The American Colonization Society had begun sending black volunteers to the Pepper Coast, the closest point of Africa and therefore the least expensive to reach, to establish a colony for freed blacks in 1822.

Although mortality from tropical diseases is horrendous—of the four thousand five hundred and seventy-one emigrants who arrive in Liberia between 1820 and 1843, only eighteen hundred and nineteen will be alive in 1843—by 1867 the ACS (and state-related chapters) will have assisted in the migration of more than thirteen thousand blacks to Liberia.

These free African-Americans and their descendants marry within their community and come to identify as Americo-Liberians.

Many are of mixed race and educated in American culture; they do not identify with the indigenous natives of the tribes they encounter.

They intermarry largely within the colonial community, developing an ethnic group that has a cultural tradition infused with American notions of political republicanism and Protestant Christianity.

The ACS, supported by prominent American politicians such as Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay, and James Monroe, believes repatriation of free African Americans is preferable to widespread emancipation of slaves.

Similar state-based organizations establish colonies in Mississippi-in-Africa, Kentucky in Africa, and the Republic of Maryland, which Liberia will later annex.

The Webster–Hayne debate on the topic of protectionist tariffs takes place in the United States Congress from January 12 to January 27, when  Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts debate, the question of states' rights versus federal authority.

The heated speeches between Webster and Hayne themselves are unplanned, and stem from debate over a resolution by Connecticut Senator Samuel A. Foot calling for the temporary suspension of further land surveying until land already on the market is sold (this would effectively stop the introduction of new lands onto the market).

Webster's description of the U.S. government as "made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people," will later be paraphrased by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address in the words "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

The U.S. federal government has organized a military force to repulse Black Hawk’s band when they cross the Mississippi for the 1832 spring planting.

Jefferson Davis is an officer of the force; Abraham Lincoln, elected captain of his volunteer company, is among the soldiers.

The soldiers, sometimes aided in the pursuit by other tribes, have spent the past fifteen weeks chasing Black Hawk and his people into Wisconsin and to the Mississippi, where on August 2, 1832, the soldiers virtually annihilate the remnant of Black Hawk’s band as they attempt to escape across the river.

Black Hawk had escaped, only to surrender shortly afterward, on August 27.

Briefly imprisoned, he will retire to a Sauk village on the Des Moines River.

The Americo-Liberian settlers do not relate well to the indigenous peoples they encounter, especially those in communities of the more isolated "bush".

They know nothing of their cultures, languages, or animist religion, and are not interested in learning.

The colonial settlements are raided by the Kru and Grebo from their inland chiefdoms.

Encounters with tribal Africans in the bush often become violent confrontations.

In Slaves to Racism: An Unbroken Chain from America to Liberia, Benjamin Dennis and Anita Dennis argue that the Americo-Liberians replicated the only society most of them knew: the racist culture of the American South.

Believing themselves different from and culturally and educationally superior to the indigenous peoples, the Americo-Liberians develop as an elite minority that holdd on to political power.

They treat the natives the way American whites had treated them: as inferiors.

The natives cannot vote and cannot speak unless spoken to.

Just as American Blacks are prohibited from marrying or having sexual relationships with white women, the natives cannot marry Americo-Liberian women

Even when some natives become educated, they will be excluded from government positions, except for a token few.

Indigenous tribesmen will not enjoy birthright citizenship in their own land until 1904.

Americo-Liberians encourage religious organizations to set up missions and schools to educate the indigenous peoples.

Northeastern North America

(1840 to 1851 CE): Epidemics, Industrial Development, and Social Reform

From 1840 to 1851, Northeastern North America experienced severe health crises, significant industrial expansion, transformative immigration patterns, and dynamic social and cultural movements. This era was characterized by devastating epidemics, burgeoning industries, powerful intellectual and artistic movements, and growing anti-slavery activism.

Epidemics and Public Health Crises

Cholera and Typhus Epidemics

In the early 1840s, cholera killed thousands in New York, a major destination for Irish immigrants. In 1843, a typhus epidemic originating from an earlier outbreak in Philadelphia claimed the life of the son of Franklin Pierce, future fourteenth President of the United States, in Concord, New Hampshire. Another severe typhus epidemic, from 1847 to 1848, resulted in more than twenty thousand deaths in Canada, primarily among Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Irish Famine. These immigrants contracted the disease aboard crowded "coffin ships," and health officials, unaware of effective sanitation and disease prevention methods, quarantined victims ineffectively. Additionally, the cholera outbreak of 1849–1850 claimed the life of former U.S. President James K. Polk in Nashville.

Industrial and Economic Growth

Bluestone Industry

The bluestone industry in Ulster County, New York, began with Silas Brainard recognizing the industrial potential of this deep-blue sandstone in the 1840s. By 1850, the local bluestone industry had become well-established, with significant quarries in Sawkill and Hurley, and major shipment points in Wilbur on the Rondout Creek and Malden on the Hudson. Bluestone from Wilbur, also known as Twaalfskill, notably paved the sidewalks of New York City. Before its commercial development, bluestone was utilized by natives and early settlers for tools and practical items such as chicken troughs, chimney caps, and tombstones.

Ice Harvesting and Brick Manufacturing

Ice harvesting continued to thrive along the Hudson River, with ice blocks preserved year-round in warehouses insulated with straw, serving as a rudimentary form of refrigeration for local communities including Rondout, Kingston, and Wilbur. Concurrently, large brick-making factories emerged near these shipping hubs, complementing the growing local economy.

Immigration and Canadian Developments

Irish and Scottish Immigration

Immigration resumed significantly after the War of 1812, with over nine hundred and sixty thousand arrivals from Britain to Canada between 1815 and 1850. These included refugees from the Great Irish Famine and Gaelic-speaking Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances. The influx of these immigrants deeply affected the demographic and cultural landscape of Canada and Northeastern United States.

Canadian Political Union

The Act of Union in 1841 merged Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, establishing responsible government across British North America by 1849. This union aimed to stabilize political tensions and foster more coherent governance, following earlier rebellions and demands for reform.

Social Reform and Abolitionism

Abolitionist Movement

The abolitionist movement intensified during this period, particularly under influential figures such as William Lloyd Garrison, who published the radical anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, and Frederick Douglass, who began writing for Garrison’s newspaper around 1840 before founding his own abolitionist paper, North Star, in 1847. While radicals like Garrison considered slavery a sin demanding immediate eradication, moderate abolitionists, including future president Abraham Lincoln, regarded slavery as a regrettable social evil rather than a religious transgression.

Transcendentalist Movement

The Transcendentalist movement, led by Ralph Waldo Emerson, emphasized personal freedom, individualism, and a belief in the inherent goodness of people. Influenced by Romantic ideals, Transcendentalists sought to reconcile individual spirituality with empirical scientific understanding, profoundly shaping American thought and culture.

Artistic and Cultural Developments

Hudson River School

The Hudson River School of painting flourished, reflecting themes of discovery, exploration, and settlement, and depicting the American landscape as a harmonious pastoral setting where humans and nature coexist peacefully. These artists, inspired by European masters such as Claude Lorrain, John Constable, and J.M.W. Turner, portrayed nature as a divine manifestation, capturing both the idyllic agricultural landscapes and rapidly disappearing wilderness. Their work complemented contemporary literary voices like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Artists associated with the Hudson River School, such as members trained under the Düsseldorf school of painting and German painter Paul Weber, often composed their scenes from multiple observations made during arduous travels, creating realistic yet idealized landscapes.

Legacy of the Era (1840–1851 CE)

From 1840 to 1851, Northeastern North America navigated a transformative period defined by devastating epidemics, significant industrial and economic developments, dynamic immigration, robust abolitionist and reform movements, and profound artistic and intellectual achievements. These developments reshaped the region's cultural and social identity, set the stage for intensified sectional tensions, and further entrenched industrialization as a defining feature of American society.

The abolitionist movement redefines itself after 1840 as a crusade against the sin of slave ownership.

It mobilizes support (especially among religious women in the Northeast affected by the Second Great Awakening).

William Lloyd Garrison, a radical abolitionist, publishes the most influential of the many anti-slavery newspapers, The Liberator, while Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave, begins writing for that newspaper around 1840 and starts his own abolitionist newspaper North Star in 1847.

The great majority of anti-slavery activists, such as Abraham Lincoln, reject Garrison's theology and hold that slavery is an unfortunate social evil, not a sin.

Manifest Destiny is the belief that American settlers are destined to expand across the continent.

Manifest Destiny is rejected by modernizers, especially the Whigs like Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln who want to build cities and factories—not more farms.

Democrats strongly favor expansion, and win the key election of 1844.

After a bitter debate in Congress the Republic of Texas is annexed in 1845, leading to war with Mexico, who consider Texas to be a part of Mexico due to the large numbers of Mexican settlers.

Johnny Appleseed meets Abraham Lincoln on April 3, 1840, and plants apple trees in New York City.

There are stories of Johnny Appleseed practicing his nurseryman craft in the area of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and of picking seeds from the pomace at Potomac cider mills in the late 1790s.

Another story has Chapman living in Pittsburgh on Grant's Hill in 1794 at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion.

The popular image is of Johnny Appleseed spreading apple seeds randomly everywhere he went.

In fact, he planted nurseries rather than orchards, built fences around them to protect them from livestock, left the nurseries in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares, and returned every year or two to tend the nursery.

He planted his first nursery on the bank of Brokenstraw Creek, south of Warren, Pennsylvania.

Next, he seems to have moved to Venango County, along the shore of French Creek, but many of these nurseries were in the Mohican area of north-central Ohio.

This area includes the towns of Mansfield, Lisbon, Lucas, Perrysville, and Loudonville.

According to Harper's New Monthly Magazine, toward the end of his career he was present when an itinerant missionary was exhorting an open-air congregation in Mansfield, Ohio.

The sermon was long and severe on the topic of extravagance, because the pioneers were buying such indulgences as calico and imported tea.

"Where now is there a man who, like the primitive Christians, is traveling to heaven barefooted and clad in coarse raiment?" the preacher repeatedly asked until Johnny Appleseed, his endurance worn out, walked up to the preacher, put his bare foot on the stump that had served as a podium, and said, "Here's your primitive Christian!"

The flummoxed sermonizer dismissed the congregation.

He would tell stories to children and spread The New Church gospel to the adults, receiving a floor to sleep on for the night, and sometimes supper, in return.

He preached the gospel as he traveled, and during his travels he converted many Native Americans, whom he admired.

The natives regard him as someone who has been touched by the Great Spirit, and even hostile tribes leave him strictly alone.

He cares very deeply about animals, including insects.

The historian Henry Howe, who had visited all the counties in Ohio in 1838 and 1839, has collected several stories of Johnny Appleseed from the 1830s.

In a story collected by Eric Braun, he had a pet wolf that had started following him after he healed its injured leg.

More controversially, he also planted dogfennel during his travels, believing that it was a useful medicinal herb.

It is now regarded as a noxious, invasive weed.

According to another story, he heard that a horse was to be put down, so he bought the horse, bought a few grassy acres nearby, and turned it out to recover.

When it did, he gave the horse to someone needy, exacting a promise to treat it humanely.

During his later life, he is a vegetarian.

He will never marry.

He thinks he will find his soulmate in heaven if she does not appear to him on earth.

Polk, anticipating victory and Mexico’s consequent cession of territory, has asked congress for two million dollars to facilitate negotiations.

The war is a partisan issue in the United States, increasingly divided by sectional rivalry, an is essential element in the origins of the American Civil War.

Most Whigs in the North and South oppose it; most Democrats support it.

Southern Democrats, animated by a popular belief in Manifest Destiny, support it in hope of adding slave-owning territory to the South and avoiding being outnumbered by the faster-growing North.

Northern antislavery elements fear the expansion of the Southern Slave Power; Whigs generally want to strengthen the economy with industrialization, not expand it with more land.

Among the most vocal opposing the war in the House of Representatives is John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts.

Adams had first voiced concerns about expanding into Mexican territory in 1836 when he opposed Texas annexation.

He continues this argument in 1846 for the same reason.

War with Mexico will add new slavery territory to the nation.

When the vote to go to war with Mexico came to a vote on May 13, Adams had spoken a resounding "No!" in the chamber.

Only thirteen others had followed his lead.

Ex-slave Frederick Douglass opposes the war and is dismayed by the weakness of the anti-war movement.

Democrats want more land; northern Democrats are attracted by the possibilities in the far northwest.

Joshua Giddings, who leads a group of dissenters in Washington D.C., calls the war with Mexico "an aggressive, unholy, and unjust war", and votes against supplying soldiers and weapons. 

Fellow Whig Abraham Lincoln contests Polk's causes for the war.

Polk had said that Mexico had "shed American blood upon American soil".

Lincoln submits eight "Spot Resolutions", demanding that Polk state the exact spot where Thornton had been attacked and American blood shed, and clarify whether or not that location was actually American soil, or in fact had been claimed by Spain and Mexico.

Whig Senator Thomas Corwin of Ohio gives  a long speech indicting presidential war in 1847. 

Northern abolitionists attack the war as an attempt by slave-owners to strengthen the grip of slavery and thus ensure their continued influence in the federal government.

Prominent artists and writers oppose the war.

The Transcendentalist writers Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson attack the popular war.

Thoreau, whoserves jail time for his opposition, will turn a lecture into an essay now known as Civil Disobedience.

Emerson is succinct, predicting that, "The United States will conquer Mexico, but it will be as a man who swallowed the arsenic which brings him down in turn. Mexico will poison us."

Events will prove him right, as arguments over the expansion of slavery in the lands seized from Mexico will fuel the drift to civil war just a dozen years later.

Democratic Representative David Wilmot introduces the Wilmot Proviso, which would prohibit slavery in new territory acquired from Mexico.

The House passes the amended bill on August 8, 1846, but it dies in the Senate, spurring further hostility between the factions.