Lewis and Clark Timeline
Post Expedition 1831 - 1840

1831

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia that the Cherokee are not a "foreign nation" within the meaning of the Constitution, but a "dependent nation." Between 1831 and 1839, the Five Civilized tribes of the Southeast are forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

William Lloyd Garrison begins publication of The Liberator, marking the beginning of an organized, nation-wide abolitionist movement. Garrison states in the first edition: "I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard!"

Nat Turner, a slave, leads an insurrection in Virginia during which about fifty five whites and an unknown number of African Americans are killed. White fears are fed by the insurrection, and retribution is carried out against slaves throughout the South.

Michael Faraday demonstrates electro-magnetic rotation and discovers electro-magnetic induction.

Cyrus McCormick invents the mechanical reaper.

Boston charters three railroads; the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad inaugurates service in New York State, and the Camden and Amboy Railroad begins operation in New Jersey.

Capt. Benjamin Bonneville, on a "leave of absence" from the U.S. Army, follows secret orders to explore the Rockies to note the number of warriors in each Indian tribe and their methods of waging war. Bonneville explores the West, including California, until 1834.

1832

Black Hawk attempts to recover ceded lands in Wisconsin and Illinois Territories. The massacre of his Sauk and Fox tribe at the mouth of the Bad Axe River by Illinois Militia led by Gen. Henry Atkinson leads to his surrender.

The annual fur trade rendezvous is ended by the Battle of Pierre's Hole. An all-day fight takes place with white trappers and their Flathead and Nez Percé allies pitted against the Blackfoot people.

The first Asiatic cholera epidemic sweeps through the U.S. New York City alone reports 2,251 deaths. During a twelve day period in New Orleans, more than 6,000 perish.

George Catlin, a pioneer American ethnologist, travels west to capture the looks, customs and manners of American Indian people on canvas.

The Ann McKim, the first "clipper" ship, is launched in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Hot Springs of Arkansas are set aside as federal property for "future disposal" by President Jackson.

1833

The settlement of the Iowa country begins with the end of the Black Hawk War and the opening of the Black Hawk purchase.

Joseph Walker, a Rocky Mountain Fur trader, leads an expedition that climbs the Sierra Mountains from the east, and reaches Yosemite Valley in Mexican Alta California. This crossing of the Sierras is thought to be the first made by white men from the east.

Prince Maximillian of Wied-Neuwied journeys up the Missouri River to study the American Indian people of the plains. He is accompanied by Carl Bodmer, a twenty-seven year old Swiss artist.

Samuel Colt perfects a successful revolving pistol.

Andrew Jackson becomes the first U.S. President to ride on a railroad train.

1834

Buffalo replaces beaver as the most profitable pelt in the fur trade. Silk replaces beaver felt as the most fashionable hat material.

Fur baron John Jacob Astor, anticipating a decline in the fur trade, sells out his interests in the mountain trade.

Methodist missionaries Jason and Daniel Lee found the first mission and American settlement in the Oregon Territory.

A convention of Texas settlers at San Felipe votes to separate from Mexico.

The national Whig Party is formed in opposition to the policies of Andrew Jackson, under the leadership of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun.

The Seminole Indians are ordered to leave Florida.

The English poor law is overhauled, throwing thousands of people off relief and into the overcrowded labor markets of the farms and the cities. English emigration to the U.S. is vastly increased.

The Department of Indian Affairs is established by an act of Congress.

1835

Chief Justice John Marshall dies in Philadelphia. Roger B. Taney is appointed his successor by President Jackson.

William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator, is dragged through the streets of Boston and nearly killed by a mob enraged at his tirades against slavery.

Reverend Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman are sent by the Presbyterian-Congregational mission board to the Oregon Country to establish a mission among the Indian people there.

The Second Seminole war begins in Florida. Seminole Indians refuse to be removed from their land to an area west of the Mississippi River.

Samuel F. B. Morse invents the telegraph.

More than 200 U.S. railway charters have been granted in 11 states, and more than 1,000 miles of track have opened for operation.

Henry M. Dodge and a party of U.S. Dragoons ride out along the established Platte River Road to demonstrate the power of the United States to the plains Indian people.

1836

A small band of Texas patriots gathers in an old mission in San Antonio called "The Alamo." Their delaying action, in which every Texan defender is put to death, enables mobilization of a Texas Army under Gen. Sam Houston. Houston defeats a Mexican army under Gen. Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. Texas declares itself an independent republic.

Missionaries Marcus Whitman and Henry H. Spaulding travel overland to Oregon with their wives, the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains.

The Specie Circular is issued, ordering Federal Land Agents to accept only gold or silver for public lands sold; the sale of public lands falls sharply.

A "Gag Rule" Resolution, tabling all anti-slavery petitions and motions, is passed by the House of Representatives.

Wisconsin Territory is formed.

Arkansas is admitted as the twenty-fifth state in the Union.

1837

Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth President of the United States.

Suspension of all specie payment by the banks of New York precipitates the "Panic of 1837" during which 618 banks fail. A decade-long financial depression begins.

Elijah P. Lovejoy, an anti-slavery newspaper editor, is attacked and killed by a mob in his office in Alton, Illinois.

John Deere invents the "singing plow." It is made of wrought iron and has a steel share that can cut through sticky prairie soil without clogging.

The lumber industry begins operations in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin; this new market for crops induces farmers to move westward to timber country.

Victoria becomes Queen of Great Britain.

Michigan is admitted as the twenty-sixth state in the Union.

1838

President Van Buren issues a neutrality proclamation forbidding Americans from taking sides in the Canadian revolt.

The Corps of Topographical Engineers is established by Col. John James Abert as a separate branch of the U.S. Army to explore the continent.

Capt. Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy sails on an expedition to the Pacific and the South Seas. During the four year voyage, he discovers that land in the Antarctic Ocean is actually a continent. Wilkes convinces the government that the Columbia River harbor is useless, and that Puget Sound is essential to U.S. interests.

Over 14,000 Cherokee Indian people are forcibly relocated to Indian Territory from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee along the "Trail of Tears."

Iowa Territory is formed.

Alexis de Tocqueville publishes the first American edition of Democracy in America.

1839

The last fur trade rendezvous is held at Fort Bonneville. The business panic of 1837, the change in men's fashions from beaver to silk top hats, and the exhaustion of the beaver supply has led to the decline of trapping and trading.

The Mexican government imposes a $500 tax per wagon entering Santa Fe. American traders counter by using bigger wagons. The St. Louis built "Murphy wagon" carries 5 tons and has a rear wheel 7 feet in diameter.

Mormons found Nauvoo in Illinois, after being forced to leave Missouri.

France becomes the first European nation to recognize Texan independence.

Frenchman Louis J.M. Daguerre announces the invention of the Daguerreotype, the world's first practical photographic process.

1840

The ten hour day is established by executive order for all federal employees engaged in public works.

Richard Henry Dana publishes Two Years Before the Mast. The book draws upon the author's experience as a sailor aboard a Boston trading ship engaged in the "hides and tallow" trade between the east coast and California from 1834 to 1836.

The expression "O.K." comes into use. A campaign slogan, it alludes to Martin Van Buren's nickname, "Old Kinderhook." Kinderhook, New York, is Van Buren's birthplace.

Joel Walker travels overland to Oregon with his family and three other missionary couples.

The first Catholic mission in Oregon is established by Father Pierre Jean DeSmet.

The U.S. census reports that approximately 40,000 Indians from the "Five Civilized Nations" of the East have been resettled in the Trans-Mississippi West.

Sixth census: U.S. population - 17,069,453.