walk to a ship headed for Va.
7/6-13/54 In
Michigan, anti-slavery men meeting to join the new Republican Party demand that
both the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave Law be repealed. the party
is made up of Whigs, Free-Soilers and anti-slavery Democrats. Similar meetings
are held in Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana and Vermont. Leaders of the party include
Charles Sumner, George Julian, Salmon P. Chase and Whigs Edward Bates and
Orville Browning.
7/19/54 The
Wisconsin Sup Ct declare the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional and frees a Mr.
Booth who had been convicted of rescuing an accused runaway.
1855 William Walker
with a small force lands in Nicaragua, overthrows the government, and makes
himself pres in 1856. He is forced out of power by coalition of Central Am
states in 1857.
6/5/55 The
Know-Nothing Party holds a national council meeting in Philadelphia and
Southerners seize control. [p 4th?]
23 Oct - 12 Nov
1855 Free Soil Kansans hold a convention of their own in Topeka and adopt a
constitution that outlaws slavery. *But they will also adopt a law that bars
all blacks fr Kansas.) A virtual civil war now exists, with frequent classes
between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery elements in Kansas.
1856 James Buchanan
and John C. Breckinridge are elected Pres and VP, respectively, on the
Democratic ticket.
6/17-19/56 The new
Rep party holds its first National Convention in Philadelphia. It nominates
Leavenworth, Kansas, disperse the Free-state legislature in Topeka. [E 4TH?]
8/18/56 In a
sweeping gesture, Congress acts to authorize US annexation of any small guano
island that is unclaimed by other governments. In 1857, they will annex Jarvis Island
and Baker’s Island, located in the mid-Pacific, and in 1858, Howard’s Island as
well. [in contrast to Olstead Manifesto]
1857 Indians and
Whites under John D. Lee, Mormon fanatic, massacre about 140 non-Mormon
emigrants at Mountain Meadows, Utah.
1857 US and Japan
sign treaty opening port of Hagasaki to US trade, (Shimoda and Hakodate were
opened in 1854).
1858 Minnesota
becomes 32nd state.
1858 US and China
sign treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce.
1858 US troops
suppress the Mormon militia and restore order in the Utah Territory. Opposed to
non-Mormon settlers, the Mormons had rebelled in 1857 against the appointed
non-Mormon territorial government.
Autumn 1858 Gold is
discovered in the Kansas Territory on Cherry Creek, about 90 miles from Pike’s
Peak in an area that is part of present-day Colorado. The discovery launches a
new gold rush.
June 1859 A huge
deposit of silver is discovered in what will be called the Comstock Lode, located
near present-day Virginia City, Nevada. It is the first major discovery of
silver in the US and adds fuel to the rush of people to the goldfields near
Pike’s Peak in the Kansas Territory. The slogan “Pike’s Peak or Bust” becomes
popular.
1859 Oregon becomes
33rd state.
| 1. Political 1850s |
Physical Cycle |
top |
| |
Physical Low |
(1845 - 1859) |
1851 Gen. Narciso Lopez
leads an expedition of Spanish refugees and Southerners from New Orleans to
Cuba in an unsuccessful attempt to free the Cubans from Spanish rule. Lopez
is captured and executed.
10/22/51 Pres
Fillmore enjoins Americans against participating in further military
exploits in Mexico.
12/1/51
Congressional elections indicate that many Southerners feel the Compromise
of 1850 is an acceptable alternative to secession. Unionists win elections
in Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama. In the North, however, radicals
gain a triumph w the election of abolitionist Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts to the US Senate.
10/18/54 US
European ministers Buchanan, Mason and Soule meet in Ostend, Belgium, to
discuss Am acquisition of Cuba. The ministers decider that the US needs to
annex Cuba for the security of slavery and that if Spain refuses to sell the
island it should be taken by force: They write, “we shall be justified in
wresting it from Spain if we posses the power.” The document becomes known
as the Ostend Manifesto. It arouses the ire of both Northerners and the
Spanish who already resent Pierce's policy of expansion.
3/3/55 The
Ostend Manifesto is pub in Am and pub reaction is so negative that Secretary
of State Wm L. Marcy refuses to support it.
12/6/58 A group
of students from Oberlin College, led by one of their professors,
successfully rescues John, an accused fugitive slave, and helps him travel
to Canada.
| |
Physical 3rd Qtr. Review |
(1852 - 1859) |
9/28/50 Congress abolishes
flogging in the Navy, yet it is still legal for schoolteachers to resort to
flogging and other painful punishments to make their young charges behave in
class.
October 1850
The nation responds to the new Fugitive Slave Act. On Oct 21 the Chicago
City Council refuses to endorse it, and on Oct 30 a meeting of New Yorkers
resolves to sustain it.
| |
Physical XXXward Crossover |
(March 21, 1859- March 21, 1860) |
Oct.
16-18 1859 At Harper’s Ferry, VA (now West Virginia), John Brown, one of
the most radical of the abolitionists, leads an armed group (5 blacks, 16
whites, including his 3 sons) that seizes the Federal arsenal. Although
this is the first action in his vague plan to establishes a “counrty” for
fugitives slaves in the Appalachian, there is no armed support from outside
people. Within 24 hours Brown and 4 other survivors are captured by a force
of US Marines led by Col Robert E. Lee. (Buchanan had put a price of $250
on Brown’s head; Brown had put a price of $2.50 on Buchanan’s). Brown felt
he had been foreordained by God to break up slavery-he hoped for a massive
slave insurrection, but if he failed at that, he knew that he could chock
and stun people enough to cause a sectional blow-up, perhaps start a civil
war, and in that war slavery might die. Within six weeks Brown is tried for
criminal conspiracy and treason, convicted and hanged. Although most
Northerners condemn the way the Brown went about his plan, Southerners not
that many Northerners admire Brown and his goals. They see Brown’s raid as
confirming their worst fears about the violence and upheaval that would
prevail if blacks are not held firmly down.
12/2/59 John Brown is hanged in the public square of Charlestown, VA. He
leaves a last note indicating that only by using blood can the country be
rid of slavery.
1859
Abolitionist John Brown with 21 men seizes the US arsenal at Harpers Ferry,
W.Va., hoping to start slave insurrection. US Marines capture the raiders.
Brown is hanged for murder, treason, and conspiracy. He becomes a martyr to
the North, a traitor to the South.
| 1. Political 1850s |
Emotional Cycle |
top |
| |
Emotional High |
(1847 - 1865) |
1850 First national
convention of women advocating woman suffrage is held in Worcester, Mass. In
July the first woman's rights convention meets in Seneca Falls, NY.
2/15/50 A mob of blacks,
angry over the new Fugitive Slave Law, rescue Shadrach, an accused fugitive,
fr a Boston jail. On Feb 18 Pres Fillmore insists that the law must be
followed by both officials and citizens. Many northerners are angry about
this law that requires only an affidavit from a claimant to prove
ownership. It allows great power to commissioners authorized to arrest
fugitives for pay, but the accused fugitives themselves cannot have a trial
by jury and cannot speak in their own behalf. Marshals who fail to hold
slaves can be sued, and citizens who conceal or rescue fugitives are subject
to a harsh fines an imprisonment. Yet resistance to the law is strong and
Southern slave-holders traveling in free states to find runaways could be
mobbed or jailed for kidnapping. Other rescues to gain national attention
this year include that of Rachel Parker in Baltimore, Thomas Simms in
Boston, Jerry in Syracuse and Christiana in Pa.
1850 Congress bitterly
debates the right of states and territories to permit or prohibit slavery.
Compromise of 1850 passes: CA is admitted as a free stats; NM and UT
territories are formed and allowed to make their own decision about slavery;
more effective Fugitive Slave Act is set up; and slave trade is abolished in
the District of Columbia.
1850 Fugitive
Slave Act requires citizens of the free states to turn in runaway slaves.
1851 Charles
Sumner becomes US Senator from Mass. He leads the fight against slavery.
1852 Democrats
and Whigs adopt party platforms accepting Compromise of 1850. Democrats also
endorse Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. Free Soil Party opposes
the Compromise and slavery itself.
8/11/52 Members
of the Free Soil Party meet in their national convention at Pittsburgh.
They nominate John P. Hale of New Hampshire for pres and George W. Julian of
Indiana for vice-pres. Their platform soundly condemns both slavery and the
Compromise of 1850, claiming, “Slavery is a sin against God and a crime
against man.” They further support free homesteads for settlers and easy
entry to this country for immigrants.
1853 Mrs. Amos
Bronson Alcott, who has assisted her husband in organizing the Fruitlands
Community, presents a petition w 73 other women to the Mass Constitutional
Convention to urge suffrage for women. Policemen in NYC beg wearing
uniforms and official caps. The Police Departments in Boston and
Philadelphia will soon follow w similar uniforms.
1854
Kansas-Nebraska Act, introduced by Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, repeals the
Missouri Compromise of 1820. Congress establishes the territories of Kansas
and Nebraska. All territories can decide whether to permit or prohibit
slavery. Act is condemned by abolitionists.
1854 Mass.
Emigrant Aid Society is org to encourage anti-slavery emigration to Kansas.
1855 Settlement
of Kansas under Douglas doctrine of "popular sovereignty" leads to bloody
war between pro- and anti-slavery factions for control of the territorial
government ("Bleeding Kansas").
1854 Republican
Party is formed as a reaction against the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It calls for
the abolition of slavery, high protective tariffs, and a transcontinental
railroad.
1855 Pres
Pierce signs act establishing the first US Court of Claims. Citizens can
press claims against the federal government without petitioning Congress.
1856 Pre.
Pierce recognizes pro-slavery legislature in Kansas Territory.
1856 Border
Ruffians (pro-slavery) sank Lawrence, Kans. In return, abolitionist John
Brown, with four of his sons and three other men, murders five pro-slavery
colonists at Pottawatomie Creek. Civil war continues between Free State and
pro-slavery factions until federal troops restore peace.
1856 Sen.
Sumner makes anti-slavery speech bitterly criticizing Sen. Andrew P. Butler
and Stephen A. Douglas. Rep. Preston S. Brooks, Butler's nephew, severely
beats Sumner with a cane in the Senate chamber. Sumner's slander and Brook's
brutality show the deep rift between North and South.
1857 Dred Scott
decision by the US Supreme Court holds that a Negro slave's residence in
free territory does note make him free. It declares the Missouri Compromise
unconstitutional and says that Congress has no right to prohibit slavery in
the territories.
1857 Kansas
elects Free State legislature. Pro-slavery delegates meet at Lecompton, KS,
and draw up constitution rigged so that slavery could not be eliminated from
the territory.
1857 Pres.
Buchanan consents to Lecompton Constitution in KA, thus splitting the
Democratic Party.
Aug 21 - Oct 15
1858 Lincoln and Douglas meet in towns across Illinois in a series of seven
debates. Although Lincoln is little known outside Illinois and Douglas is a
national figure desperately trying to placate his own party, the debates
help to define the most pressing issue confronting the nation. Lincoln
takes a strong stand against slavery on moral, social and political grounds,
while Douglas defends not slavery as such but the right of Americans to vote
their preference. Douglas will be elected Senator by the Democratic
majority in the Illinois legislation, but Lincoln emerges on the national
stage as an articulate and respected spokesman for the anti-slavery
position.
1858 Lincoln
debates Sen. Douglas on the slavery issue during senatorial contest in Ill.
Douglas wins reelection, but Lincoln gains national reputation.
1858 People of
KS reject the Lecompton Constitution, and the territory becomes
non-slaveholding.
1859 Kansas
ratifies anti-slavery constitution at Wyandotte.
1859 Southern
convention at Vicksburg, Miss. urges repeal of all laws, state and federal,
prohibiting the importation of slaves. President Buchannan's message to
Congress asserts US enforcement of slave importation laws.
| |
Emotional 1st Qtr. Foundation |
(1847 - 1856) |
1/24/54 A group of
Democrats publish “The Appeal of the Independent Democrats in Congress, to
the People of the United States” in strong opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska
Act. Signers include Salmon P. Chase, credited with writing the document,
and Charles Sumner. The document will contribute to the organization of the
Republican Party.
2/28/54 At
Ripon, Wisconsin, anti-slavery opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska bill meet
and recommend forming a new political party, the Republican Party. In the
months that follow, other meetings in various Northern states join in the
formation of the new party.
| 1. Political 1850s |
Intellectual Cycle |
top |
| 1. Political 1850s |
Polyrhythms |
top |
| |
Physo-Intellectual
Dbl. 4th Qtr. Alternatives |
(1852 - 1859) |
Nov-Dec 1852 As both the Free Soil and the Whig Parties decline, the
American, or Nativist party begins to attract more supporter. Originally
founded as a secret society, it soon becomes known as the “Know-Nothing”
Party because members claim to know nothing about its workings. Its members
oppose Catholics and foreigners; the party will be at its strongest in the
next few years. [is this a good example of 4th Qtr.?]
1853 Mrs. Amos
Bronson Alcott, who has assisted her husband in organizing the Fruitands
community, presents a petition with 73 other women to the Mass.
Constitutional Convention to urge suffrage for women.
1854 depression?
1857 depression?
1853 Charles Lewis
Tiffany, jeweler, establishes Tiffany and Company, a firm which remains world
famous for its exquisite jewelry designs.
1853 New York
Central Railroad is formed by consolidating 10 small railroads connecting NYC
and Buffalo, NY.
1853 Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad is completed to the Ohio R, and its first trains begin operating
from Baltimore to Wheeling, W.Va. For the first time Chicago, Ill, is connected
by rail to the East.
1855 Kier builds
America's first oil refinery in Pittsburgh.
1855 First oil
business in the US, the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co., is formed by George H.
Bissell and Jonathan J. Eveleth.
1856 Farmer
discovers an inexpensive and commercially successful way of coating metal
objects with aluminum by using electrolysis.
1856 Western Union
Company is established
1856 H. L. Lipman
receives a patent for a pencil with an eraser attached.
1857 William Kelly,
Pa. inventor, patents a steelmaking process that is similar to that of Bessemer.
The Kelly and Bessemer ideas are later combined and called the Bessemer Process.
1857 The last
length of track is laid to connect NYC and St. Louis by rail. All across the
country people gather in railroad celebrations. The Pa Railroad eliminates
competition in transportation through that state when it purchases the main
canal system there.
1858 Macy's
department store is established in NYC. Its successful use on a large scale of a
fixed-price policy, developed in smaller NYC stores since 1840, establishes an
Am retail sales custom.
1858 Stagecoach
service and mail delivery begins between San Francisco, CA, and St. Louis, Mo.,
over a 2812-mi. route.
8/27/59 Edwin L.
Drake strikes oil while drilling a well near Titusville, Pa. This will be the
first oil well in the country and marks the beg of what will become a major
industry.
| 2. Business & Economy 1850s |
Physical Cycle |
top |
| |
Physical 1st Qtr. Foundation |
(1859 - 1866) |
1859 Edwin L. Drake, NY
industrialist, drills Americas first successful oil well at Titusville, Pa.
Sept 1859
Midwesterners want better methods of shipping their ever-increasing grain
crops. In Chicago, they org the Merchants Grain Forwarding Association.
| 2. Business & Economy 1850s |
Emotional Cycle |
top |
| 2. Business & Economy 1850s |
Intellectual Cycle |
top |
| 2. Business & Economy 1850s |
Polyrhythms |
top |
| |
Physo-Intellectual
Low |
(1845 - 1859) |
8/24/57 The NY branch of
the Ohio Life Insurance and trust Co fails and signals the beginning of a
commercial and financial panic that will be know as the Panic of 1857, as
4932 businesses fail this year. Conditions will improve by 1859.
1858 The
financial panic continues. this year 4222 businesses fail. Many people
hope religion might help them accept or change economic problems, and a
religious revival sweeps the country. In NYC, construction begins on the
great Catholic edifice, St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
1850 William and George Bond
discover the innermost or "crepe" ring of Saturn. It is officially called the
"c" ring.
1850 William Bond
makes the first clear daguerreotype (a type of photograph) of the Moon.
1851 William
Channing and Moses Farmer invent an electric fire alarm system and install it in
Boston.
1851 When glass
eyes are introduced, many people believe that they will restore sight to the
blind.
1851 Donald McKay
sets a record for clipper ship travel from NY to San Francisco that will never
be bettered. His “Flying Cloud”: makes the trip in 89 days, 8 hours.
1852 James Dana
describes his theory of cephalization: the more advance (i.e. more highly
evolved) animals have greater development in the head region.
1852 Samuel
Wetherill, PA. chemist, develops a commercially successful way of removing zinc
oxide from ore.
1852 Sparrows are
imported from Germany to help control caterpillars in the US in an example of
biological control.
1852 Mount Sinai
Hosp opens in NYC.
1852 Am Society of
Civil Engineers is founded in NYC.
1853 James Coffin,
Mass. meteorologist, describes three distinct wind zones in the northern
hemisphere.
1853 Charles Davis,
Mass. naval officer, pubs the "American Nautical Almanac."
1854 David Alter,
Pa. physician, discovers that the elements in a gas con be identified by using a
spectroscope.
1854 NY Children's
Hospital opens.
1855 Maury pubs
"The Physical Geography of the Sea," the text that establishes the science of
oceanography.
1855 John C.
Dalton, Mass. physician, operates on living animals to demonstrate internal
anatomy and physiology to his students.
1855 Benjamin
Peirce, astronomer, pubs "Physical and Celestial Mechanics," the first text in
this field.
1856 David E.
Hughes, Brit-American inventor, patents a printing telegraph.
1856 Borax is
discovered in CA.
1856 Gail Borden,
Texas. inventor, receives patent for condensing milk.
1857 Charles Darwin
writes to Asa Gray outlining for the first time his theories of evolution and
natural selection.
1858 Cyrus W.
Field, Mass. financier, lays the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable.
Messages are exchanged between Queen Victoria and Pres Buchanan, but a few weeks
later, the cable stops working.
| 3. Science & Technology 1850s |
Physical Cycle |
top |
| |
Physical 1st Qtr. Foundation |
(1859 - 1865) |
1859 Louis Agassiz
establishes the Museum of Comparative Museum at Harvard.
1859 Samuel
Gross, Pa. physician, pubs "System of Surgery."
1859 Farmer
experiments with incandescent lighting and develops a platinum filament that
burns briefly in what may be the world's first incandescent lamp.
| 3. Science & Technology 1850s |
Emotional Cycle |
top |
| |
Emotional 1st Qtr. Foundation |
(1847 - 1856) |
1855
James Sims, surgeon, orgs the Women's Hosp of NYC.
| 3. Science & Technology 1850s |
Intellectual Cycle |
top |
| 3. Science & Technology 1850s |
Polyrhythms |
top |
| |
Physo-Intellectual
Dbl. 4th Qtr. Alternatives |
(1852 - 1859) |
1857
Louis Agassiz publishes "Contribution to the Natural History of the United
States" (-1862). In his "Essay on Classification," Agassiz proposes an early
version of the biogenetic law stating that changes during the embryonic
development of a single animal are similar to changes that occurred in that
species over thousands of years.
1851 Isaac Singer, NY inventor,
patents a continuous-stitch sewing machine.
1851 Page designs
an electric locomotive.
10/8/51 NYC and
Albany are now connected as the Hudson Railroad opens
1852 Horse-drawn
steam pumpers (fire engines) are invented by Alexander Latta, Ohio engineer.
1852 Elisha Otis,
Vt. inventor, designs a passenger elevator.
2/20/52 Completion
of the Michigan Southern Railway enables a train to arrive in Chicago from the
East.
1852 Pittsburgh and
Philadelphia are now connected by rail w the completion of the Pa Railroad., but
Pa deliberately adopts a different gauge than that used by railroads in New York
to prevent New York’s Erie Railroad from extending through Pa to Ohio.
1853 Otis improves
the elevator by adding safety devices to keep the car from falling if the ropes
break.
1853 The Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad now extends as far as Wheeling, located on the Ohio R,
Meanwhile, ten railroad lines that run between Albany and Buffalo merge to form
the New York Central Railroad.
1854 Horace Smith
and Daniel Webster invent the Smith and Wesson revolver and a device that is
later used in Winchester repeating rifles.
1854 A railroad
bridge suspension bridge is built at Niagara Falls. The first train crosses a
year later.
1855 James Francis,
"Father of Modern Hydraulic Engineering," pubs "Lowell Hydraulic Experiments."
[P 4th QTR/?]
1856 First street
trains in New England begin running between Boston and Cambridge, Mass. They are
pulled by steam engines.
1858 Hamilton E.
Smith invents a mechanical washing machine.
1859 Fifth Avenue
Hotel in NYC installs the first passenger elevator in an American hotel. Many
guests still prefer stairs.
| 4. Mechanical 1850s |
Physical Cycle |
top |
| 4. Mechanical 1850s |
Emotional Cycle |
top |
| 4. Mechanical 1850s |
Intellectual Cycle |
top |
| 4. Mechanical 1850s |
Polyrhythms |
top |
12/24/51 A huge fire in the
Library of Congress leaves 35,000 volumes in ashes. This represents two-thirds
of the Library’s collection and included many of the books originally donated by
Thomas Jefferson.
1854 Whittier pubs
the poem "Maud Muller."
1855 Evert A. Duyckinck and his brother George pubs the exhaustive two volume "Cyclopedaedia
of American Literature."
1855 Frank Leslie's
"Illustrated Newspaper" (later "Leslie's Weekly"), most successful of the early
illustrated papers, begins pub in NYC.
1857 Melville pubs
"The Confidence Man."
1857 "Atlantic
Monthly," a periodical which evolved into a proving ground for many US writer,
is founded. Oliver Wendell Holmes coins the magazine's name.
1858 Longfellow
pubs "The Courtship of Miles Standish."
1858 Holmes's "The
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," the first of his "Breakfast-Table" works,
appears in "Atlantic Monthly."
1859 Washington
Irving completes the five-vol biography, "George Washington."
1850 The Spanish
introduce silver smithing to the Navajo Indians. It soon becomes one of their
major art forms.
1851 Hawthorne pubs
"The House of the Seven Gables," based on a curse supposedly placed upon his
family during the Salem witch trials.
1852 Hawthorne
writes "Life of Benjamin Peirce," a campaign biography for the future president.
| 8. Literature & Publication 1850s |
Physical Cycle |
top |
| |
Physical 3rd Qtr. Review |
(1845 - 1852) |
1850
Herman Melville writes a novel, “White Jacket,” to reveal the poor
conditions and inhumane treatment sailors receive on the US warships.
| 8. Literature & Publication 1850s |
Emotional Cycle |
top |
| |
Emotional High |
(1847 - 1865) |
1850
“Harper’s Magazine” begins serializing the novels of Dickens, Thackeray, and
Eliot, often paying more than English publishers.
1851 Herman Melville pubs
“Moby Dick,” a novel which captures some of the romance, power and mysticism
many Americans feel for the sea.
6/5/51 “Uncle
Tom’s Cabin,” by Harriet Beecher Stowe, begins to appear as a serial in the
“National Era,” an anti-slavery paper pub in Wash DC.
March 1852 The
complete novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly,” by Harriet
Beecher Stowe, is pub in Boson. Within a year it will sell over one million
copies, and its critical portrayal of slave life serves to arouse both
Northerners and Southerners.
1853 Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” has now sold 1,200,000 copies.
Many criticize her work, claming that her brutal depiction of slavery is
exaggerated. She writes the “Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to verify her
sources of factual evidence in writing the original novel.
| |
Emotional 1st Qtr. Foundation |
(1847 - 1856) |
Walt Whitman journalist,
essayist, and poet whose "Leaves of Grass" (first edition 1855) was so
radical in form and content that it made him a revolutionary figure in
American literature. He was originally noted less as a poet than as a
prophet of the democratizing trend in the Western world and as an enthusiast
of the "common man."
In his poetry
he sometimes referred to himself by name, and he used the first person
singular pronoun lavishly; but he considered his life a
manifestation-distinctive only in detail-of the general human condition and
of a new American civilization. "I Sing the Body Electric," in the original
edition of "Leaves of Grass," asserts the beauty of the human body, physical
health, and sexuality; its title exemplifies Whitman's practice of placing
adjectives after the nouns they modify. The second edition (1856)
incorporates the poem that eventually became "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" and
several other new poems, as well as anonymous, laudatory reviews of the
first edition, written by the part himself.
RAW^
1850 Emerson
pubs "Representative Men."
1851 Melville
pubs the classic "Moby Dick."
1854 Thoreau
pubs "Walden; or, Life in the Woods," about his idyllic two years in the
wilderness.
1854 Sega Smith
pubs "Way Down East," a humorous portrayal of the New England Yankee.
1854
Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber,
humorist, pubs "Life and Saying of Mrs. Partington."
1855 Longfellow
writes "The Song of Hiawatha."
1855 Walt
Whitman, poet, anonymously pubs "Leaves of Grass," a collection of 12 poems
including "Song of Myself."
1855 Walt
Whitman pubs his controversial collection of poems, “Leaves of Grass.”
1859 Stowe pubs
"The Minister's Wooing," a romance loosely based on her sister's life.
| 8. Literature & Publication 1850s |
Intellectual Cycle |
top |
| 8. Literature & Publication 1850s |
Polyrhythms |
top |
| |
Emotional
High
Physo-Intellectual 3rd Qtr. Review |
(1847 - 1852) |
1850 Melville's novel
"White-Jacket" causes an uproar about the abuses in the US Navy.
1850 Hawthorne
pubs the classic novel "The Scarlet Letter," which attacks Puritan
hypocrisy.
1852 Harriet
Beecher Stowe, writer and philanthropist , pubs "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a novel
that had a profound influence on the abolition of slavery. [example of the
reform novel]
1853 Stowe
defends the authenticity of her earlier work in "The Key to Uncle Tom's
Cabin."
| |
Physical High with
Emotional Low |
(1847 - 1865) |
1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne pubs “The
Scarlet Letter,” which immediately becomes a best seller. All of 4000
copies are sold in the first ten days, probably because it discusses the daring
subject of adultery.
1851 Fire destroys 2500
buildings in San Francisco; property damage is estimated at $12 million.
pop US 1950 almost 23.2 million
US pop us 23.1 mil,
including about 3.2 mil salves and about 1.7 immigrants.
1850 First overland
mail delivery west of the Missouri R is org on a monthly basis from
Independence, Mos. to Salt Lake City, Utah.
1850 Cholera
epidemic sweeps through the Middle West after passing through the South the year
before.
1851 Congress
authorizes the coinage of three-cent pieces an reduces postage rates. A half
ounce letter can now be sent 3000 miles for three cents.
1851 Sioux Indians
give all their land in Iowa and most of their land in Minnesota to the US.
1852 Caroline Fry
Marriage Assoc advertises "wives for poor and deserving young men." Matrimonial
agencies are becoming popular.
1852 Congress
authorizes the coinage of three-dollar gold pieces and reduces the amount of
silver in all coins except the silver dollar.
1853 Yellow Fever
epidemic bits New Orleans, La.. During the next two years more than 5000 people
are killed by the disease.
1854 Arrival of
13,000 Chinese marks the beginning of large-scale immigration from China. The
highest number in any previous year has been 42. Chinese workers are employed
largely in building the transcontinental railroad.
1855 US citizenship
laws provide that all children born abroad of US citizens are assured of
citizenship.
1857 Am Chess Ass
is formed at the First Am Chess Congress held in NYC. Paul Murphy, a 20-year-old
from New Orleans, La. wins the chess championship, becoming the first Am
international chess master.
| 12. Lifestyles 1850s |
Physical Cycle |
top |
| 12. Lifestyles 1850s |
Emotional Cycle |
top |
| 12. Lifestyles 1850s |
Intellectual Cycle |
top |
| 12. Lifestyles 1850s |
Polyrhythms |
top |
| |
Physo-Intellectual
Dbl. 3rd Qtr. Review |
(1845 - 1852) |
1851 Maine enacts
prohibition law, which forbids the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors
in the state.
| |
Physo-Intellectual
Dbl. 4th Qtr. Alternatives |
(1852 - 1859) |
He visited the United States several times and played with great success. In 1853, he obtained a large tract of land in Pennsylvania and founded a colony, which was called New Norway. On May 24, 1853, he formally purchased 11,144 acres for $10,388. The land consisted of four communities: New Bergen (now known as Carter Camp), Oleana (named for himself and his mother) six miles south of New Bergen, New Norway one mile south of New Bergen, and closeby, Valhalla. The high point of Valhalla Bull called Nordjenskald, which became the location of his unfinished castle. This venture was soon given up, as there was scarcely any land to till, and Bull went back to giving concerts.
Kala. Chart horizontal
1840s