March 4, 1853 - Franklin Pierce inaugurated.

July 8, 1853 - An expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Yedo Bay, Japan, on a mission to seek diplomatic and trade relations with the Japanese. For a time, Japanese officials refused to speak with Perry, but under threat of attack by the superior American ships they accepted letters from President Millard Fillmore, making the United States the first Western nation to establish relations with Japan since it had been declared closed to foreigners two centuries before. Only the Dutch and the Chinese were allowed to continue trade with Japan after 1639, but this trade was restricted and confined to the island of Dejima at Nagasaki. March 1854 - Commodore Perry returned to Tokyo with nine ships. March 31 - he signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan. April 1860 - the first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power in over 200 years reached Washington, DC, and remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks, discussing expansion of trade with the United States. Treaties with other Western powers followed soon after, contributing to the collapse of the shogunate and ultimately the modernization of Japan.

October 16, 1853 - Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia, starting the Crimean War.

December 30, 1853 - James Gadsden, the U.S. minister to Mexico, and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, sign the Gadsden Purchase in Mexico City. The treaty settled the dispute over the location of the Mexican border west of El Paso, Texas, and established the final boundaries of the southern United States. For the price of $15 million, later reduced to $10 million, the United States acquired approximately 30,000 square miles of land in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona.

March 20, 1854 - Former members of the Whig Party (formed in 1834 to oppose the "tyranny" of President Andrew Jackson; dissolved when Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854 passed, repealed the terms of the Missouri Compromise and allowed slave or free status to be decided in the territories by popular sovereignty) met in Ripon, Wisconsin, to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories; founding meeting of the Republican Party. 1856 - first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, won 11 of the 16 Northern states. The Civil War firmly identified the Republican Party as the party of the victorious North, and after the war the Republican-dominated Congress forced a "Radical Reconstruction" policy on the South, which saw the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution and the granting of equal rights to all Southern citizens. By 1876, the Republican Party had lost control of the South, but it continued to dominate the presidency until the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.

March 28, 1854 - Britain and France declared war on Russia during the Crimean War.

May 30, 1854 - The territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.

May 30, 1854 - U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. The Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated many in the North who considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement. In the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported.

March 31, 1854 - In Tokyo, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan; April 1860 - first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power reached Washington, D.C., and remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks discussing expansion of trade with the United States.

May 30, 1854 - Congress passed Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 (repealed Missouri Compromise of 1820); the third and last of the series of compromises enacted before the U.S. Civil War in an attempt to resolve the question of whether Slavery should be permitted in the western territories. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, drafted the legislation that revoked the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had banned slavery north of 36°30' latitude. Douglas applied the doctrine of popular sovereignty to the Kansas and Nebraska Territories, as he had successfully urged Congress to do in the compromise of 1850. The 1850 law left to New Mexico and Utah the decision of whether to enter the Union as free or slave states. The Kansas-Nebraska Act failed to end the national conflict over slavery. Antislavery forces viewed the statute as a capitulation to the South, and many abandoned the Whig and Democratic parties to form the Republican Party. Kansas soon became a battleground over slavery. May 25, 1856 - the militant abolitionist John Brown led a raid against proslavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas, killing five persons. The violence between the abolitionists and those who were proslavery soon gave the territory the name "Bleeding Kansas."

June 14, 1854 - Townend Glover commissioned as first U.S. federal entomologist; selected as the "expert for collecting statistics and other information on seeds, fruits and insects of the United States." His first report was printed the same year under the imprint of the U.S. Patent Office, entitled Insects Injurious and Beneficial to Vegetation. April 15, 1854 - New York state legislature provided funding for an entomologist to do research; May 4, 1854 - appointed Asa Fitch to produce a report describing local insects, especially those injurious to vegetation.

August 6, 1854 - Congress passes Confiscation Act.

August 9, 1854 - Henry David Thoreau published "Walden," which described his experiences living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

October 25, 1854 - The ''Charge of the Light Brigade'' took place during the Crimean War as an English brigade of more than 600 men, facing hopeless odds, charged the Russian army in the Battle of Balaclava and suffered heavy losses.

February 24, 1855 - U.S. Court of Claims forms for cases against government.

March 30, 1855 - In territorial Kansas' first election, some 5,000 so-called "Border Ruffians" invade the territory from western Missouri and force the election of a pro-slavery legislature. Although the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters in the territory, Kansas Governor Andrew Reeder reluctantly approved the election to prevent further bloodshed. 1854 - Trouble in territorial Kansas began with the signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act by President Franklin Pierce. The act stipulated that settlers in the newly created territories of Nebraska and Kansas would decide by popular vote whether their territory would be free or slave. May 1856 - Border Ruffians sacked the abolitionist town of Lawrence, and in retaliation a small Free State force under John Brown massacred five pro-slavery Kansans along the Pottawatomie Creek. 1861 - irrepressible differences in "Bleeding Kansas" were swallowed up by the outbreak of full-scale civil war in America.

October 23, 1855 - In opposition to the fraudulently elected pro-slavery legislature of Kansas, the Kansas Free State forces set up a governor and legislature under their Topeka Constitution, a document that outlaws slavery in the territory. Trouble in territorial Kansas began with the signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act by President Franklin Pierce in 1854. The act stipulated that settlers in the newly created territories of Nebraska and Kansas would decide by popular vote whether their territory would be free or slave. In early 1855, Kansas' first election proved a violent affair, as more than 5,000 so-called Border Ruffians invaded the territory from western Missouri and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature. To prevent further bloodshed, Andrew H. Reeder, the territorial governor appointed by President Pierce, reluctantly approved the election. A few months later, the Kansas Free State forces were formed, armed by supporters in the North and featuring the leadership of militant abolitionist John Brown. In May 1856, Border Ruffians sacked the abolitionist town of Lawrence, and in retaliation a small Free State force under John Brown massacred five pro-slavery Kansans along the Pottawatomie Creek. During the next four years, raids, skirmishes, and massacres continued in "Bleeding Kansas," as it became popularly known. In 1861, the irrepressible differences in Kansas were swallowed up by the outbreak of full-scale civil war in America.

February 18, 1856 - The American Party, also known as the "Known-Nothing Party," convenes in Philadelphia to nominate its first presidential candidate and to formally abolish the secret character of the organization. Former president Millard Fillmore of New York was chosen, with Andrew Donelson of Tennessee to serve as his running mate. In the subsequent election, Fillmore succeeded in capturing only the state of Maryland, and the Know-Nothing movement effectively ceased to exist. 1840s - Know-Nothing movement began when an increasing rate of immigration led to the formation of a number of so-called nativist societies to combat "foreign" influences in American society. 1854 - the Know-Nothings allied themselves with a faction of Whigs and ran for office in several states, calling for legislation to prevent immigrants from holding public office. 1855 - support for the Know-Nothings had expanded considerably, and the American Party was officially formed. In the same year, however, Southerners in the party sought to adopt a resolution calling for the protection of slavery, and some anti-slavery Know-Nothings defected to the newly formed Republican Party.

June 9, 1856 - Nearly 500 Mormons leave Iowa City and head 1,000-miles west for Salt Lake City carrying all their goods and supplies in two-wheeled handcarts. Of all the thousands of pioneer journeys to the West in the 19th century, few were more arduous than those undertaken by the so-called Handcart Companies from 1856 to 1860. They carried all their goods in about 100 two-wheeled handcarts, most of which were heaped with the maximum load of 400 to 500 pounds. Each family usually had one cart, and the father and mother took turns pulling while any children old enough helped by pushing. 1847 - secular and religious leader of the Mormons, Brigham Young, had established Salt Lake City as the center of a new Utah sanctuary for the Latter-day Saints.

November 4, 1856 - James Buchanan elected U.S. president.

Tyler Anbinder (1992). Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850’s. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 330 p.). Chairman of the History Department (George Washington University). American Party; Nativism; Antislavery movements--United States; United States--Politics and government--1853-1857; United States--Politics and government--1857-1861.   

Compiled by Wilfred J. Bisson; with assistance from Gerry Hayden (1993). Franklin Pierce: A Bibliography. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 156 p.). Professor of History (Keene State College). Pierce, Franklin, 1804-1869 --Bibliography.

Roy F. Nichols (1969). Franklin Pierce: Young Hickory of the Granite Hills. (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 625 p.). Pierce, Franklin, 1804-1869; Presidents -- United States -- Biography.

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