CHRONOLOGY

1830

  • The Book of Mormon published.

    • 1836

  • Battle of the Alamo fought.

  • Texas declares independence from Mexico.

    • 1837

  • Steel plow patented.

    • 1840s

  • Practical mechanical reapers created.

  • Fourierist communities founded.

    • 1841

  • First wagon trains head west on Oregon Trail.

  • Vice President John Tyler becomes president when William Henry Harrison dies.

    • 1844

  • James K. Polk elected president.

  • Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrates telegraph.

    • 1845

  • Term manifest destiny coined.

  • Texas enters Union as slave state.

  • Potato blight spurs Irish immigration.

    • 1846

  • Bear Flag Revolt movement raised in California.

  • Congress declares war on Mexico.

  • United States and Great Britain divide Oregon Country.

    • 1847

  • Mormons settle in Utah.

    • 1848

  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed.

  • Oneida community organized.

  • Seneca Falls convention held.

    • 1849

  • California gold rush begins.

    • 1850

  • Utah Territory annexed.

  • Railroads granted six square miles of land for every mile of track.

    • 1851

  • Fort Laramie conference marks beginning of Indian concentration.

    • 1855

  • Massachusetts integrates public schools.

    • 1857

  • Mormon War reasserts U.S. authority in Utah.

    • 1861

  • California connected to nation by telegraph.