U.S. troops under General Winfield Scott begin forcibly removing the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral homelands in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama, starting a process that becomes known as the Trail of Tears. President Martin Van Buren, enforcing the fraudulent 1835 Treaty of New …
Martin Van BurenWinfield ScottCherokee NationJohn RossU.S. Army+1 moreethnic-cleansingtrail-of-tearsindian-removalstate-violencemilitary-force+1 more
Presbyterian minister and abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy is murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, struck by five bullets while defending his printing press from destruction. The murder of Lovejoy—whose fourth printing press had been hidden in a warehouse owned by …
Just two months into Martin Van Buren’s presidency, major New York state banks refuse to convert paper money into gold or silver on May 10, 1837, having exhausted their hard currency reserves. Other financial institutions across the country quickly follow suit, triggering the Panic of 1837—a …
Martin Van BurenAndrew JacksonNew York banksState banksU.S. Congressfinancial-crisiseconomic-policybanking-systempanic-1837jackson-era+1 more
President Andrew Jackson orders Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury to issue the Specie Circular, an executive order requiring that payment for public lands be made exclusively in gold or silver (specie) rather than paper currency, effective August 15, 1836 for purchases over 320 acres. The policy aims …
Andrew JacksonLevi WoodburyMartin Van BurenU.S. Treasury DepartmentLand speculatorsfinancial-manipulationeconomic-policyjackson-erabanking-systemland-speculation+1 more
The House of Representatives passes the Pinckney Resolutions, authored by Henry L. Pinckney of South Carolina, establishing what becomes known as the “gag rule”—a resolution automatically “tabling” all antislavery petitions, prohibiting them from being printed, read, …
Henry L. PinckneyJohn Quincy AdamsU.S. House of RepresentativesAmerican Anti-Slavery SocietyPro-slavery Democratsgag-ruleslave-powerlegislative-capturecensorshipfirst-amendment+1 more
American courts systematically suppress labor organizing throughout the early 19th century by prosecuting unions and strikes as criminal conspiracies under common law doctrine inherited from England. From the 1806 Philadelphia Shoemakers’ case through 1836, labor unions face conspiracy charges …
State courtsLabor unionsEmployersProsecutorslabor-suppressionworkers-rightscriminal-conspiracyjudicial-hostilitylabor-organizing
U.S. government officials sign the Treaty of New Echota with approximately 500 Cherokee Indians claiming to represent the 16,000-member Cherokee Nation, ceding all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for territory in present-day Oklahoma and $5 million. The treaty is negotiated …
Cherokee NationJohn RossTreaty PartyU.S. CongressAndrew Jackson+1 moreindian-removaltreaty-fraudethnic-cleansinginstitutional-corruptiontrail-of-tears+1 more
Workers from seventeen different trades in Philadelphia stage a general strike demanding a ten-hour workday, achieving victory after three weeks when the City Council agrees to institute ten-hour days for municipal workers and private employers soon announce they will implement the shorter workday …
Philadelphia workersPhiladelphia City CouncilSeventeen trade unionsPrivate employerslabor-organizingworkers-rightsten-hour-daygeneral-strikelabor-movement
The Senate voted 26-to-20 on March 28, 1834, to censure President Andrew Jackson for unconstitutionally removing federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States and placing them in state-chartered “pet banks.” The resolution, introduced by Henry Clay, declared that Jackson …
Andrew JacksonHenry ClayRoger TaneyWilliam DuaneU.S. Senateinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionfinancial-deregulationexecutive-overreachdemocratic-erosion
Following Andrew Jackson’s September 1833 removal of federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States, Bank president Nicholas Biddle responds by deliberately contracting credit nationwide to create economic distress and force Jackson to reverse his policy. Biddle raises interest …
Nicholas BiddleSecond Bank of the United StatesAndrew JacksonHenry ClayU.S. Congress+2 morefinancial-manipulationeconomic-sabotagebanking-systemjackson-erainstitutional-corruption
President Andrew Jackson orders the removal of federal government deposits from the Second Bank of the United States and their redistribution to state-chartered banks derisively called “pet banks” because they are selected based on political loyalty rather than financial soundness. The …
Andrew JacksonRoger TaneyLouis McLaneWilliam J. DuaneU.S. Congress+1 morefinancial-manipulationinstitutional-corruptionpatronagejackson-erabanking-system+1 more
A South Carolina state convention adopts the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 “null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens,” and threatening secession if the federal government attempts to collect tariff duties …
John C. CalhounAndrew JacksonSouth CarolinaHenry ClayU.S. Congressnullificationslave-powerstates-rightssecession-threatconstitutional-crisis+1 more
President Andrew Jackson vetoes legislation to renew the Second Bank of the United States’ charter, four years before its scheduled expiration, delivering a “popular and effective” message declaring the Bank “unauthorized by the Constitution, subversive to the rights of …
Andrew JacksonNicholas BiddleHenry ClayDaniel WebsterSecond Bank of the United Statesfinancial-manipulationinstitutional-corruptioneconomic-policyjackson-erabanking-system
The U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-1 in Worcester v. Georgia that states lack authority to impose regulations on Native American lands, with Chief Justice John Marshall writing that Indian nations are “distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights” and …
John MarshallAndrew JacksonSamuel WorcesterCherokee NationGeorgia+1 morejudicial-nullificationexecutive-overreachindian-removalconstitutional-crisisrule-of-law+2 more
On the night of August 21, 1831, enslaved preacher Nat Turner leads a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, that kills between 55 and 65 white people over approximately 48 hours before being suppressed by local militias and federal troops. Turner, deeply religious and literate, interpreted a …
Nat TurnerVirginia LegislatureSouthern state governmentsEnslaved populationWhite vigilante mobsslaveryslave-powerstate-violenceinstitutional-racismcivil-liberties+1 more
President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act into law, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi River to Native American tribes in exchange for their ancestral homelands within existing state borders. The legislation passes narrowly in the House (102 to 97) despite …
Andrew JacksonU.S. CongressCherokee NationFive Civilized TribesLand speculators+1 moreethnic-cleansingindian-removalinstitutional-corruptionland-speculationslave-power+2 more
Upon assuming office in March 1829, President Andrew Jackson immediately implements the “spoils system,” sweeping employees from over 900 political offices—approximately 10 percent of all federal appointments—and replacing them with political supporters, friends, and relatives as rewards …
Andrew JacksonMartin Van BurenWilliam MarcyFederal civil servantsspoils-systempatronagekakistocracyinstitutional-corruptionmerit-bypass+1 more
Congress passes and President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828, an extraordinarily high protective tariff setting a 38% tax on some imported goods and a 45% tax on certain imported raw materials—the highest rates in American history to that point. The tariff seeks to protect Northern …
U.S. CongressJohn C. CalhounAndrew JacksonSouthern plantersNorthern manufacturerssectional-conflictnullificationeconomic-extractionregional-exploitationslave-power
Thomas Jefferson and other Democratic-Republican leaders spent 1826 denouncing the Adams-Clay arrangement as a fundamental betrayal of democratic principles, helping Jackson’s supporters organize what would become the Democratic Party. Jefferson had privately expressed horror at the …
Thomas JeffersonAndrew JacksonDemocratic-Republican PartyReform Movementsystematic-corruptiondemocratic-erosionpolitical-reforminstitutional-failureparty-realignment
The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as president on February 9, 1825, despite Andrew Jackson winning both the popular vote (152,901 to 114,023) and the highest electoral vote count (99, though short of the required majority). When no candidate achieved an electoral majority in the …
John Quincy AdamsHenry ClayAndrew JacksonWilliam CrawfordU.S. House of Representativesinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionelectoral-fraudpolitical-deceptiondemocratic-erosion
The U.S. House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as president despite Andrew Jackson having won both a plurality of the popular vote (41%) and the Electoral College (99 votes to Adams’s 84), in what becomes known as the “Corrupt Bargain.” The 1824 presidential election …
John Quincy AdamsHenry ClayAndrew JacksonWilliam H. CrawfordU.S. House of Representativeselectoral-corruptionpolitical-dealselite-manipulationdemocratic-erosion
President James Monroe articulates the Monroe Doctrine during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress, declaring that any European intervention in the political affairs of the Americas constitutes a potentially hostile act against the United States. The doctrine establishes three …
President James MonroeSecretary of State John Quincy AdamsEuropean colonial powersimperial-expansionforeign-policylatin-americaanti-colonialismmanifest-destiny
Denmark Vesey, a free Black carpenter and Methodist leader who purchased his freedom in 1800 after winning a $1,500 lottery, allegedly plans the most extensive slave insurrection in U.S. history, organizing thousands of enslaved and free Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina to overthrow the …
Missouri became the 24th state on August 10, 1821, after Congress resolved a constitutional crisis over the state’s attempt to exclude free Black citizens. The original Missouri Compromise of March 1820 had admitted Missouri as a slave state paired with Maine as a free state, drawing a line at …
CongressJames MonroeHenry ClayDaniel Pope CookWilliam Lowndesinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionslave-powerracial-oppressiondemocratic-erosion
Congress passes and President James Monroe signs the Missouri Compromise, federal legislation that balances the desires of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery with those of southern states to expand it. The compromise admits Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state …
Henry ClayJames MonroeU.S. CongressSlave Power advocatesslave-powerinstitutional-corruptionterritorial-expansionlegislative-capturemissouri-compromise
The U.S. Supreme Court decides McCulloch v. Maryland, with Chief Justice John Marshall authoring a landmark opinion establishing that Congress has implied powers under the Constitution’s “Necessary and Proper Clause” and that federal law is supreme over state law, preventing states …
Chief Justice John MarshallU.S. Supreme CourtSecond Bank of the United StatesState of MarylandJames W. McCullochjudicial-powerfederal-supremacyimplied-powersstate-sovereigntyinstitutional-protection
Congress passes and President James Monroe signs the Civilization Fund Act (also known as the Indian Civilization Act), authorizing federal funding for organizations to run schools on Native American reservations with the explicit goal of assimilating Indigenous peoples into white society. The Act …
U.S. CongressPresident James MonroeBureau of Indian AffairsReligious missionsProtestant organizations+1 moreforced-assimilationcultural-genocideindigenous-educationinstitutional-corruptionboarding-schools
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish Minister Luis de Onís sign the Adams-Onís Treaty (also known as the Transcontinental Treaty or Florida Purchase Treaty) in Washington, D.C., under which Spain cedes Florida to the United States and establishes a boundary line extending to the Pacific …
Secretary of State John Quincy AdamsSpanish Minister Luis de OnísPresident James MonroeGeneral Andrew Jacksonterritorial-expansionimperial-coerciontreaty-manipulationslavery-expansion
The United States experiences its first major peacetime financial crisis as the speculative bubble in western land collapses, triggering the Panic of 1819 and a prolonged economic depression. The crisis directly results from the Second Bank of the United States’ reckless lending practices, …
Second Bank of the United StatesWilliam JonesLangdon ChevesBaltimore branch directorsfinancial-crisisbanking-fraudspeculationaccountability-evasioneconomic-extraction
The National Road, also known as the Cumberland Road, reaches Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on the Ohio River after seven years of construction, completing the first federally funded interstate highway in American history. President Thomas Jefferson had promoted the road to support westward …
U.S. CongressThomas JeffersonGeorge WashingtonHenry McKinleyinfrastructureinternal-improvementswestward-expansionconstitutional-interpretation
U.S. troops from Fort Scott attack the small Seminole village of Fowltown in southern Georgia, killing about 20 people and igniting the First Seminole War. The attack represents escalating border tensions stemming from enslaved people regularly fleeing from Georgia into Spanish Florida, where they …
General Andrew JacksonSeminole NationBlack SeminolesSpanish EmpireU.S. War Departmentmilitary-aggressionslavery-enforcementterritorial-expansionindigenous-dispossessionimperial-overreach
James Monroe assumes the presidency, inaugurating what becomes known as the “Era of Good Feelings” (1817-1825)—a period marked by the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to bitter partisan disputes, creating nearly a decade of one-party Democratic-Republican dominance. The era …
President James MonroeDemocratic-Republican PartyFederalist Party remnantsone-party-ruleinstitutional-corruptionpolitical-consolidationaccountability-evasion
On the last day of his administration, President James Madison vetoes the Bonus Bill, legislation proposed by Representative John C. Calhoun to earmark the $1.5 million revenue “bonus” and future dividends (estimated at $650,000 annually) from the recently established Second Bank of the …
President James MadisonJohn C. CalhounHenry ClayU.S. Congressconstitutional-interpretationinternal-improvementsinfrastructurestates-rightsinstitutional-obstruction
Congress passes the Tariff of 1816, the first explicitly protective tariff in American history, taxing imported goods at a remarkable 25% rate to protect emerging domestic industries from cheap British goods flooding American markets after the War of 1812. The tariff represents the first pillar of …
Henry ClayU.S. CongressNorthern manufacturersSouthern planterseconomic-policysectional-conflictprotectionismamerican-systemregional-extraction
Congress charters the Second Bank of the United States as a privately owned institution with a 20-year federal charter, five years after the expiration of the First Bank of the United States. President James Madison, who had opposed the First Bank as unconstitutional in 1791, now supports the Second …
President James MadisonU.S. CongressSecond Bank of the United StatesWilliam Jonesfinancial-corruptionbanking-fraudinstitutional-capturespeculation
Twenty-six New England Federalist leaders from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire convene in Hartford, Connecticut, to discuss grievances concerning the War of 1812 and federal government overreach under Democratic-Republican control. The convention addresses fears …
New England FederalistsHarrison Gray OtisMassachusetts delegatesConnecticut delegatesRhode Island delegatessecession-threatnullificationregional-conflictdemocratic-erosionelite-resistance
General James Wilkinson, the highest-ranking federal official ever tried for treason and espionage, commands two unsuccessful military invasion campaigns in the St. Lawrence River valley theater in Canada during the War of 1812 while simultaneously accepting kickbacks from contractors and receiving …
General James WilkinsonSpanish EmpireU.S. Army contractorsPresident James Madisonmilitary-corruptionespionagecontractor-fraudaccountability-evasionelite-impunity
The United States Congress declares war on Great Britain, initiating the War of 1812 ostensibly over British impressment of American sailors, trade restrictions, and western expansion conflicts. The declaration creates immediate opportunities for systematic profiteering, contractor fraud, and …
President James MadisonU.S. CongressBritish EmpireWar profiteerswar-profiteeringinstitutional-corruptionmilitary-industrial-complexcontractor-fraud
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Fletcher v. Peck that Georgia’s attempt to rescind the fraudulent 1795 Yazoo land sale violates the Constitution’s contract clause, marking the first time the Court strikes down a state law. Chief Justice John Marshall writes that while the bribery of …
Chief Justice John MarshallU.S. Supreme CourtJohn PeckRobert FletcherGeorgia Legislaturejudicial-corruptioncontract-clauseelite-protectionland-speculationaccountability-evasion
With the federal ban on international slave importation taking effect January 1, 1808, the domestic slave trade within the United States begins a massive expansion that will ultimately transport over one million enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South over the next five decades, a …
Slave tradersUpper South plantersDeep South cotton plantersEnslaved peopleslaveryinstitutional-corruptiondomestic-slave-tradefamily-separationforced-migration
President Thomas Jefferson signs the Embargo Act, prohibiting all American ships from leaving port in an attempt at economic coercion against Britain and France, who are seizing U.S. merchant vessels during the Napoleonic Wars. Jefferson chooses commercial warfare over military confrontation after …
President Thomas JeffersonU.S. CongressNew England merchantsFederalist Partyeconomic-warfarefederal-overreachregional-conflictdemocratic-resistancepolicy-failure
President Thomas Jefferson signs into law the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves (2 Stat. 426), passed by Congress on March 2, 1807, prohibiting the importation of enslaved people into the United States effective January 1, 1808—the earliest date permitted by the Constitution’s Article I, …
Thomas JeffersonU.S. CongressJoseph Bradley Varnumslave-tradeslaveryconstitutional-deadlinefederal-legislation
President Thomas Jefferson issues a proclamation warning that an unlawful military expedition against Spanish Mexico is being planned, marking the beginning of federal response to the Burr Conspiracy—a treasonous plot by former Vice President Aaron Burr to either invade Spanish territories or detach …
Aaron BurrGeneral James WilkinsonPresident Thomas JeffersonChief Justice John Marshallelite-corruptiontreasonjudicial-protectionaccountability-crisisinstitutional-capture
Vice President Aaron Burr shoots former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in an illegal duel in Weehawken, New Jersey, culminating fifteen years of political rivalry and demonstrating how elite honor culture supersedes law and democratic accountability. The confrontation stems from …
The U.S. Senate approves the Louisiana Purchase treaty by a vote of 24-7, with President Thomas Jefferson abandoning his strict constructionist constitutional principles to complete the acquisition of French territory despite acknowledging the Constitution grants no explicit power to purchase …
President Thomas JeffersonTreasury Secretary Albert GallatinU.S. SenateNapoleon BonaparteFranceconstitutional-conflictexecutive-powerstrict-constructionpolitical-hypocrisyterritorial-expansion
The U.S. Supreme Court issues its landmark decision in Marbury v. Madison, with Chief Justice John Marshall declaring for the first time that federal courts possess the power to strike down laws passed by Congress that violate the Constitution. Marshall writes that “A Law repugnant to the …
Chief Justice John MarshallWilliam MarburySecretary of State James MadisonU.S. Supreme Courtjudicial-powerconstitutional-interpretationinstitutional-captureunelected-powerjudicial-supremacy
President John Adams signs the Judiciary Act of 1801 less than three weeks before the end of his term and the Federalist majority in Congress, expanding the federal judiciary by creating sixteen new circuit court judgeships and reducing the Supreme Court from six to five justices. After losing the …
President John AdamsFederalist PartyU.S. SenateWilliam Marburyjudicial-capturecourt-packinglame-duck-powerinstitutional-manipulationpolitical-corruption
The Electoral College meets in state capitals on December 3, 1800, and Thomas Jefferson defeats incumbent President John Adams 73 to 65 electoral votes, a victory determined entirely by the extra electoral votes slave states receive through the Three-Fifths Compromise. Without the constitutional …
Thomas JeffersonJohn AdamsVirginia slaveholdersElectoral Collegethree-fifths-compromiseelectoral-manipulationslaveryslave-powerinstitutional-corruption
Gabriel, a 24-year-old enslaved blacksmith from Brookfield plantation in Henrico County, Virginia, plans to lead what may be the most extensive slave rebellion in American history up to that point, with an estimated several thousand participants prepared to seize Richmond, kill white inhabitants …
The Federalist-controlled Congress passes the Alien and Sedition Acts, a set of four statutes that restrict immigration and criminalize criticism of the federal government under the guise of national security during tensions with France. The legislation increases the residency requirement for …
President John AdamsFederalist PartySecretary of State Timothy PickeringDemocratic-Republican newspaper editorsCongressman Matthew Lyondemocratic-erosionfree-speech-suppressionpolitical-persecutionauthoritarian-powerinstitutional-capture