U.S. Capitol Historical Society

1774-1799 | 1800-1824 | 1825-1849 | 1850-1874 | 1875-1899 | 1900-1924 | 1925-1949 | 1950-1974 | 1975-Modern

1825

March

John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was inaugurated the 6^th President. Despite the fact that Andrew Jackson had received the most popular and electoral votes, nobody could claim a clear majority due to the four way split. The decision fell to the House of Representatives, which voted for Adams. Speaker Henry Clay, who as fourth place finisher could not be chosen, threw his support to Adams in exchange for an appointment as Secretary of State. The deal was denounced by Jackson supporters as a "Corrupt Bargain". John C. Calhoun became vice president.

1828	May	19	Congress passed the so-called "Tariff of Abominations", raising duties to their highest level prior to the civil war.
1829	March	4	Andrew Jackson, Democrat, became the 7^th President. John C. Calhoun continued as vice president.
1829			Capitol reconstruction following the 1814 burning was completed including all landscaping and ground maintenance.
1830	January	26	Webster - Hayne Debate on states' rights versus national power occurred in the Senate. Daniel Webster proclaimed in his Second Reply to Hayne, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable"
1832	July	10	President Jackson vetoed renewing the charter for the Bank of the United States.
1832	November	24	South Carolina voted to declare null and void the tariffs of 1828 and 1832.
1833	March	2	Compromise was reached with South Carolina regarding the Nullification Crisis; Henry Clay's compromise lowered the tariffs yearly until 1842 when they reached the same level as in 1816.
1833	March	4	Jackson was inaugurated for his second term as president. He defeated Clay in a campaign focusing on the Bank issue. Jackson's vice-president was Martin Van Buren.
1837	March	4	Martin Van Buren, Democrat, was inaugurated as the 8^th President having defeated the disunited Whigs, who had nominated three candidates. Van Buren's vice president was Richard M. Johnson.
1838	January		"Trail of Tears" occurred when Congress forced five Indians tribes to move from the East coast to the Oklahoma territory. Over four thousand died from exhaustion, exposure, and hunger.
1840			Congress passed Van Buren's Independent Treasury proposal to counterattack the Panic of 1837.
1841	March	4	William H. Harrison, Whig, became the 9^th President, having defeated President Van Buren. He died less than one month after taking office. His Vice President, John Tyler, succeeded him making Tyler the 10th President of the United States.
1842			China opened trade with the United States following Congress's approval of China's commissioner, Caleb Cushing.
1842	March	30	The Whig Congress passed the Tariff of 1842, once again raising duties.
1844	May	24	Samuel Morse's telegraph tapped its historic "What hath God wrought!" from the Capitol's Supreme Court chamber.
1845	March	4	James K. Polk, Democrat, was inaugurated as the 11^th President after defeating Henry Clay, Whig. His vice president was George M. Dallas, Democrat.
	December	2	President Polk’s first message to Congress characterized the Whig tariff of 1842 as "so framed that much the greatest burden which it imposes is thrown on labor and the poorer classes, who are least able to bear it, while it protects capital and exempts the rich from paying their portion of the taxation required to support the government."
	December	29	Texas was annexed and adopted as a U.S. state despite indications that Mexico would declare war on the U.S. if it annexed Texas.
1846	May	11	House declared war against Mexico for invading Texas.
	June	15	Polk asked Congress to give England notice that joint occupation of the Oregon territory would end at year-end. The British government offered to divide the territory at the 49th parallel. It is the same boundary that the U.S. shares with Canada today.
	July	30	The Democratic Congress passed the Walker Tariff, generally lowering tariffs and reversing the trend of substituting specific for ad valorem duties.
	August	6	The Independent Treasury Act passed separating the treasury from the federal government.
	August	8	The Wilmot Proviso proposed to pay $2 million to Mexico for Texas, so long as Texas was not allowed in the Union as a slave state. It failed in teh House, and the Senate changed it to $3 million the offer to Mexico and Texas could vote on the slavery issue.
1848	January	24	Gold was discovered in California. By 1849 California's population reached 100,000, making it eligible for statehood.
	February	2	The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican American War. New Mexico was sold to the U.S. for $15 million, and the Rio Grande was made the Texas-Mexico border. [Additional Info]
	July	19	The Seneca Falls Convention was held calling for equal rights for women. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led the convention.
	July	27	Former President Van Buren, now the Free Soil party candidate for president, issued a statement to Congress condemning slavery expansion and insisted Congress use its constitutional power to prevent slavery's extension into new territories.
1849	March	4	Zachary Taylor, Whig, who defeated Lewis Cass, Democrat, was inaugurated as the 12th President of the United States. Taylor's vice president was Millard Fillmore.