1832 Archives | HISTORY

Determined to resist the growing presence of Anglo settlers on traditional tribal lands, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk is drawn into war with the United States.

On July 10, 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoes the government's effort to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States, one of his most forceful actions against the institution, which he opposed as corrupt and in service only to the country's elite. His veto marked a key salvo in what is referred to as the “Bank War," Jackson's ongoing effort to decentralize America's banking, and dissolve the national bank altogether.

What is believed to be the first recorded railroad accident in U.S. history occurs when four people are thrown off a vacant car on the Granite Railway near Quincy, Massachusetts. The victims had been invited to view the process of transporting large and weighty loads of stone when a cable on a vacant car snapped on the return trip, throwing them off the train and over a 34-foot cliff. One man was killed and the others were seriously injured.

On November 14, 1832, New York City’s New York and Harlem company premiered the nation's first horse-drawn street car. Making its debut on Bowery and Fourth Avenue in Manhattan, between Prince and 14th Street, it marked New York’s first-ever mass transit offering. Within two weeks, passengers were charged 12.5 cents a ride.

Citing political differences with President Andrew Jackson and a desire to fill a vacant Senate seat in South Carolina, John C. Calhoun becomes the first vice president in U.S. history to resign the office.