1840s
Polk's presidential era
The 1840s refers to the decade spanning 1840 to 1849.
Like other decade terms, it functions as both noun and adjective: the 1840s were turbulent years, 1840s fashion.
The apostrophe marks omission of the century, not possession.
Also written as eighteen-forties or '40s when context makes the century clear.
Obvious, inescapable fate
- Oregon TrailEmigrant route westward
- pioneersFirst to explore territory
- Mexican-American War1840s territorial conflict
- wagon trainsGrouped pioneer vehicles westward
settlers · westward migration · frontier · prairie schooners · homesteaders · land grants · territorial expansion · covered wagons
1849 gold rush migrants
- Sutter's Mill1848 gold discovery location
- CaliforniaWest coast megastate
- prospectorsMineral deposit searchers
- miningExtracting earth's resources
panning · claims · goldfields · boomtowns · placer · nuggets · staking · diggings
First commercial photography method
- telegraphElectrical message system
- photographyCreating images from light
- Morse codeDot-dash signaling system
- railwayTrack system for trains
steamship · rotary press · vulcanized rubber · anesthesia · sewing machine · transatlantic cable · electroplating · penny-farthing
Long-reigning British empress
- Industrial RevolutionEra of mechanized production
- workhouseInstitution housing poor laborers
- corsetsBoned, laced bodice garments
- top hatsTall formal headwear
Charles Dickens · crinoline · gas lighting · steam engine · penny dreadfuls · British Empire · cholera · cobblestone
Large-scale farming operation
- slaveryOwnership of people
- cottonPlant fiber for textiles
- abolitionismMovement to end oppression
- Underground RailroadCovert abolitionist escape network
Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · Missouri Compromise · Fugitive Slave Act · states' rights · tariffs · Old South · abolitionists
manifest destiny
Obvious, inescapable fate
- Oregon TrailEmigrant route westward
- pioneersFirst to explore territory
- Mexican-American War1840s territorial conflict
wagon trains · settlers · westward migration · frontier · prairie schooners · homesteaders · land grants · territorial expansion · covered wagons · Mormons
forty-niners
1849 gold rush migrants
- Sutter's Mill1848 gold discovery location
- CaliforniaWest coast megastate
- prospectorsMineral deposit searchers
mining · panning · claims · goldfields · boomtowns · placer · nuggets · staking · diggings · ore
daguerreotype
First commercial photography method
- telegraphElectrical message system
- photographyCreating images from light
- Morse codeDot-dash signaling system
railway · steamship · rotary press · vulcanized rubber · anesthesia · sewing machine · transatlantic cable · electroplating · penny-farthing · Crystal Palace
Queen Victoria
Long-reigning British empress
- Industrial RevolutionEra of mechanized production
- workhouseInstitution housing poor laborers
- corsetsBoned, laced bodice garments
Charles Dickens · top hats · crinoline · gas lighting · steam engine · penny dreadfuls · British Empire · cholera · cobblestone · gentility
plantation
Large-scale farming operation
- slaveryOwnership of people
- cottonPlant fiber for textiles
- abolitionismMovement to end oppression
Underground Railroad · Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · Missouri Compromise · Fugitive Slave Act · states' rights · tariffs · Old South · abolitionists · slaveholders
1840sdistant future
Time very far ahead
2020s · 21st century · modern era · digital age · 2010s
1840sGilded Age
Late 1800s American prosperity
Progressive Era · Roaring Twenties · 1920s · 1950s · 1880s
1840sdigital age
Epoch of computerized life
computer age · jet age · machine age · smartphone era · atomic age