Timeline

1790–1859 ∼ Dealing with Slaves and Indians

Naturalization Law excludes vagrants, paupers and non-whites from citizenship (1790) / Indian Removal Act authorizes relocating Indian nations west of the Mississippi (1830) / Thousands of Indians die during forced relocation on the “Trail of Tears” (1831–1838) / Provisional Government of Oregon bans slavery and orders all free blacks age 18 or older to leave the territory (1844) / Debates over slavery rage in the western territories (1850) / Oregon “Bill of Rights” contains a Negro Exclusion Law which remains on the state’s law books until 1926 (1859)

MILESTONES: New Orleans forms police force to control slavery (early 1800s) • Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the U.S. (1803) • The Freedom Journal is the first African American newspaper (1827) • Texas Revolution against Mexico (1835) • Economic Crisis of 1837 brings high unemployment, bread riots and rent strikes (1837) • Henry David Thoreau imprisoned for...