Lewis and Clark Timeline
Post Expedition 1841 - 1850

1841

William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth President of the United States; Harrison dies one month later.

John Tyler is inaugurated as the tenth President of the United States. Tyler is the first Vice President to succeed to the office by the death of the President.

The Pre-emption Act of 1841 gives "squatters" the right to purchase federal land upon which they have settled and specifies that the land should be acquired at a minimum price.

Overland migration to California begins when John Bidwell, a New York schoolteacher, and John Bartleson, a land speculator and wagon master, lead a party through South Pass in the Rocky Mountains and across Nevada to settle near Stockton, California.

George Catlin, an American ethnologist and artist, publishes Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians.

1842

Lieutenant John C. Frémont of the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers explores the route to Oregon from the Mississippi River to South Pass in Wyoming.

The U.S. and Great Britain establish the Canadian boundary from Maine to Lake-of-the-Woods, Minnesota in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

The migration of white settlers to the Oregon Country, primarily from the Ohio Valley region and Missouri begins. The main route is the Oregon Trail, which begins at Independence, Missouri, and terminates at Oregon City and the Willamette Valley.

1843

Lieutenant John C. Frémont of the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers surveys the emigrant route to Oregon, explores the geography of California, and discovers the geographical nature of the Great Basin.

Oregon settlers, at a meeting at Champoeg, adopt a Constitution for a provisional government to serve until the United States extends its jurisdiction over Oregon. In May, over one thousand settlers bound for Oregon leave Independence, Missouri.

Mountainman Jim Bridger builds a fort at Black's Fork of the Green River to serve emigrants on the Oregon Trail.

Joseph Smith, leader of the Mormon Church, announces that a divine revelation has sanctioned the practice of polygamy.

John James Audubon travels up the Missouri River to Fort Union to sketch wild animals.

1844

The Oregon boundary question results in serious Anglo-American friction. James K. Polk, campaigning for the Presidency, advocates that America should press its territorial claims to the 54° 40' parallel.

A Texas Annexation Treaty providing for the admission of Texas as a territory is signed by the U.S. and Texas. The U.S. Senate votes against the annexation treaty.

Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.

The first long-distance telegraph message, "What hath God wrought?" is sent from the U.S. Supreme Court room in Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland by Samuel F.B. Morse.

1845

James K. Polk is inaugurated as the eleventh President of the United States.

The Republic of Texas is annexed by joint resolution of Congress. The area thus acquired is arguably foreign territory, since Mexico has refused to recognize Texan independence.

Mexico breaks off diplomatic relations with the U.S. and begins military preparations to prevent the annexation of Texas.

Gen. Zachary Taylor, U.S. military commander of the Southwest, is ordered to place himself "on or near the Rio Grande" with an "army of observation" of 3,500 men, or about half of the U.S. Army.

President Polk, in his first Annual Message, outlines the "Polk Doctrine," claiming the exclusive right of the people "on this continent" to "decide their own destiny."

The phrase "manifest destiny" is used for the first time by the widely-read editor John L. O'Sullivan in the Democratic Review.

Florida is admitted as the twenty-seventh state in the Union.

Texas is admitted as the twenty-eighth state in the Union.

Col. Stephen Watts Kearny and five companies of dragoons make their great circular patrol through Fort Laramie, South Pass, Bent's Fort and back along the Santa Fe Trail to St. Louis. The trip tests the capacity of the cavalry for sustained operations far from forts and bases of supply.

1846

American soldiers are attacked by the Mexican Army in disputed Texas Territory, and the U.S. declares war on Mexico.

The U.S. and Great Britain sign the Oregon Treaty, which establishes the boundary between the U.S. and the British Northwest Territory at the forty-ninth parallel. The future states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and parts of Montana and Wyoming comprise the U.S. acquisition.

The Bear Flag Revolt begins in California with a proclamation by a group of American settlers of the Republic of California. Commodore Stockton issues a proclamation declaring the annexation of California by the U.S. and establishes himself as Governor.

Brigham Young, successor to the murdered Mormon founder and leader Joseph Smith, organizes the westward migration of Mormons. The exodus is precipitated by anti-Mormon terror in Nauvoo, Illinois.

A severe potato famine in Ireland precipitates large-scale emigration to the U.S.

Iowa is admitted as the twenty-ninth state in the Union.

1847

After a campaign of several months, General Winfield Scott enters Mexico City, and the war with Mexico is brought to an end. A battalion of U.S. Marines begins guarding the "Halls of Montezuma."

Brigham Young, with an advanced party of 148, reaches the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

The Oregon Bill provides for territorial government of Oregon.

Impassable terrain along a new trail to California, "the Hastings Cut-Off," catches the Donner party in an early snowfall in the Sierras. Beyond the reach of assistance throughout the winter, the group resort to cannibalism to survive. Nearly half of the 87 members of the party perish.

Cyrus McCormick begins manufacture of his reaper in Chicago, a farm implement which will revolutionize U.S. and European agriculture in the years to follow.

Peace negotiations with Mexico begin through the auspices of British Minister Charles Bankhead.

1848

Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, California.

The U.S. and Mexico sign the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo which ends the war. An area encompassing the future states of California, Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, New Mexico, and most of Arizona, together with Texas, is relinquished to the U.S. by Mexico for the sum of $15 million. The southwest Texas border is fixed at the Rio Grande. Opposition to the treaty comes from expansionists who want the annexation of all of Mexico.

A women's rights convention is held at Seneca Falls, New York and inaugurates the feminist movement, with a resolution on women's rights prepared under the leadership of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

The main body of Mormon emigrants reach the Great Salt Lake and begin building Salt Lake City. The Mormons proclaim the "State of Deseret."

The failure of a revolution in Europe results in the emigration of political refugees to America, particularly from the German states. Thomas Hart Benton convinces three St. Louis businessmen to finance the exploration of a central, 38th parallel railroad route west from St. Louis to San Francisco. John C. Frémont leads the party, which is caught high in the Colorado mountains in December. Ten men die on the unsuccessful expedition.

Wisconsin is admitted as the thirtieth state in the Union.

1849

Zachary Taylor is inaugurated as the twelfth President of the United States.

The discovery of gold by James Marshall at Sutter's Mill in California in 1848 is confirmed in President Polk's Annual Message in January.

The California Convention, meeting in Monterey, draws up a Constitution prohibiting slavery and requesting admission to the Union.

The Department of the Interior is created as the sixth Cabinet position; the Bureau of Indian Affairs is transferred to Interior from the War Department.

The Pacific Railroad Company is chartered, and constructs the first railroad west of the Mississippi River, from St. Louis to Kansas City.

The Minnesota Territory is formed.

The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, is published.

Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau, is published.

Col. John Abert, of the Topographical Engineers, urges a 32nd parallel, southern transcontinental railroad route, along the Gila River. Abert dispatches Capt. Randolph Marcy to explore this route.

1850

President Zachary Taylor dies suddenly of an acute intestinal infection.

Millard Fillmore is inaugurated as the thirteenth President of the United States.

The Compromise of 1850, calling for a declaration that Congress has no right to interfere with slave trading among slave states, is enacted by Congress. Included in the legislation are a new Fugitive Slave Act, which sets up strict procedures under federal control for the capture and return of escaped slaves; the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; and the admission of California as a "free" state.

Fifty-five thousand emigrants move west along the Oregon Trail, most bound for the gold fields of California.

Col. Joseph E. Johnston leads a special task force across Texas to locate and map military and emigrant roads as well as future railroad routes.

John E. Heath invents the first agricultural binder in the U.S.

Levi Strauss creates the first pair of "bibless" overalls in California.

California is admitted as the thirty-first state in the Union.

Seventh census: U.S. population - 23,191,867.