James McLaughlin (1834 - 1901)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during James' lifetime.

In 1834, in the year that James McLaughlin was born, on August 14th, the Poor Law Amendment Act was enacted in the United Kingdom. The Act stated that no able-bodied British man could receive assistance unless he entered a workhouse (a kind of poorhouse). The Act was intended to curb the cost of relief for the poor since workhouses were designed to be unpleasant. Many workhouses used the men as free labor and employed them in such tasks as breaking stones, crushing bones to produce fertilizer, or picking oakum - tarred fiber used between planks on ships -using a large metal nail known as a spike.

In 1857, when he was 23 years old, on March 2nd, the largest slave auction in US history was begun. Called "The Weeping Time", the auction lasted 2 days. Slave owner Pierce M. Butler - who had inherited the slaves 20 years before but was now deeply in debt - sold 436 men, women, children, and infants, all of whom were kept in stalls at a racetrack in Savannah, Georgia. The people were held for weeks before the auction in the horse stalls.

In 1864, when he was 30 years old, on August 13th, the first fish and chips shop opened in London England. By the 1930's, there were over 35,000 shops throughout the United Kingdom.

In 1875, he was 41 years old when on March 1st, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. The Act prohibited racial discrimination in both public accommodations and jury duty. Opposed by the public, the "public accommodations" sections of the Act were overturned by the Supreme Court eight years later.

In 1901, in the year of James McLaughlin's passing, Teddy Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States. TR, as he was known, had been Vice-President for 6 months when President William McKinley was assassinated. At age 42, he became the youngest President to serve although John Kennedy, at age 43, was the youngest President elected. He was a popular progressive and was elected to a second term in 1904 as a Republican, winning 56.4% of the popular vote and 336 electoral votes.