Ever since slavery became a legal practice in this country (during the colonial period starting in the 1600's), there has been an Underground Railroad of sorts. Slaves longing for personal freedom escaped or tried to escape from their owners, seeking a better life.
However, it wasn't until railroads as we know them first appeared in the 1820's that the term "Underground Railroad" had a true meaning. We know that by the 1830's, people were using this term to describe the organized movement that led slaves to freedom with the help of people who were opposed to their bondage.
Many historians, therefore, consider the Underground Railroad to be a part of the fabric of the nineteenth century, ending with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment at the end of 1865. This amendment abolished slavery as a legal institution.
This timeline covers the years 1800 - 1865, giving you a glimpse into some of the historical, economic, and cultural contexts that surrounded these years of the Underground Railroad movement. In the United States, this era is marked by
1800 - 1810 1810
- 1820 1820 - 1830
1830 - 1840
1840 - 1850 1850 - 1860
1860 - 1865
1800
The 1800 census shows 5.3 million people live in the US.
Thomas Jefferson is elected President.
One of the largest slave uprisings in America fails. Led by Gabriel Prosser,
a slave in Henrico County, Virginia, the plan to destroy slavery in Virginia
failed when some slaves told their master about the plot.
1801
1802
West Point opens.
1803
The Louisiana Purchase doubles the land area of the US.
The Lewis and Clark expedition begins.
1804
Jefferson wins a second term in office.
Haiti declares its independence from France and abolishes slavery.
1805
1806
1807
Robert Fulton's Clermont, the first reliable steamboat, travels from New
York City to Albany, NY.
1808
James Madison is elected as president.
The US bans importing slaves into the country, but smugglers still bring
many slaves to our borders.
1809
1810
Peter Durand invents the tin can. Made of thick metal, the tins had to be
hammered open.
The third national census records US population at 7,239,881.
1811
On December 16, the largest known earthquake in American history (Richter
scale 8.6., 8.4, and 8.8) reverses the flow of the Mississippi River. The
quake is centered in New Madrid, Missouri.
1812
The War of 1812 pits the US against Britain.
The Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales are published.
Louisiana becomes the 18th state.
James Madison is reelected to a second term as President.
1813
1814
Francis Scott Key writes the Star-Spangled Banner.
The War of 1812 ends in a diplomatic victory for the US.
Francis Cabot Lowell builds the first American factory that combines spinning
and weaving operations.
1815
1816
James Monroe is elected the fifth president of the US.
1817
Construction begins on the Erie Canal.
1818
1819
Spain agrees to give the US control over Florida.
1820
The Missouri Compromise is passed, balancing the number of free and slave
states. Missouri is admitted as a place where slaves can be held. However,
slavery will not be permitted in any other place north of Missouri's southern
border.
James Monroe is elected to a second term as president.
The US population currently stands at 9,638,453.
1821
The Santa Fe Trail west opens.
The Republic of Liberia is established in West Africa as a refuge for freed
American slaves.
1822
Denmark Vessey plans to lead a slave revolt are revealed, and he is convicted
and hung, along with 35 others, in South Carolina.
1823
In December, President Monroe announces what becomes known as the Monroe
Doctrine: the U.S. will not stand for any interference in American affairs
by European powers.
The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" appears in the Troy, New York
Sentinel. Twenty years later, Clement Moore claimed he wrote the poem.
1824
John Quincy Adams elected as president.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is established.
1825
The Erie Canal, linking New York City and the Great Lakes, is completed.
1826
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on July 4.
1827
The first African American newspaper, Freedom's Journal, is published in
New York City.
1828
Construction is begun on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first public
railway in the country.
Andrew Jackson is elected to the Presidency of the United States.
1829
1830
Joseph Smith and others found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. becomes the official timekeeper
for the country.
The yard is standardized at 36 inches.
The U.S. population stands at 12,866,020.
1831
Nat Turner leads a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia.
"My Country 'Tis of Thee" is first sung in Boston.
1832
Andrew Jackson is reelected President.
Public streetcar service begins in New York City. The far is 12 ½
cents.
The New England Anti-Slavery Society is founded.
1833
Oberlin College opens in Ohio. It is the first US college to admit women
as well as men and the first to admit African Americans.
1834
Charles Babbage introduces his analytic machine-the forerunner of today's
computers.
Cyrus McCormick patents the first horse-drawn grain reaper.
1835
1836
General Santa Anna leads his troops in an attack of the Alamo in Texas.
Martin Van Buren is elected as the eighth U.S. President.
Samuel Colt invents the first revolver.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that any slave brought within its borders
by a master is free.
1837
Samuel F. B. Morse introduces the telegraph and the code used to communicate
through it, which became known as Morse Code.
1838
Between 15,000 and 17,000 Cherokees are removed from tribal lands in Georgia
and forced westward on what becomes known as the Trail of Tears.
Samuel Morse publicly demonstrates his telegraph system in Morristown, New
Jersey.
The Wilkes expedition to the South Pole sets sail from Virginia.
1839
Cinque and 53 other captured slaves from Sierra Leone aboard the Amistad
mutiny and take control of the ship and set sail back to Africa. The ship
is captured off of Long Island.
1840
The U.S. population reaches 17,069,453.
The Wilkes expedition sites land, claiming the discovery of Antarctica.
President Van Buren signs an order mandating a ten-hour workday for workers.
Factory workers at the time worked an average of more than 11 hours a day.
William Henry Harrison is elected president, beating incumbent Martin Van
Buren.
1841
Maryland passes a law stating that, if a free black person was found with
any materials related to abolition, he or she can be placed in jail for 10-20
years.
The Supreme Court hears the Amistad case. John Quincy Adams, representing
Cinque and the other Africans, argued that the accused had a right to fight
for their freedom. The justices decided in their favor, allowing the men
to return to Africa.
John Tyler, Harrison's vice president, assumes the presidency after the death
of Harrison.
Traveling the Oregon Trail, a group of settler becomes one of earliest large
groups to reach Sacramento.
1842
The first adhesive postage stamps are made available by a private company.
1843
1844
James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay for the presidency.
1845
The Naval Academy opens in Annapolis. Its first class includes 50 midshipmen,
taught by seven professors.
Henry David Thoreau begins living on Walden Pond.
Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American
Slave is published.
The Potato Famine causes many Irish to immigrate to the US.
1846
The Mexican-American War begins with a battle at Palo Alto, Texas
Washington, D.C.'s Smithsonian Institute is founded.
Elias Howe invents the sewing machine.
The first public demonstration of the use of ether in operations takes place
at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia tolled for the last time.
US settlers proclaim an independent Republic of California; three months
later, the Republic is annexed by the US.
US annexes New Mexico.
1847
Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) dies in Indiana.
The North Star, Frederick Douglass' newspaper supporting the abolishment
of slavery, begins publication in Rochester, New York.
1848
Gold is discovered at Sutter's Fort in California.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War. Mexico cedes
500,000 square miles of its territory to the US.
Zachary Taylor elected president.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organize the first women's rights
convention in Seneca Falls, NY.
1849
Edgar Allan Poe dies in Baltimore.
Walter Hunt patents the first safety pin.
The California Gold Rush begins.
Harriet Tubman escapes to the north and begins her work with the Underground
Railroad.
Amelia Bloomer begins publication of The Lily, a journal supporting temperance
and women's rights.
1850
Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes president after Taylor dies.
California is admitted to the Union as a free state in the Compromise of
1850. Voters in the New Mexico and Utah territories will decide if they become
slave or free states when they apply for statehood.
1851
Isaac Singer invents the first commercially successful sewing machine, powered
by a foot treadle.
1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published, focusing national
attention on slavery.
1853
The Gadsden Purchase secures a strip of land in southern New Mexico and Arizona
as US territory.
1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act passes, effectively negating the principles of the
Missouri Compromise. Under the doctrine of popular sovereignty, voters in
these areas would decide the legality of slavery in their states. In a speech,
Abraham Lincoln condemns the Act.
1855
1856
James Buchanan becomes president, defeating Millard Fillmore (a "Know
Nothing" party candidate) and John C. Frémont.
Louis Pasteur invents pasteurization, a process which kills germs in liquids.
1857
The Supreme Court issues a decision in the case of Dred Scott. Scott, a slave,
was brought into free territory by his owner and sued for his freedom. The
Court ruled that he never ceased to be a slave, denied he was a citizen,
and denied him the right to sue.
1858
1859
John Brown leads a raid on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, is captured, and
executed.
1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected president.
The US population stands at 31,443,790.
South Carolina votes to secede from the Union.
1861
The states that had already seceded -- Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas - form a new republic called the Confederate
States of America. The Civil War begins with the attack at Fort Sumter in
Charlestown, South Carolina.
1862
Dr. Richard Gatling patents the machine gun, a six-barreled weapon capable
of firing 200 rounds a minute.
Slavery is abolished in Washington, D.C.
Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, allowing citizens to get title to up to
160 acres of land after farming it for five years.
1863
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation takes effect, freeing all Southern slaves.
The first black regiment of Union forces, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers,
is formed.
Lincoln signs the Conscription Act, requiring all males between the ages
of 20 - 45 to register for service in the army. However, these men can pay
someone else $300 to take their place.
Lincoln delivers his address at Gettysburg, dedicating a cemetery there.
1864
Lincoln is reelected to a second term as president.
1865
The Civil War officially ends with Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox
Court House, Virginia.
The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery is ratified.
Lincoln is assassinated, succeeded by his vice president Andrew Johnson.