80,000 prospectors flooded California in 1849 with dollar signs in their eyes during the beginning of this movement.
What is the Gold Rush?
100
1843 marked the beginning of mass migration westward, commonly known by this term (Hint: it's the name of a PC game).
What is Oregon Trail?
100
The name of a 1849 novel by Charles Dickens and an illusionist.
What is David Copperfield?
100
On 1844, Samuel Morse publicly and successfully sent a message from D.C. to Baltimore using this long-distance communication.
What is telegraph?
100
First published in 1848, it is among the most popular American songs ever written. The first line goes "I come from Alabama with my Banjo on my knee."
What is "Oh! Susanna"?
200
The name of a slave ship and a movie, March 9, 1841 marked the day when the Supreme Court granted freedom to the slaves on this ship.
What is Amistad?
200
In 1840, the US claimed portions of this frigid continent.
What is Antarctica?
200
In 1841, a free black New Yorker was drugged and kidnapped into slavery. He recounted his harrowing tale in this memoir.
What is Twelve Years a Slave?
200
In the 1840s, doctors successfully used ether to perform a pain-free operation, resulting in the invention of this.
What is anesthesia?
200
The Steinway family open up their own business, Steinway & Sons, in New York in 1843, manufacturing this instrument.
What are pianos?
300
President William Henry Harrison died one month after being sworn into office after giving a speech in very cold weather. He died of this illness.
What is pneumonia?
300
The Great Famine in Ireland resulted from a shortage of this crop.
What is potatoes?
300
Emily Bronte's only novel.
What is Wuthering Heights?
300
This machine, originally used to speed up the making of clothes and blankets on assembly lines, was invented in 1846.
What is sewing machine?
300
This German composer's Symphony No. 1 is performed for the first time in Boston, indicating a growing acceptance for the work of European composers in the United States.
Who is Ludwig Van Beethoven?
400
On July 1, 1847, America’s first postage stamps were issued. Name one of the two people who were pictured on the stamps.
Who are Benjamin Franklin and George Washington?
400
This sunny state officially became the 27th state of the US in 1845.
What is Florida?
400
Charlotte Bronte's second novel (or first, if you don't count "The Professor").
What is Jane Eyre?
400
In 1843, Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia received the first U.S. patent for a small-scale hand-cranked machine that made this yummy treat.
What is ice cream?
400
Founded in 1842, this state's orchestra (or Philharmonic) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the United States.
What is New York?
500
The first officially recorded game of this sport in U.S. history took place on June 19, 1846, in Hoboken, New Jersey. The teams playing were the "New York Nine" vs. the "New York Knickerbockers".
What is baseball?
500
In 1846, this large state declared independence from Mexico.
What is California?
500
Alexandre Dumas published three of his most popular works in the 1840s. Name one of them.
What is "The Three Musketeers", "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Man in the Iron Mask".
500
Once used by the ancient Greeks as an accessory and a way to keep their tunics closed, it wasn't until 1849 that a man invented the clasped wire that we know and use today.
What is safety pin?
500
This type of musical entertainment in the 1840s included comedy skits, variety acts, dancing, music, and white actors performing in blackface.