The 1820s are the decade that saw the United States of America come of age as a 50-year-old nation. A young government's growing pains shaped society then and our lives today in ways that few might have expected in their day. Controversial government decisions, amazing inventions, and advances in transportation are a few of the changes our ancestors lived through during the 1820s. We can only imagine their thoughts about what happened in the 1820s, the changes they witnessed, and the differences they would make in the United States and in the world.
Major Events from the 1820s
1820
Missouri Compromise
Conflicts around slavery were brewing, and the Missouri Compromise was the government’s temporary solution. As the United States expanded, each new territory had to be declared either a “slave” or “free” state. Tipping the scale in either direction would most likely have disastrous consequences. Missouri, a slave state, was in line for statehood, the admission of which would create the dreaded imbalance.
Meanwhile, Maine was a territory considered officially as part of Massachusetts, though geographically separate. Maine had been attempting to secede and become its own state for years.
Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky (more about him later) saw an opportunity and proposed a compromise that would keep the balance: make Maine a free state and Missouri a slave state. One for each side would make both sides happy, right? This compromise became the Missouri Compromise. It also declared that no new states after this point would enter the nation as a slave state, but that part didn’t last.
Joseph Smith’s Vision
In the spring of 1820, a young boy had a question: which one of the many Christian denominations was God’s true church? He was studying in the Bible one day when a certain scripture stuck out to him:
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God... and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5)
This Bible verse sent him into the woods where he prayed for guidance. In an answer to his prayer, he said that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. Today Smith is known as the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nearly 17 million members worldwide meet in more than 30 thousand congregations. The church publishes materials in nearly 200 languages.
1823
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine, on its own, is a simple declaration of the United States’ foreign affairs policy. James Monroe used it to declare that the U.S. would no longer allow European colonization in Western countries.
During the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), Napoleon invaded Spain, which led to many of Spain’s colonies in Latin America becoming independent. This raised the concern that other European countries might try to colonize those newly independent Latin American countries again.
Great Britain benefited from Latin American independence because it allowed more British influence and control in Latin American markets. So, they asked the United States to issue a policy with them, warning all other European countries to stay away from colonizing Latin America again.
Monroe discussed this with others, and almost agreed—until his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, proposed that the policy be announced solely by the United States. Great Britain could still support them if they needed to, but he believed the U.S. standing alone on the matter would increase the credibility of America's voice on the international stage.
They adopted Adams’ plan, and even though America didn’t have the military to support such a declaration, the fact that European countries took it seriously paved the way for America to become the world superpower it is today.
1824
The Election of 1824
You might think an election that happened over 200 years ago wouldn’t garner much controversy, but elections in the United States’ early years were just as fraught with tension as elections today.
The Election of 1824 presented 4 main candidates. The candidate with the most votes couldn't win right away unless he had at least 50 percent of the votes. Andrew Jackson won the most electoral and popular votes, but not enough to win the election outright. The deciding vote was up to the House of Representatives.
The fourth candidate, Henry Clay (famous for the Missouri Compromise discussed earlier), was eliminated from the final vote because he’d gotten the fewest votes. But he still wasn't completely out of the picture because when he threw his support behind John Quincy Adams, Adams won the election by a landslide. In turn, President Adams nominated Clay as his Secretary of State, which was a noted upset for Jackson.
1825
Erie Canal
The United States was growing fast in the early 1800s. People got used to plodding up and down going north and south. But the growth was westward. And if they wanted to get across the country, they would need to avoid the Appalachian Mountains.
In 1825 transportation from East to West was revolutionized. The Erie Canal was built connecting Albany to Buffalo, allowing quick and easy passage to and from New York and the rest of the country. An influx of immigrants flooded the nation, turning New York City into the “Big Apple” it still is today.
1828
The Election of 1828
Four years after the election of 1824, Jackson had a second chance at the presidency. This time around, it was just Jackson and Adams squaring up for the prize. Both camps ratcheted up their rhetoric against the other to unprecedented levels, far more vitriolic than in recent memory. But after all was said and done, the democratic system prevailed. Jackson won. And this time, it stuck.
Jackson became known as the “people’s president.” Today, scholars recognize Jackson’s primary achievements as founding the Democratic Party and paying off the national debt.
Inventions During the 1820s
1824
Braille
Louis Braille invented a system universally used today whereby blind and poorly-sighted individuals can both read write using their sense of touch. His fully-developed system expanded on an idea originated from a soldier in Napoleon’s army, Charles Barbier de La Serre. Barbier knew that it was important for soldiers to transmit information across enemy lines undetected, so he created a code called “night writing” where soldiers could follow a grid. Each square in the grid referred to a different letter, and holes cut into a grid on paper worked to pass the information to other soldiers. This paper and grid was too complicated, so the military rejected Barbier's idea.
Barbier knew it had merit, so he turned to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. Their system for reading letters involved embossing normal characters into paper, and students could feel the large letters. The process to create books took a long time, and the letters were too large for students to understand. Not to mention, the students couldn’t even duplicate the letters on their own.
This is where Louis Braille enters the picture. Braille heard about Barbier’s system at the Institute (although they didn’t meet face-to-face until 1833) and greatly refined it. He made the grid system much simpler and easier to discern between letters. And at just 15 years old, Louis Braille created Braille—the most efficient way for the blind to read, process, and write information.
Portland Cement
The earliest known use of cement was in 6500 BC, for floors and houses in Syria and Jordan. But over time, the recipe didn’t hold up as well as builders wanted it to. So, people kept improving cement over the centuries, until English cement manufacturer Joseph Aspdin created a new version by burning finely ground chalk and clay until the carbon dioxide was gone. He called it “Portland cement,” and it’s now the most widely used cement in the world.
1825
Electromagnet
In 1820, a Danish physicist named Hans Christian Ørsted realized something—electric currents don’t just run electricity, they also produce magnetic fields. He thought this was interesting, and so did British physicist William Sturgeon, who used this information to invent the electromagnet in 1825.
But it doesn’t end there. In the 1830s, American physicist Joseph Henry optimized the electromagnet, and word of its capabilities spread across the globe. Nowadays, electromagnets are used in our cell phones, motors, generators, MRI machines, and particle generators, to name a few.
Find Your Relatives in the 1830 Census
From electromagnets to the Erie Canal, the 1820s changed the world as we know it. Click the link to find your relatives in the 1830 census and learn more about your ancestors who lived through this turning point in American history!
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