1848
1848 was a
leap year starting on Saturday of the
Gregorian calendar.
*The
Revolutions of 1848, a series of widespread but mostly failed struggles for more
liberal governments, from
Brazil to
Hungary.
January
*
January 3 -
Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first
president of the independent
African Republic of Liberia.
*
January 12 - The
Palermo rising in
Sicily rises against the
Bourbon kingdom of the
Two Sicilies.
*
January 24 -
California Gold Rush:
James W. Marshall finds
gold at
Sutter's Mill, in
Coloma, near
Sacramento.
*
January 24 - The Storming of the
Venezuelan National Congress takes place.
*
January 26 -
Henry David Thoreau addresses the
Concord Lyceum with "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in Relation to Government" (which later came to be known as
Civil Disobedience).
February
*
February 2 -
Mexicanâ€"American War: The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the war.
*
February 2 -
California Gold Rush: The first ship with
Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in
California's gold country arrive in
San Francisco.
*
February 19 - First rescue party reaches the
Donner Party, a convoy of settlers almost buried under snow near what is now the
Donner Lake. They have eaten everything, including their own dead.
*
February 21 -
Karl Marx publishes
The Communist Manifesto.
*
February 22 - In
Paris, revolt erupts against the king
Louis Philippe. Two days later he abdicates, leading to the
Second Republic.
March
*
March 4 -
Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the
Statuto Albertino that will represent the first constitution of the
Kingdom of Sardinia and later of unified
Italy.
*
March 7 - The
Great Mahele (land division) is signed in
Hawaii.
*
March 10 - The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the
United States Senate, ending the
Mexicanâ€"American War.
*
March 15 - Revolution breaks out in
Pest, Hungary. The
Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the
Reform party.
*
March 18-
19,
Marsoroligheterna, in
Stockholm,
Sweden. Demonstrations outside the
Royal Castle, where
revolutionaries demands reforms, among them that
Sweden becomes a
republic. The
Swedish king,
Oscar I gives the guards order to shoot at the demonstartors.
*
March 20 - King
Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
*
March 23 -
Province of
Otago in
New Zealand is founded.
*
March 29 - An upstream
ice jam stops almost all water flow over
Niagara Falls for 30 hours.
April
*
April 10 Chartist '
Monster Rally' held in
Kennington Park London, headed by
Feargus O'Connor. A petition demanding the franchise is presented to
parliament.
*
April 10 - Bridge collapses in
Yarmouth,
England, leaving 250 dead.
May
*
May 15 -
Radicals invade the
France Chamber of deputies.
*
May 18 - Opening of the first
German National Assembly (
Nationalversammlung) in
Frankfurt,
Germany.
*
May 19 -
Mexican-American War:
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo -
Mexico ratifies the treaty thus ending the war and ceding
California,
Nevada,
Utah, most of
Arizona and parts of
New Mexico,
Colorado and
Wyoming to the
United States for $15 million.
*
May 29 -
Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th
U.S. state.
July
*
July 19 -
Women's rights:
Seneca Falls Convention - The two day
Women's Rights Convention opens in
Seneca Falls, New York and the "
Bloomers" are introduced at the
feminist convention.
*
July 26 -
Matale Rebellion against
British rule in
Sri Lanka.
*
July 29 -
Irish Potato Famine:
Tipperary Revolt - In
Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against
British rule is put-down by a government
police force.
August
*
August 17 -
Yucatán officially united with
Mexico.
*
August 19 -
California Gold Rush: The
New York Herald breaks the news to the
East Coast of the
United States, that there is a
gold rush in
California (although the rush started in January).
*
August 28 -
Mathieu Luis, first black member joins the
French parliament as a representative of
Guadaloupe.
September
*
September 12 - One of the few successes of the
Revolutions of 1848, the
Swiss Federal Constitution, patterned on the
US Constitution, enters into force, creating a
federal republic and one of the first modern
democratic states in
Europe.
November
*
November 1 - In
Boston, Massachusetts, the first
medical school for women, The
Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with
Boston University School of Medicine), opens.
*
November 3 - Greatly revised
Dutch constitution proclaimed.
*
November 7 -
U.S. presidential election, 1848:
Whig Zachary Taylor of
Louisiana defeats
Democrat Lewis Cass of
Michigan in the first
US presidential election held in every state on the same day.
December
*
December 2 -
Ferdinand I,
Emperor of
Austria, abdicates in favor of his nephew,
Franz Josef I.
*
December 10 -
Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte elected first
president of the
French Second Republic.
*
December 20 -
President Bonaparte takes his
Oath of Office in front of the
French National Assembly.
*
December 26 -
Phi Delta Theta Fraternity founded.
Unknown dates
*
Cholera epidemic in
New York kills 5000.
*
Associated Press founded in
New York.
*
Queen's College for women founded in
London.
*
Boston Public Library is founded by an act of the
Great and General Court of
Massachusetts.
* Shaker song
Simple Gifts is written by
Joseph Brackett in
Alfred, Maine.
* First railway in
Spain is opened, with line
Barcelona to
MatarĂł (circa 40
km).
*
Illinois and Michigan Canal is completed.
* Independent Republic of
Yucatán joins
Mexico in exchange for
Mexican help in suppressing revolt by the indigenous
Maya population.
*
Serfdom is abolished in
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
*
John Bird Sumner becomes
archbishop of Canterbury.
*
British,
Dutch, and
German governments lay claim to
New Guinea.
*
Admiral Nevelskoi explores
Strait of Tartary.
*
Dunedin, New Zealand is founded by
Scots settlers.
*
University of Ottawa is founded.
*
University of Mississippi is founded.
*
University of Wisconsin-Madison is founded.
*
Geneva College in
Pennsylvania is founded.
*
Holmes County, Florida is created.
*
Elizabeth Gaskell publishes
Mary Barton anonymously.
*
Henrik Ibsen publishes first play
Catilina.
*
Ivar Aasen publishes
Grammar of the Norwegian Dialects.
*
Robert Schumann composes
opera Genoveva.
*
Richard Wagner begins writing
libretto that will become
Der Ring des Nibelungen (
The Ring of the Nibelung).
*
Rhodes College is founded.
*
Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
*
Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849)
*
January 6 -
Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d.
1876)
*
January 19 -
John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (d.
1904)
*
January 21 -
Henri Duparc, French composer (d.
1933)
*
January 27 -
Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d.
1934)
*
February 5 -
Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (d.
1907)
* February 5 -
Belle Starr, American outlaw (d.
1889)
*
February 8 -
Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and author (d.
1908)
*
February 14 -
Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d.
1934)
*
February 16 -
Octave Mirbeau, French art critic and novelist (d.
1917)
*
February 18 -
Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d.
1933)
*
February 24 -
Grant Allen, Canadian author (d.
1899)
*February 24 -
Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (d.
1907)
*
February 27 -
Hubert Parry, English composer (d.
1918)
*
March 19 -
Wyatt Earp, American lawman and gunfighter (d.
1929)
*
March 31 -
Viscount William Astor, British financier and statesman (d.
1919)
*
April 7 -
Randall Thomas Davidson,
Archbishop of Canterbury (d.
1930)
*
April 10 -
Hubertine Auclert, French feminist (d.
1914)
*
May 23 -
Otto Lilienthal, German engineer (d.
1896)
*
June 7 -
Paul Gauguin, French artist (d.
1903)
*
July 6 -
Gabor Baross, Hungarian statesman (d.
1892)
*
July 9 -
Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (d.
1907)
*
July 15 -
Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist (d.
1923)
*
July 22 -
Winfield Scott Stratton, American miner (d.
1902)
*
July 25 -
George Robert Aberigh-Mackay, Anglo-Indian writer (d.
1881)
*July 25 -
Arthur James Balfour,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d.
1930)
*
November 13 -
Albert I, Prince of Monaco (d.
1922)
*
January 19 -
Isaac D'Israeli, English author (b.
1766)
*
January 20 -
Christian VIII, King of Denmark (b.
1786)
*
February 15 -
Hermann von Boyen, Prussian field marshal (b.
1771)
*
February 23 -
John Quincy Adams, 6th
President of the United States (b.
1767)
*
March 29 -
John Jacob Astor, American businessman (b.
1763)
*
April 8 -
Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b.
1797)
*
May 25 -
Annette von Droste-HĂĽlshoff, German writer (b.
1797)
*
June 27 -
Denis Auguste Affre, Archbishop of Paris (b.
1793)
*
July 4 -
François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (b.
1768)
*
August 7 -
Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b.
1779)
*
August 12 -
George Stephenson, English locomotive pioneer (b.
1781)
*
November 9 -
Robert Blum, German politician (b.
1810)
*
November 23 - Sir
John Barrow, English statesman (b.
1764)
*
November 24 -
Lord Melbourne,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1779)
*
December 19 -
Emily Brontë, English author (b.
1818)
*
Edward Baines, British newspaperman and politician (b.
1774)
*
Kyokutei Bakin, Japanese author (b.
1767)
