Is it because my skin is black,
That thou should’st be so dull and slack,
And scorn to set me free?
Then let me hasten to the grave,
The only refuge for the slave,
Who mourns for liberty.
George Moses Horton, Slavery: by a Carolinian Slave,
published in Freedom’s Journal, July 1828.
Born in 1828:
Died in 1828:
Events of 1828:
- Fanshawe is Nathaniel Hawthorne's first published novel.
- The Cherokee Phoenix becomes the first newspaper published by Native Americans.
- Noah Webster releases a new dictionary, which he has been working on since his first attempt in 1806. An American Dictionary of the English Language has 70000 words in it, and is the first real dictionary published in the United States.
- British magazine The Spectator, still in publication today, begins its run.
- Karl Ernst von Baer's discovery of the mammalian ovum establishes embryology as a science.
- Andrew Smith identifies Rhincodon typus, the whale shark.
- Enough of Sing Sing prison was completed (by inmates) that New York could close its prison at Newgate and move the inmates there.
- Russia ends its war with Persia with the Treaty of Turkmanchai.
- Both Russia and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire and send forces to liberate Greece.
- The Regent of Portugal stages a coup d'etat, proclaiming himself king, and starting a civil war.
- Andrew Jackson, resentful of the "corrupt bargain" that he claims robbed him of the presidency in 1824, is elected 7th President of the United
States after a highly rancorous campaign. Jackson and his new Democratic Party are swept to power after Adams' ineffectual presidency.
- The United States Congress raises the tariff on imported manufactured goods to protect industry in the Northeast. However, it reduces the buying power of the South, both because of the higher prices for manufactured goods and because the British now buy less cotton. On December 13, South Carolina's legislature, angered at this "Tarriff of Abominations", passes a bill asserting that it can "nullify"
federal laws, setting the stage for a constitutional crisis and a near civil war.
- Napoleonic hero Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.
- The Corn Laws are revised, but not enough to affect grain imports much, and the path to the Irish Potato Famine continues.
- Parliament repeals the Test Act and Corporation Act restricting the holding of public and military
office to members of the Church of England. Protestant Nonconformist (or Dissenter) sects are allowed to hold office, but the restrictions still apply to Roman Catholics.
- Uruguayan forces drive the Brazilians out of their country at the Battle of Las Piedras. A compromise between Brazil and Argentina gives Uruguay independence.
- As divisions within Gran Colombia begin to tear it apart, Simón Bolívar calls for a Constitutional convention which meets during May. However, Bolívar and others of authoritarian bent do not like the result, and Bolívar proclaims himself dictator. After a failed assassination attempt, el general cayó en su laberinto.
- The first public zoo in the world opens in London's Regent's Park.
- New Orleans prohibits the public display of slaves for sale in certain parts of the city.
- John W. Garrett has collected enough capital to begin work on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and a race begins between the new railroad and the builders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to reach Ohio first.
- Charles Sturt explores the interior of Australia, following the Darling and Macquarie Rivers.
- The first census of Australia does not count the indigenous people, but does count 36,598 white residents.
- 19-year-old Abraham Lincoln leaves home, taking a now famous flatboat journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans.
- Robert Schumann meets his future wife Clara Wieck.
1827 - 1828 - 1829
How I Made the Year Nodes - 19th Century