American Literature B 1850-1860

The law passed to adere to the Compromise of 1850. Under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, special federal comissioners were allowed to determine the fate of alleged fugitives without the benefit of a jury trial or even testimony by the accused person. The law also prohibited local authorities from interfering with the capture of slave.

he following foods were "invented" in the 1850's:
Modern Marshmallows (1850), Potato Chips (1853), Boston Cream Pie (1855), Navy Bean Soup (1856), Condensed Milk (1856).
http://democraticvistas.net/index.php?title=American_Culture_1855

1855 was an unstable time for religion in America. Christianity was being challenged by science, and by discoveries and studies being made in astronomy and evolution. The landscape of religion was being changed by the arrival of new religious movements, like Mormonism and Spiritualism. http://democraticvistas.net/index.php?title=American_Culture_1855

Women fashion in the 1850s, the domed skirts of the 1840s continued to expand. Skirts were made fuller by means of flounces (deep ruffles), usually in tiers of three, gathered tightly at the top and stiffened with horsehair braid at the bottom.
Men's clothing in the mid-1800's symbolized a man's status in society, his job, his income level, and his class standing. Little variation was allowed for self-expression through clothing, as a man's outfit was almost like a uniform, a declaration proclaiming, "I am a productive part of society." Men's clothing was staunch, uptight, and constricting in the same way that mid-1800's society was.

Music was always heard live, and was thus ephemeral. Other than the barrel organ and music box, no sound machines existed until late in the century (Thomas Edison patented his "talking machine" in 1877). For most Americans music was ubiquitous and casual, performed or encountered in the homes of their family and friends, at school, and in public venues and commercial establishments. Musicians and patrons employed music for different reasons in those spheres—for entertainment, moral training, and solace within the home, or as an essential component of the curricula of female seminaries intended to mold middle-class mothers, for example. Vocal and piano skills were highly prized and families brought music teachers into their homes to train their daughters. Music was more than household entertainment. It was a medium for instilling social and ethical values. http://democraticvistas.net/index.php?title=American_Culture_1855

The Compromise of 1850 is introduced in the US Congress. The legislation would eventually pass and be highly controversial, but it essentially delayed the Civil War by a decade.
The Compromise of 1850 includes a controversial Fugitive Slave Law that compels all citizens to help in the recovery of fugitive slaves. Free blacks form more Vigilance Committees throughout the North to watch for slave hunters and alert the black community.
http://www.ushistory.org/more/timeline.htm

Congress repeals the Missouri Compromise, opening western territories to slavery and setting the stage for a bloody struggle between pro and anti slavery forces in Kansas Territory (Bleeding Kansas).

Death of Henry Clay. The great legislator's body was taken from Washington, D.C. to his home in Kentucky and elaborate funeral observances were held in cites along the way.

Frederick Douglass delivers notable speech, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro.”

Death of Daniel Webster.

Franklin Pierce elected President of the United States.

War fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula between the Russians and the British, French, and Ottoman Turkish, with support, from January 1855, by the army of Sardinia-Piedmont. The war arose from the conflict of great powers in the Middle East and was more directly caused by Russian demands to exercise protection over the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman sultan. Another major factor was the dispute between Russia and France over the privileges of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in the holy places in Palestine.

Commodore Matthew Perry sails into Japanese harbor near present day Tokyo with four American warships, demanding to deliver a letter to the emperor of Japan.

The Panama Railroad, the first locomotive to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The Republican Party, newly formed from various groups opposing the extension of slavery, holds its first convention in Philadelphia.

James Buchanan elected president of the United States.

The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision declares blacks, free or slave, have no citizenship right

John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry.Brown and his men captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. However, this sanctuary from the fire storm did not last long, when in the late afternoon US Marines under Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived and stormed the engine house, killing many of the raiders and capturing Brown.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act signed into law. The legislation, designed to lessen the tension over slavery, actually has the opposite effect.