Melville

Herman Melville

(1819-1891)

*Herman Melville*	*American Political and Cultural History*
1819- Born in New York City (MD) (ATZ) (HMB)	1819-SS Savannah makes transatlantic crossing under steam propulsion, a first/ American economy has a temporary downturn/ Treaty with Spain /Treaty of Saginaw (AMU) (AFT) (ATZ)
1823- Allan, Melville's brother is born/ the whole family is ill with a winter virus (ATZ)	1823-Monroe doctrine (AMU) American settler's arrive in Texas (APP) (ATZ)
1826- Melville contracts Scarlet fever- damages his eyesight for life.(ATZ)	1826-First American railroad completed in Quincy Mass./ Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die July 4th/Coopers the Last of the Mohicans/ (AMU)
1830 Studies at the Albany Academy (MWM) (ATZ) (HMB)	1830-Mexico blocks further U.S. colonist/ Indian Removal Act/ Choctaws sign a treaty exchanging land in Mississippi for land in Oklahoma. (AMU)(APP)
1832 -Father dies(MD)(ATZ) (HMB)	1832-Andrew Jackson re-elected/New England Anti-Slavery Society founded/ Black Hawk War.(AMU) (AHT) (ATZ)
1836 -Melville studies at the Albany Academy again. Joins a debate team (MWM) (ATZ)	1836-Alamo/Van Buren re-elected/ Oregon Trail/ Texas independence.(AMU) Ralph Waldo Emerson publishes "Nature" (ATZ)
1839 -Started sailing-became a cabin boy in St. Lawrence ship / Becomes a substitute teacher in New York. (MD) (ATZ) (HMB)	1839-Spanish Slave ship Amistad- taken to supreme court / Daguerre -first photographic process./ Charles Goodyear invents "vulcanization"(AMU) (ATZ)
1841- Melville signed on board the whaling ship Acushnet Sailed to the south seas. / Visits Peru, and Galapagos Islands(MWM) (ATZ)	1841-Dorothy Dix begins advocacy for the insane. (AMU) / New York Tribune begins publishing/ First university degrees for women.(ATZ)
1843- Enlisted as a seaman in U.S. Navy in Honolulu, Hawaii. (MWM) (ATZ) (HMB)	1843-Beginning of large migration westward/ Second Seminole war ends(AMU) (APP)
1846 Publishes first book- Typee: a peep at Polynesian life (MD) Gansevoort, Bother dies. (ATZ) (HMB)	1846-U.S. declares war on Mexico/Oregon Compromise with Great Britain /"California and New Mexico are annexed by U.S."(AMU) / Iowa becomes a state./ Smithsonian Institution founded (AHT) (APP)
1847- Omoo (narrative of adventures in the south seas) published / marries Elizabeth Shaw (MWM) (ATZ) (HMB)	1847-Battle of Buena Vista/ Mexican armies defeated/ Mormons arrive at Great Salt Lake (AMU)
1850 -Moves to Massachusetts names his home "Arrowhead" where he becomes friends w/ Nathaniel Hawthorn. (MD) (ATZ)	1850-Fugitive Slave Act/ Compromise of 1850/National Women’s Rights in Worcester, Mass. (AMU) (APP) (ATZ)
1851-Moby Dick published (BE) Second son is born (ATZ) (HMB)	1851-Sioux sign Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (AMU)
1853-“Bartleby the Scrivener” (BE) daughter Elizabeth born. (ATZ) (HMB)	1853-Gadsden Purchase-/ "Abba Alcott and 73 other women petition to urge suffrage for women." (AMU)
1856- Travels to Europe/ publishes The Piazza Tales- contains his finest shorter works.(BE) (ATZ) (HMB)	1856-Kansas is known as “Bleeding Kansas”/ James Buchanan becomes president/ “know-nothing” nativist movement. (AMU)(ATZ) (APP)
1861-Finds a steady job as a custom Inspector/ Visits visit to Washington D.C. (MWM) (ATZ) (HMB)	1861-"Attack at Fort Sumter signals the beginning of Civil War" / First Battle of Bull Run (AMU) (ATZ)(APP)
1863-Father in law dies (BE) (ATZ) (HMB)	1863-Emancipation Proclamation is signed/ Conscription Act /Battle of Gettysburg/ Lincoln's“Gettysburg Address”/ (AMU) (AHT) (APP)
1867-His son Malcolm shoots and kills himself (MWM)(ATZ) (HMB)	1867-First, Second and Third Reconstruction Acts/ males over 21 granted suffrage/ "U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million" (AMU) (APP)
	1880-Chinese Exclusion Treaty signed by U.S. and China/"George Eastman takes out a patent on a flexible role of film for use in cameras" / Edison Perfects the light bulb (AMU) (ATZ)
1891 died in New York of heart attack- last work Billy Budd, Sailor-published 33 yrs. later (MD) (ATZ) (HMB)	1891-"First international copyright law"/ Indian land in Oklahoma opened to settlers/ Populist Party is formed / "Thomas Edison patents a motion picture camera the “kinetoscope” shows movies one person at a time." (AMU) (ATZ)

AMU=Campbell, Donna M. Brief Timeline of American Literature and Events, Last Modified 02/22/2003 , March 14, 2003
< http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl311/timefram.html>

MD=The Berkshire Historical Society, Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, Herman Melville and Arrowhead, March 14, 2003 < http://www.mobydick.org/hm.html>