1850
By David R.
Ten Events
Compromise of 1850:
A series of measures adopted by the Congress on September 9, 1850, prior
to the Civil War, to address slavery and territory issues and to avert
secession by the South.
The Gadsden Purchase:
In 1853 President Franklin Pierce sent James Gadsden to negotiate with
Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase included land in present-day Arizona and
New Mexico.
The Female Medical College
is founded in Philadelphia by a group of Quakers. Eight women enroll in
the first class. The college remains a women’s institution until 1969, when it
becomes coeducational
Fugitive Slave Law passed (September 18)
Vermont passes a personal-liberty law declaring that fugitive slaves who
escape to that state do not have to be turned over to federal authorities for
return to their masters
Ten Events
University of Utah opens
Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter published
Novel considered to be his best
President Taylor Dies
July 9 1850 and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th president
California admitted as the 31st state (September 9)
New Mexico territory organized (September 9)
Dred Scott case of 1857
The case raised the issue of a black slave who lived in a free state.
Congress had not asserted whether slaves were free once they set foot
upon Northern soil.
V.I.P.’s That Changed The 1850’s
In 1855, Walt Whitman took out a
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper became copyright on the first edition of Leaves of
active in the Anti-Slavery movement in the Grass, which consisted of twelve
1850's by using her gift for language as
lecturer. At one time in her career as a
untitled poems and a preface. He
lecturer, she made her home in published the volume himself, and sent a
Philadelphia "at the station of the copy to Emerson in July of 1855.
Underground Rail Road, where she Whitman released a second edition of
frequently saw passengers and their melting the book in 1856, containing thirty-three
tales of suffering and wrong, which poems, a letter from Emerson praising
intensely increased their sympathy in their the first edition, and a long open letter
behalf."* Even during the Civil War, she by Whitman in response. During his
wrote prolifically, hoping to contribute to subsequent career, Whitman continued
the cause of freedom. The writing she to refine the volume, publishing several
produced during the Emancipation more editions of the book
Proclamation and Lincoln's assassination
further reveals her eloquence in expressing
her hopes and disappointments with the
progress of the fight for equality. She
continued arguing for freedom, equality
and reforms in her lectures and writings
until her death.
Number of States – Territorial Map
The population of the thirty-one states in the
United States is just under 23.3 million
1850 - California becomes a state
1858 - Minnesota becomes a state
President’s
Millard Filmore 1850-1853 Franklin Pierce 1853-1857
Term: 13th President of the United Term: 14th President of the United
States (1850-1853) States (1853-1857)
Born: January 7, 1800, Summerhill, New
York Born: November 23, 1804, Hillsborough
Education: Six months of grade school; (now Hillsboro), New Hampshire
read law in 1822 Education: Bowdoin College (graduated
Career: Lawyer 1824)
Political Party: Whig Career: Lawyer, Public Official
Died: March 8, 1874, Buffalo, New York Political Party: Democrat
A Life in Brief: Born into desperate
poverty at the dawn of the nineteenth Died: October 8, 1869, Concord, New
century, Millard Fillmore climbed to the Hampshire
highest office in the land -- and
inherited a nation breaking into A Life in Brief: Franklin Pierce, the 14th
fragments over the question of slavery. President of the United States, came to
office during a period of growing tension
between the North and South.
Pioneer women spent much of their time doing household chores. Keeping a one-
room log house clean wasn't easy! It involved sweeping, scrubbing, dusting, airing
mattresses, washing windows, and, sometimes, chasing out mice and spiders!
Family Life
Many families settling in Iowa did not bring wood burning cook stoves because
there was no room in their wagon. As a result, families had to relearn how to cook
over open hearths.
The majority of tools used by pioneer men in 1850 were handmade and had
wooden handles. A wooden shaving horse was used to shave down handles,
shingles, or tools like the "goad" used for oxen. The shaving horse had a large clamp
in the middle that held the tool in place. The "brace and bit" was used to drill holes
in wood.
Keeping a log house air-tight was not an easy task, though important for keeping
pests out and warmth in. In 1850, most pioneers used a two-step process to fill in
the gaps between logs in their notched log homes. They first filled in as many gaps
between logs as possible with rocks and pieces of wood, a process called chinking.
Next they made daubing, a mixture of sand, clay, water, straw, lime, and manure to
insulate the homes. They applied the daubing over the chinking to fill in any
remaining gaps.
Fashion Statements
In the 1850s, the domed skirts of the 1840s
continued to expand. Skirts were made fuller by
means of flounces (deep ruffles), usually in tiers
of three, gathered tightly at the top and stiffened
with horsehair braid at the bottom.
Early in the decade, bodices of day dresses
featured panels over the shoulder that were
gathered into a blunt point at the slightly
dropped waist. These bodices generally
fastened in back by means of hooks and eyes,
but a new fashion for a [jacket] bodice appeared
as well, buttoned in front and worn over a
chemisette. Wider bell-shaped or pagoda
sleeves were worn over false under sleeves or
engageantes of cotton or linen, trimmed in lace,
broderie anglaise, or other fancy-work. Separate
small collars of lace, tatting, or crochet work
were worn with day dresses, sometimes with a
ribbon bow.
Bad Times & Good Times
More than eighteen thousand homeless people are
living in the cellars of buildings in New York City.
By 1856 the construction of tenement apartment
houses has helped to ease this problem
Delegates from nine states meet in Worcester,
Massachusetts, for the first national women’s
rights convention. Among the participants are
Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Lucretia
Mott. The delegates call for the right to vote and
equal rights “without distinction of sex or color
War
From the 1850s through the 1860s, Americans,
eager to mine silver, copper, and then gold in New
Mexico, emigrated to Apache lands and settled
there. War with the Apache ensued and the U.S.
army moved in to protect the settlers. After the
Civil War, the U.S. government decided to move all
Indians living in Arizona and southwest New
Mexico, including the Apache
Inventions
Serpent
the distant ancestor of today's tuba,
and was popular around 1600 to
1850. It forms the natural bass to the
cornett family, having a conical
wooden bore and finger holes, with
a brass-style cup mouthpiece.
Dishwasher
American Joel Houghton invented the first
dishwasher in 1850. He made it out of wood,
and gave it a hand-turned wheel that
splashed water on the dishes inside. It didn't
really work, but it did get the first
"dishwasher" patent.
Inventions
Texan Gail Borden, 12 Aug 1851. Isaac
who had been Merrit Singer is
experimenting s with awarded a patent for
methods for preserving his continuous-
milk and other stitching sewing
perishable foods, machine, the first such
applies for a patent on machine that is
his sweetened practical for home use.
condensed milk. The
patent is finally issued
on 19 August 1856.
Trends & word phrases
The traditional cowboy look didn't come about
until after the Mexican-American War in the 1850s.
In the good ol' days the cowboy was the glue that
held the West together. Ranchers would hire
cowboys to keep a watchful eye over the herds on
the wide open range.
Some phrases of the 1850’s
Do as you would like to be done by
Live so that you may be loved
Never do evil that good may follow