George Washington to Bushrod Washington
Mount Vernon, November 10, 1787
Following are excerpts from George Washington’s letter to Bushrod Washington:
“Dear Bushrod: In due course of Post, your letters of the 19th. and 26th. Ult. came to hand and I thank you for the communications therein; for a continuation in matters of importance, I shall be obliged to you. (more…)
President John Tyler sought to achieve much success in foreign affairs during his presidency, and part of that success, he imagined, would be accomplished through expansion of the country. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 677. The annexation of the Republic of Texas to be the 28th state in the Union was to be his goal.
Daniel Webster, the Secretary of State under President John Tyler, brought a breadth of experience and dignity to the office, but he also brought “a different perspective on Anglo-American relations.” Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 672.
President Andrew Jackson had a predisposition toward annexing Texas and making it American territory. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 670.
In 1821, Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, changing the nature of America-Mexico relations. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 658-59.
Justice Joseph Story wrote a decision in Prigg v. Pennsylvania that would put the United States Supreme Court in a possession of relieving northern state officials of responsibility “for returning fugitive slaves, and increasingly northern state legislatures instructed them to do so.” Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 654.
While much of literature during the 1830s and 1840s was dedicated to religiosity and piety, a new type of literature was emerging during this time. George Lippard and other authors were achieving commercial success writing novels that have stood the test of time and have had appeal to ordinary Americans in generations since: novels about the Western United States. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 631.
Following the Election of 1840, members of the Whig Party must have been optimistic about their future. They likely imagined that the dominance of the Jacksonian Democrats could be replicated within the ranks of the Whigs and supplant the Democrats. It was not to be, however.
In 1842, John Quincy Adams presented to the House of Representatives a petition from 42 residents of Haverhill, Massachusetts, requesting that the Union be dissolved. Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 610. Henry Wise, Congressman from Virginia, “demanded the former president be censured.” Id.
Around the 1830s and 1840s, individuals who suffered from mental illness were treated as criminals, regardless of whether they had actually committed a crime. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 604. Dorothea Dix sought to change that.
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