| January 13 | Vancouver Island granted to Hudson's Bay Co |
| January 23 | Mrs Elizabeth Blackwell becomes 1st woman physician in US |
| January 23 | Patent granted for an envelope-making machine |
| January 31 | Corn Laws abolished in Britain |
| February 4 | University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students |
| February 9 | Roman Republic declared |
| February 18 | 1st regular steamboat service to California starts |
| February 28 | 1st boat load of gold rush prospectors arrives in San Francisco from east coast |
| March 3 | Gold Coinage Act authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin |
| March 3 | Home Department (Interior Department), forms |
| March 3 | Minnesota Territory is organizes |
| March 3 | Territory of Minnesota organizes |
| March 3 | U.S. Department of the Interior established by Congress |
| March 4 | U.S. had no president, Polks term ends on a Sunday, Taylor couldn't be sworn-in, Senator David Atchison (President pro tem) term ended March 3rd |
| March 5 | Zachary Taylor sworn in as 12th president |
| March 9 | Carl Nikolais opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor," premieres |
| March 10 | Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only U.S. president to do so |
| March 12 | 1st gold seekers arrive in Nicaragua en route to California |
| March 23 | Battle of Novara (King Charles Albert vs Italian republic) |
| March 27 | Joseph Couch patents steam-powered percussion rock drill |
| March 28 | Dutch princess Marianne and Prince Albert of Prussia separate |
| March 29 | Britain formally annexs Punjab after defeat of Sikhs in India |
| March 31 | Col John W Geary arrives as 1st postmaster of SF |
| April 6 | Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera "Le Prophete," premieres in Paris |
| April 10 | Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (New York City); sold rights for $100 |
| April 13 | Hungarian Republic proclaimed |
| April 16 | Opera "Il Profeta," premieres in Paris |
| May 10 | Pack destroys Astor Place opera house in New York City (22 killed) |
| May 12 | Willem Alexander PFL crowned king Willem III in Amsterdam |
| May 15 | Philadelphia Turngemeinde founded |
| May 17 | Fire destroy Centrum in St. Louis Missouri |
| May 22 | Abraham Lincoln patents a buoying device |
| May 28 | Princess WFLC Marianne and Albrecht of Prussia separate |
| May 29 | Lincoln says "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and of people some of time, but you can't fool all of the people all of time" |
| May 29 | Patent for lifting vessels granted to Abraham Lincoln |
| May 31 | Last edition of Orange sheet "Journal de La Haye" |
| June 5 | Danish National Day-Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy |
| June 12 | Gas mask patented by Lewis Haslett, Louisville, Kentucky |
| June 21 | Battle at Waghausel: Prussian troops beat Baden rebels |
| June 22 | Stephen C. Massett opens courthouse using only piano in California |
| July 2 | Garibaldi in Rome begins hunger strike |
| July 8 | St. Paul's Place in the Bronx named |
| July 20 | Start of 1st Lancashire-Yorkshire clash at Hyde Park, Sheffield |
| July 28 | Memmon is 1st clipper to reach San Francisco, 120 days out of New York |
| July 31 | Benjamin Chambers patents breech loading cannon |
| August 9 | Hungarian Republic crushed by Austria and Russia |
| August 19 | New York Herald reports gold discovery in California |
| August 28 | Venice under Daniele Manin surrenders to Austrians under Radetsky, after been under siege since July 20 after proclaiming independence |
| September 1 | California Constitutional Convention held in Monterey |
| September 3 | California State Constitutional Convention convenes in Monterey |
| September 10 | 1st performance by U.S. actor Edwin Booth (Richard III) |
| September 13 | 1st U.S. prize fight fatality (Tom McCoy) |
| September 18 | De Kempenaer's Dutch government resigns |
| September 29 | 1st passenger train service to Peekskill New York (New Haven Railroad) |
| October 16 | Avery College establishes in Allegheny, Pennsylvania |
| October 16 | British seize Tigre Island in Gulf of Fonseca from Honduras |
| October 19 | Elizabeth Blackwell becomes 1st woman in U.S. to receive medical degree |
| November 1 | Dutch government of Thorbecke forms |
| November 13 | Peter Burnett elected 1st governor of California |
| November 15 | 1st U.S. poultry show opens in Boston |
| November 21 | Friedrich Hebbel's "Der Rubin," premieres in Vienna |
| December 6 | Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland |
| December 8 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Luisa Miller," premieres in Naples |
| December 14 | 1st chamber music group in U.S. gives their 1st concert (Boston) |
| December 18 | William Bond obtains 1st photograph of Moon through a telescope |
| December 21 | 1st U.S. skating club formed in Philadelphia |
| December 28 | M Jolly-Bellin discovers dry-cleaning, he accidentally upset lamp containing turpentine and oil on his clothing and sees cleaning effect |
BrainyHistory
