1855

Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era | 2004 | Nicole Etcheson

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Before when free-soil men invoked the right of revolution in defense of their political rights, proslavery men condemned them for defying the legitimate government. But proslavery men feared the loss of their right to own slaves as much as free soilers feared the loss of the right to exclude slavery.

At Hickory Point, [Kansas] a squabble over land claims ignited these political quarrels. A settler named Franklin M. Coleman had been squatting on land abandoned by some Hoosiers, who subsequently sold the claim to Jacob Branson, another Hoosier. In late 1854, when Branson informed Coleman of his legal claim and attempted to move into Coleman’s house, Coleman held him off with a gun. A group of arbitrators later awarded part of the claim to Branson, but the boundaries between his land and Coleman’s were not determined. Branson invited in other men, including a young Ohioan named Charles W. Dow. Branson belonged to the free-state militia, a connection he used to intimidate Coleman, although Branson later testified that there had been no problems between Dow and Coleman – until the day of Dow’s murder.

On the morning of November 21, 1855, Dow went to the blacksmith shop at Hickory Point to have a wagon skein and lynchpin mended. While there he argued with one of Coleman’s friends, but left unharmed. As he walked away, he passed Coleman on the road. Coleman snapped a cap at him. When Dow turned around, he received a charge of buckshot in the chest and died immediately. His body lay in the road until Branson recovered it four hours later. Coleman claimed that Dow had threateningly raised the wagon skein (a two-foot piece of iron) as they argued over their claim dispute, forcing him to act in self-defense. Fearing that he could not get fair treatment at the free-state settlement of Hickory Point, Coleman and his family fled to Missouri.

Nicole Etcheson, “Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era”

[PAR35]

Please leave me in.

[PeterPrinciple]

1855 - Abraham Gesner patents kerosene

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http://www.canadianpetroleumhalloffame.ca/abraham-gesner.html

Gesner had been trying to organize a company to manufacture and sell the new lamp fuel. One of his first actions, around 1850 or so, was to coin a name for it. As one residue of the distillation was a kind of wax, Gesner decided to call his lamp fuel wax-oil, and combining the Greek words for wax and oil came up with “keroselain” and “keroselene” before finally settling on kerosene as neater and more analogous with such established names as benzene and camphene.

.......
In June 1854, Gesner obtained U.S. patent numbers 11,203, 11,204, and 11,205 for “improvement in kerosene burning fluids.” The three patents are essentially the same in text, but cover respectively what Gesner called “A,” “C,” and “B” kerosene. Under Gesner’s guidance, the Asphalt Mining and Kerosene Gas Company set up a factory at Newtown Creek on Long Island, changing its name to the North American Kerosene Gas Light Company.

By 1857, kerosene was being advertised as an illuminant and lubricant throughout the United States and the British American provinces and Gesner’s company prospered, allowing him a comfortable life in Brooklyn, where he became a prominent figure in the local church and community.

Unknown to Gesner, however, a Scottish chemist working in England in 1848 had distilled boghead coal to produce a light oil that when purified, made an excellent lamp fuel. He obtained a British patent for “paraffine-oil” in 1850 and an American patent two years later, fully two years before Gesner received his kerosene patents. Gesner’s Kerosene Company was eventually forced to pay a royalty to the Scottish chemist to continue manufacturing kerosene.

By 1859, commercial production of petroleum had begun in northwestern Pennsylvania and southern Ontario, and by converting to petroleum as their raw material-a switch made easy by Gesner’s flexible design-the kerosene factories were able to produce the illuminant at about one-quarter of its former cost. The age of the kerosene lamp and the petroleum industry was launched but Gesner benefited little. He had made his contribution to refining technology and was replaced as the chemist of the Kerosene Company.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Jan 9th - Clipper Guiding Star disappears in Atlantic, 480 dead

I'm surprised a clipper ship accommodated that many passengers. I would have wild guessed around 100.

Feb 3rd - Wisconsin Supreme Coutt declares US Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional

We will have the Dred Scott decision to chew on after a while.

Feb 4th - Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela

Sigh.

Feb 10th - US citizenship laws amended; all children of US parents born abroad granted US citizenship

Anchor parents.

Jun 5th - Anti-foreign anti-Roman Catholic Know-Nothing Party’s 1st convention

How does a secret party have a convention?

Jun 17th - Heavy French/British bombing of Sebastopol, Crimea: 2,000+ killed

My advice to anyone living in Crimea: Get out while you can.

[PeterPrinciple]

1855 - Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela

World wide immigration going on. Money, taxation and corrupt governemtn as usual.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/coro.html

In 1827, a group of Jews emigrated from the tiny island of Curacao to the nearby mainland port city of Coro, Venezuela. Twenty-eight years later, violent rioting drove the entire Jewish population – 168 individuals – back to Curacao. It was the first time that Jews had been driven out of an independent nation in South America.

The hostility directed at Coro’s Jews was in part economic in nature. Venezuela’s banking system was in chaos, its government corrupt and unemployment rampant. Xenophobia – resentment of foreigners – was running high.

Starting in the 1840s, the municipal government of Coro and the local military garrison asked the Jewish community for loans as advances against their taxes. These were made interest free, and at times were simply “voluntary” contributions as it became clear that the loans would not be repaid. Aizenberg notes, “With the passing of time these payments became not a financial resource which the government could tap in case of urgent need, but a regular source of funds which it came to expect as a matter of course.”

[21twelve]

And so it begins! Both the beginnings of the Civil War and your new work of love. Count me in.

I see that you are using the term “Civil War”. I feel microaggressed - what about using “The War Between the States”, or “The War of Northern Aggression”? (Boy that last one - talk about being “aggressed”!)

Although I can see the viewpoint of both the second terms, with the second term being perhaps the most accurate, I think the better known term “Civil War” is the one to use.

I anticipate learning much on how this historical conflict can show us lessons on how (or how not) to deal with the current racial and political situation in the USA today.

[reg45]

Venezuela hasn’t changed much.

[reg45]

I see that you are using the term “Civil War”. I feel microaggressed - what about using “The War Between the States”, or “The War of Northern Aggression”? (Boy that last one - talk about being “aggressed”!)

I like the term "War of 1861", which shouldn't offend anyone.

[DBrow]

You may find this place to be a good resource: http://americanantiquarian.org/
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) library houses the largest and most accessible collection of printed materials from first contact through 1876 in what is now the United States, the West Indies and parts of Canada.

[21twelve]

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/07/walter-e-williams/the-war-of-1861/

Thanks - I had never heard of the term “War of 1861”. Found the above link - has some interesting information of the debate going on when they were writing the Constitution. Some were for allowing secession, some were against it. (It ended up being allowed).

Although the name lacks the importance and vastness of the war. Perhaps “The Great War of 1861”. Of course then they would have come up for a different name originally given to WW I!

[DBrow]

In, please! This will be fun!

[PeterPrinciple]

1955 - US Congress authorizes registered mail

The background is interesting as major issues are going on. The postal system was the internet of it’s day. The panama rail road cut 3 weeks off a mail to the west coast. 3/4 of all federal civilian workers were in the postal system. Note the effect on politicians..............

The registered mail thing deserves a little thinking as the importance of it use for confidential documents?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service

The postal system played a crucial role in national expansion. It facilitated expansion into the West by creating an inexpensive, fast, convenient communication system. Letters from early settlers provided information and boosterism to encourage increased migration to the West, helped scattered families stay in touch and provide assistance, assisted entrepreneurs in finding business opportunities, and made possible regular commercial relationships between merchants in the west and wholesalers and factories back east. The postal service likewise assisted the Army in expanding control over the vast western territories. The widespread circulation of important newspapers by mail, such as the New York Weekly Tribune, facilitated coordination among politicians in different states. The postal service helped integrate established areas with the frontier, creating a spirit of nationalism and providing a necessary infrastructure.[17]

The Post Office in the 19th century was a major source of federal patronage. Local postmasterships were rewards for local politicians—often the editors of party newspapers. About 3/4 of all federal civilian employees worked for the Post Office. In 1816 it employed 3341 men, and in 1841, 14,290. The volume of mail expanded much faster than the population, as it carried annually 100 letters and 200 newspapers per 1000 white population in 1790, and 2900 letters and 2700 newspapers per thousand in 1840.[18]

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An Act of Congress provided for the issuance of stamps on March 3, 1847, and the Postmaster General immediately let a contract to the New York City engraving firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson. The first stamp issue of the U.S. was offered for sale on July 1, 1847, in New York City, with Boston receiving stamps the following day and other cities thereafter. The 5-cent stamp paid for a letter weighing less than 1 oz (28 g) and traveling less than 300 miles, the 10-cent stamp for deliveries to locations greater than 300 miles, or twice the weight deliverable for the 5-cent stamp.

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Rail cars designed to sort and distribute mail while rolling were soon introduced.[20] RMS employees sorted mail “on-the-fly” during the journey, and became some of the most skilled workers in the postal service. An RMS sorter had to be able to separate the mail quickly into compartments based on its final destination, before the first destination arrived, and work at the rate of 600 pieces of mail an hour. They were tested regularly for speed and accuracy.[24]

...................

In 1855, William Henry Aspinwall completed the Panama Railway, providing rail service across the Isthmus and cutting to three weeks the transport time for the mails, passengers and goods to California. This remained an important route until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Railroad companies greatly expanded mail transport service after 1862, and the Railway Mail Service was inaugurated in 1869.[20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_mail

U.S. certified mail began in 1955 after the idea was originated by Assistant U.S. Postmaster General Joseph Cooper.[10] It is also acceptable to send U.S. Government classified information at the Confidential level using the Certified Mail service.

[Marak]

Sign me up!
Thanks.

[PeterPrinciple]

1855 - Clipper Guiding Star disappears in Atlantic, 480 dead

Again lots of movement going on. Gold. Australia

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?131797

Owned by Miller & Thompson (Golden Line), Liverpool and built in 1853 by W. & R. Wright, St. John, Nova Scotia; 2,013 tons; 233x38x22.1 ft;

The large clipper GUIDING STAR, owned by Miller & Thompson’s Golden Line completed her first round trip to Melbourne in 1854. On January 9th 1855, GUIDING STAR departed Liverpool to Australia with 62 crew and officers and 481 passengers on board, mostly emigrants. She was insured for £12,000, a huge amount at that time.

She was last seen in the Southern Ocean by the American Ship MERCURY, on 12th February 1855. On 19th February, large icebergs were seen and narrowly avoided by the ship GEORGE MARSHALL, on the same route of GUIDING STAR, which at that time was about 36 hours behind the George Marshall.

Ever since never was heard of the Guiding star. It is thought that she was embayed in a huge icefield that had boundaries extending from 44°S-28°W to 40°S-20°W.

Many emigrant ships, including the GUIDING STAR promised a fast passage and they did that by going as far as possible South to catch up with favourable winds towards Australia.

[BroJoeK]

Ditto, count me in!

Curiously, for the first time in a good many years, my travels have brought me to Kansas today.
A beautiful, crisp & windy fall day with no blood anywhere to be seen. ;-)

My maternal grandparents came from Kansas, their families settled here after the Civil War, strong Unionists.
In Kansas even before the war, slavers were overwhelmed by a flood of aanti-slavery immigrants.

[PeterPrinciple]

The Long, Hard Winter of 1855-56

A very interesting read, but long. Now that was the year of climate change..........................

http://wintercenter.homestead.com/files/1855-56.pdf

A correspondent in Kentucky has very obligingly sent us the following chronicle of the most remarkable spells of bitter weather known in the old world:
In the year 301, the cold was so intense in Europe, that the Black Sea was frozen entirely over.
In 401, the Pontus Sea, and the sea between Constantinople [now Istanbul] and Scutari in Turkey, were entirely frozen over.
The Danube was frozen over in 462, so that a whole army crossed on the ice.
The black Sea again frozen over in 765…
Carriages crossed the Adriatic Sea, or Gulf of Venice, in 859, and in 860 the cold was so intense that cattle froze to death in their stalls. The Mediterranean Sea was so thickly frozen over, that it was passable for carriages and horses, and merchandise was transported across it on the ice.
1133. This year the River Po, in Italy, was frozen from Cremona to the sea; wine burst the casks containing it, and the trees split with a loud report.
1216. The River Po was frozen to a depth of sixteen feet.
1234. The Mediterranean was again frozen over…
1292. The Rhine was frozen over, and the snow is represented as being of an “enormous depth.”
1323. The Baltic Sea was frozen over so as to be passable for six weeks.
1344. All the rivers in Italy were frozen over.
21
1349, 1492 [likely 1292] and 1408. The Baltic Sea was frozen over in each of these years.
1384. The Rhine and Gulf of Venice were frozen over.
1423, 1426 and 1459. In each of these years the traveling from Lubec to Prussia was performed on the ice.
1620. The sea between Constantinople and Iskodar was passable on the ice.
1670. The cold was intense throughout Europe.
1681. This year the cold was so severe as to split whole forests of oak trees...
1692. Wolves came into Vienna, and attacked men and women, owing to the intense cold and hunger…
1776. This year the Danube was frozen over five feet thick below Vienna…

[Springman]

Please keep me on the list, thanks.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Count me in, too! Another great project. Appreciate your continued efforts.

It’s amazing how learning about the nation’s challenges in the 1820s to 1860 was such a chore in high school, but now is of such interest as adults. Perhaps because we are witnessing new existential threats to the U.S. every bit as difficult as slavery was then, this has new and more urgent relevance. When studying the nation’s issues in HS, the notion of the nation dissolving was simply absurd. Now with the Dem-Communist / Rep-Freedom split rending us in so many ways, dissolution is openly talked about again...and indeed sought by many.

[Tax-chick]

Jun 28th - The Sigma Chi Fraternity was founded at Miami University[Ohio]

"Miami was a university before Florida was a state."

P.J. O'Rourke is their most famous extant alumnus. (Please leave me on the list, Homer.)

[laplata]

Thank you, Sir.

[fso301]

I want in!