1848
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th centuryDecades: 1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
Years: 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 - 1848 - 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853
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2 Ongoing events 3 Year in topic 4 Births 5 Deaths 6 Heads of state in 1848 7 External links |
Events
- January 24 - California gold rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, near Sacramento
- 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 2 - Mexican-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 21 - Karl Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto.
- February 24 - Abdication of Le Roi-Citoyen (citizen king) Louis Philippe, King of the French and the proclamation of the Second Republic.
- 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 Mexican-American War.
- March 20 - King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates
- March 29 - An upstream ice jam stops almost all water flow over Niagara Falls.
- May 19 - Mexican-American War: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - Mexico ratifies the treaty thus ending the war and ceding Texas, California and most of Arizona and New Mexico to the United States for $15 million dollars.
- May 29 - Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
- July 19 - Women's rights: The two day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York and the "Bloomers" are introduced at the feminist convention.
- 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 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).
- 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: Zachary Taylor is elected president in the first US presidential election held in every state on the same day.
- December 2 - Franz Josef I becomes Emperor of Austria.
- 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.
- Wave of republican and democratic uprisings throughout Europe, mostly unsuccessful (see Revolution of 1848).
- Women hold Seneca Falls Convention in New York.
- Associated Press is founded.
- Boston Public Library is founded by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts,
- First railway in Spain is opened, with line Barcelona to Mataró (circa 40 km).
- Illinois and Michigan Canal is completed.
- Independent Republic of Yucatan joins Mexico in exchange for Mexican help in surpressing revolt by Maya Indians.
- 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.
- 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 The Ring of the Nibelung.
Ongoing events
- Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
Year in topic
Births
- January 19 - John F. Stairs, businessman, statesman (+ 1904)
- February 5 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, author (+ 1907)
- February 5 - Belle Starr, outlaw (+ 1889)
- February 8 - Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist, author (+ 1908)
- February 16 - Octave Mirbeau French art critic, novelist (+ 1917)
- February 18 - Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (+ 1933)
- February 24 - Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (+ 1907)
- February 24 - Grant Allen, author (+ 1899)
- February 25 - Edward Harriman, railroad entrepreneur
- February 27 - Hubert Parry, English composer (+ 1918)
- March 10 - Albert Fraenkel, physician (+ 1916)
- March 19 - Wyatt Earp, policeman, gunfighter (+ 1929)
- May 18 - Princess Louise of the United Kingdom, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
- May 23 - Otto Lilienthal, engineer (+ 1896)
- June 7 - Paul Gauguin, French artist
- July 6 - Gabor Baross, Hungarian statesman (+ 1892).
- July 15 - Vilfredo Pareto, economist (+ 1923).
- July 22 - Winfield Scott Stratton, American miner (+ 1902)
- July 25 - George Robert Aberigh-Mackay, Anglo-Indian writer (+ 1881)
- November 13 - Albert I of Monaco
- November 29 - John Ambrose Fleming, English electrical engineer, inventor of Fleming valve (+ 1945)
Deaths
- January 19 - Isaac D'Israeli, English author, father of Benjamin Disraeli
- February 23 - John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States.
- March 29 - John Jacob Astor, American businessman
- June 27 - Denis Auguste Affre, archbishop of Paris
- July 16 - Jons Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist
- August 12 - George Stephenson, locomotive pioneer
- November 23 - Sir John Barrow, English statesman
- November 24 - Lord Melbourne, British Prime Minister
- December 19 - Emily Bronte, author
- Edward Baines, British newspaperman, politician
- Gaetano Donizetti, Italian opera composer


