On January 1, 1835, President Andrew Jackson achieves his goal of entirely paying off the United States’ national debt. It was the only time in U.S. history that the national debt stood at zero, and it precipitated one of the worst financial crises in American history.

On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson becomes the first American president to experience an assassination attempt.

On August 25, 1835, the first in a series of six articles announcing the supposed discovery of life on the moon appears in the New York Sun newspaper.

On October 2, 1835, the growing tensions between Mexico and Texas erupt into violence when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, sparking the Texan war for independence.

On October 17, 1835, Texans approve a resolution to create the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to “range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers.”

On November 20, 1835, David Ruggles, a Black abolitionist living in New York City, founds the New York Committee of Vigilance, an interracial collective working to protect free Black New Yorkers and fugitive former slaves from kidnappers and police. Its stated goal: to “protect unoffending, defenseless and endangered persons of color, by securing their rights as far as practicable.”

Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twain, is born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835.

Inspired by the leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texan Army takes possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico.