1830s

In this decade, the world saw a rapid rise of imperialism and colonialism, particularly in Asia and Africa. Britain saw a surge of power and world dominance, as Queen Victoria took to the throne in 1837. Conquests took place all over the world, particularly around the expansion of Ottoman Empire and the British Raj. New outposts and settlements flourished in Oceania, as Europeans began to settle over Australia and New Zealand.

In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and his friend Gustave de Beaumont spent nine months touring America. The book that de Tocqueville wrote following the trip, Democracy in America, is published in 1835. Democrat Andrew Jackson is re-elected president over his opponents, gathering 216 electoral votes to National Republican candidate Henry Clay’s 49. The first attempted assassination of a U.S. president (Andrew Jackson) fails when Richard Lawrence’s gun misfires on January 30, 1835. P.T. Barnum begins his first circus tour of the United States on June 2, 1835.

The Mexican Army and militia (loyal to Texas) battle for the Alamo from February 23 to March 6, 1836, in San Antonio, TX. Less than 2 months later (April 21), the Texans capture Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto and kill approximately 650 Mexican soldiers. Following months of increasing inflation and shrinking credit, the Panic of 1837 begins, causing widespread bank failures and unemployment. During 1838, the forced removal of 15,000-17,000 Cherokee Indians from Georgia on the “Trail of Tears” results in an estimated 4,000-8,000 deaths. Charles Goodyear invents vulcanized rubber in 1839.

1800-09 | 1810s | 1820s | 1830s | 1840s | 1850s | 1860s | 1870s | 1880s | 1890s

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July 2, 1839

Amistad Rebellion: Sengbe Pieh and 56 fellow Africans Mutiny Aboard the Ship La Armistad enroute to Cuba

On July 2, 1839, Sengbe Pieh and 56 fellow Africans mutiny aboard the ship La Armistad enroute to Cuba. The ship is captured off Long Island, NY, and the resulting U.S. Supreme Court case rules that since the importation of slaves into the United States had been prohibited since 1808, the mutineers are to be freed. In 1839 slave traders kidnapped Pieh while he was working in the ...
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January 27, 1838

Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address in Springfield, IL

As one of Abraham Lincoln's earliest published speeches, this address has been much scrutinized and debated by historians, who see broad implications for his later public policies. Lincoln was 28 years old at the time he gave this speech and had recently moved from a struggling pioneer village to Springfield, Illinois. William Herndon, who would become Lincoln's law partner in 1844, describes the event this way: ...
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June 1, 1837

Daniel Webster: “Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from… the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness & negligence.”

"I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger." Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837 ...
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February 7, 1837

Florence Nightingale, at Age 17, Felt that God Spoke to Her, Calling Her to Future “Service.” The Rest is History!

Florence Nightingale did not think herself deeply religious and never thought she became so. But, on February 7, 1837, when she was scarcely 17 years old, she felt that God spoke to her, calling her to future “service.” From that time on her life was changed. At first the call disturbed her. Not knowing the nature of the “service,” she feared making herself unworthy of whatever ...
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May 27, 1836

John C Calhoun Quote on ‘the Many and Powerful Interests, Combined in One Mass’ that had ‘Risen Up in the Government Greater than the People Themselves’

John C. Calhoun, in a speech on 5/27/1836 said: "A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interest, combined in one mass; and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks." ...
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October 2, 1835

The Battle of Gonzales Begins the Texas Battle for Independence: “Come and Take It”

On October 2, 1835, the growing tensions between Mexico and Texas erupt into violence when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, sparking the Texan war for independence. Texas–or Tejas as the Mexicans called it–had technically been a part of the Spanish empire since the 17th century. However, even as late as the 1820s, there were only about 3,000 Spanish-Mexican settlers in Texas, and ...
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August 24, 1835

The Great Moon Hoax: The NY Sun Begins Publishing Fake News Articles About Lunar Creatures

The Great Moon Hoax, as it has become known, was published in the New York Sun over several days in the summer of 1835. It claimed to describe what the astronomer John Herschel had seen through his telescope from the Cape of Good Hope. It was read and, apparently, believed by tens of thousands of people across the US and Europe. The New York Sun was a penny newspaper with ...
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July 8, 1835

The Liberty Bell is Cracked at the Funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall who Usurped the Constitution with the God-like Power of “Judicial Review”

The most common story is that the Liberty Bell cracked July 8, 1835, while being rung at the funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall, perhaps as a portent. John Marshall, the longest-serving Chief Justice, began the trend of increasing the Supreme Court’s power by using an expansive reading of the enumerated powers, thereby advancing the view of the supremacy of the Supreme Court through “judicial review.” ...
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February 16, 1835

Andrew Jackson’s Message to the Seminoles

My Children: I am sorry to have heard that you have been listening to bad counsel. You know me, and you know that I would not deceive, nor advise you to do anything that was unjust or injurious. Open your ears and attend to what I shall now say to you. They are the words of a friend, and the words of truth. The white people ...
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August 1, 1834

Slavery Abolition Act: Slavery Abolished in the British Empire

On 3 August 1835, somewhere in the City of London, two of Europe’s most famous bankers came to an agreement with the chancellor of the exchequer. Two years earlier, the British government had passed the Slavery Abolition Act, which outlawed slavery in most parts of the empire. Now it was taking out one of the largest loans in history, to finance the slave compensation package required ...
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