- January 21
- Envelope-folding machine patented by Russell Hawes, Worcester Massachusetts. [1]
- January 30
- Emperor Napoleon III marries Eugénie Maria de Montijo y de Guzman. [1]
- February 3
- August Kopisch German writer (Mäuseturm), dies at age 53. [1]
- March 2
- Territory of Washington organized after separating from Oregon Territory. [1]
- March 3
- Transcontinental railroad survey is authorized byUS Congress. [1]
- US Assay Office in New York City, New York authorized. [1]
- March 4
- Pope Pius IX recovers Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands. [1]
- Franklin Pierce begins term as 14th US President. [444.66]
- March 5
- Georg A Kestner German art collector/diplomat, dies at age 75. [1]
- March 6
- Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata premieres in Venice, Italy. [1] [5]
- March 17
- Christian Doppler physicist, dies. [1]
- April 8
- Jan W Pieneman historical painter (Battle at Waterloo), dies at age 73. [1]
- April 11
- Louis Emmanuel Eadin composer, dies. [1]
- April 14
- Harriet Tubman begins her Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape. [1]
- April 15
- Johann Leopold Fuchs composer, dies at age 67. [1]
- Protestant church questions king Willem III Roman Catholic bishops. [1]
- April 17
- Thorbecke government resigns. [1]
- US Marine Hospital at Presidio (San Francisco) established. [1]
- April 18
- First train in Asia (Bombay to Tanna, 36 km). [1]
- William King US Vice President, dies a month after his inauguration. [1]
- April 19
- Netherlands Van Hall government forms. [1]
- April 20
- Antonio López de Santa Anna becomes President (11th time) of Mexico. [118.61]
- Harriet Tubman starts Underground Railroad. [1]
- April 23
- Auguste Laurent chemist, dies. [1]
- April 25
- William Beaumont physiologist, dies. [1]
- April 26
- Dutch King William III disbands second Chamber. [1]
- April 28
- Ludwig Tieck writer, dies at age 79. [1]
- April 29
- Comet C/1853 G1 (Schweizer) approaches within 0.0839 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth. [1]
- May 1
- Argentina adopts its constitution. [1]
- May 2
- Franconi's Hippodrome opens (New York City, New York). [1]
- May 6
- First major US rail disaster kills 46 (Norwalk Connecticut). [1]
- May 8
- Joannes P Roothaan first Dutch Lieutenant Colonel-General of Jesuits, dies at age 67. [1]
- May 9
- Johann Philipp Samuel Schmidt composer, dies at age 73. [1]
- May 14
- Gail Borden patents his process for condensed milk. [1]
- May 17
- Thorbeckes liberals win second-Parliamentary election. [1]
- May 18
- A party of English ship HMS Resolute from the west meets with a party of HMS Investigator from the east in the Arctic, establishing the continuous Barrow Strait and the existence of the Northwest Passage. [695.60]
- May 19
- Dutch prince Henry marries princess Amalia of Saxony-Weimar. [1]
- May 23
- Buenos Aires gains independence from Argentina (reunited 1859). [1]
- May 31
- Elisha Kane's Arctic expedition leaves New York aboard the Advance. [1]
- July 6
- William Wells Brown publishes "Clotel," first novel by black American. [1]
- July 9
- Admiral Perry and US Navy visit Japan. [1]
- July 14
- Commodore Perry requests trade relations with Japan. [1]
- President Franklin Pierce opens first industrial exposition (New York). [1]
- July 18
- First train to cross the US-Canada boundary, Portland, Maine.-Montréal, PQ. [1]
- Completion of Grand Trunk Line, Americas first international railroad. [1]
- August 24
- First potato chips prepared by Chef George Crum (Saratoga Springs, New York, USA). [1] [5]
- September 6
- Women's Rights Convention met (New York City). [1]
- September 11
- First electric telegraph in use, Merchant's Exchange to Pt Lobos. [1]
- September 15
- First US woman ordained a minister, Antoinette Blackwell. [1]
- September 24
- First round-the-world trip by yacht (Cornelius Vanderbilt). [1]
- September 29
- Emigrant ship "Annie Jane" sinks off Scotland, drowning 348. [1]
- October 2
- Austrian law forbids Jews from owning land. [1]
- October 19
- First flour mill in Hawaii begins operations. [1]
- November 9
- Origin of Carrington rotation numbers for rotation of the Sun. [1]
- November 17
- Street signs authorized at San Francisco intersections. [1]
- November 28
- Olympia established as capital of Washington Territory. [1]
- December 5
- Johann Peter Heuschkel composer, dies at age 80. [1]
- December 30
- Gadsden Purchase - about 30,000 square miles (77,000 km) by Gila River from México for $10 million; area is now southern Arizona and New Mexico. [1] [444.70]
1854
- January 1
- Lincoln University, a black college, chartered (Oxford PA). [1]
- January 5
- Steamship San Francisco wrecked-300 die. [1]
- January 9
- Astor Library opens in New York City, New York. [1]
- Filippo Traetta [Philip Trajetta], Italian composer, dies at age 77. [1]
- January 13
- Anthony Foss patents the accordion. [1]
- January 18
- Filibuster William Walker proclaims Republic of Sonora in NW México. [1]
- Juda Turo American philanthropist, dies. [1]
- January 25
- Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Bednost ne Porok" premieres in Moscow. [1]
- January 30
- First election in Washington Territory; 1,682 votes cast. [1]
- January 31
- Dutch KNMI established (Royal Meteorological Institute). [1]
- February 2
- Pope Pius IX encyclical "On the persecution of Armenians". [1]
- February 4
- Alvan Bovay proposes the name "Republican Party", Ripon Wisconsin. [1]
- Carl Ludwig Cornelius Westenholz composer, dies at age 66. [1]
- February 6
- Composer Robert Schumann is saved from suicide attempt into the Rhine. [1]
- February 11
- Major streets lit by coal gas for first time. [1]
- February 16
- Franz Liszts symphony "Orpheus" premieres. [1]
- February 17
- British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa). [1]
- Hugues F R de Lamennais French priest/writer, dies at age 71. [1]
- February 22
- First meeting of the Republican Party, Michigan. [1]
- February 23
- Great Britain and Orange Free state sign Convention of Bloemfontein. [1]
- February 28
- Republican Party formally organized at Ripon Wisconsin. [1]
- March 1
- SS City of Glasgow leaves Liverpool harbor and is never seen again. [1]
- March 6
- Caspar GC Reinwardt German/Dutch biologist, dies at age 80. [1]
- March 7
- Charles Miller patents first US sewing machine to stitch buttonholes. [1]
- March 8
- US Commodore Matthew C Perry's second trip to Japan. [1]
- March 17
- First park land purchased by a US city, Worcester Massachusetts. [1]
- March 28
- During the Crimean War, Britain and France declare war on Russia. [1]
- March 31
- Treaty of Kanagawa: Commodore Perry forces Japan to opens ports to foreign trade. [1]
- April 6
- William Strickland US architect, dies. [1]
- April 11
- Karl Adolph von Basedow German Democratic Republic (Ziekte van Basedow), dies at age 55. [1]
- April 16
- Franz Liszt's "Mazeppa", premieres. [1]
- San Salvador destroyed by earthquake. [1]
- Steamer Long Beach sinks off Long Beach New York, 311 die. [1]
- April 17
- Gottlob Wiedebein composer, dies at age 74. [1]
- April 18
- Joseph Antoni Frantiszek Elsner composer, dies at age 84. [1]
- April 24
- Austria's Franz Joseph I marries Elisabeth A E "Sissi". [1]
- May 1
- Amsterdam begins transferring drinking water out of the dunes. [1]
- May 3
- William Beale composer, dies at age 70. [1]
- May 5
- English pirate Plumridge robs along pro-English Finnish coast. [1]
- May 24
- Anthony Burns, slave, arrested by US Deputy marshals in Boston. [1]
- May 27
- Marine Telegraph from Fort Point to San Francisco completed. [1]
- May 30
- Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed Missouri Compromise opens north slavery. [1]
- May 31
- Vatroslav Lisinski composer, dies at age 34. [1]
- June 10
- Georg F.B. Reiman proposes that space is curved. [1]
- June 29
- Gadsden Purchase (parts of Arizona, New Mexico) from Mexico for $10 million. [1]
- July 13
- US forces shell and burn San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua. [1]
- July 22
- J R Hind discovers asteroid #30 Urania. [1]
- August 6
- US Congress passes Confiscation Act. [1]
- August 9
- Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden". [1]
- August 16
- Duncan Phyfe furniture maker, dies. [1]
- August 24
- National emigration convention meets in Cleveland. [1]
- August 29
- Self-governing windmill patented (Daniel Halladay). [1]
- August 30
- John Fremont issues proclamation freeing slaves of Missouri rebels. [1]
- September 20
- British and French defeat Russians at Alma, in the Crimea. [1]
- September 27
- Steamship Arctic sank with 300 people aboard. [1]
- October 25
- The Light Brigade charges (Battle of Balaklava) (Crimean War). [1]
- November 2
- Cobblestone paving of Washington Steet between Dupont and Kearny starts. [1]
- November 4
- Lighthouse established on Alcatraz Island. [1]
- November 13
- New Era ship sinks off New Jersey coast with loss of 300. [1]
- November 14
- Viconte Ferdinand de Lesseps convinces Viceroy Mohammed Said of Egypt that he should build the Suez Canal. [722.52]
- December 5
- Aaron Allen of Boston patents folding theater chair. [1]
- December 8
- Pope Pius IX proclaims Immaculate Conception, makes Mary, free of Original Sin. [1]
- December 9
- Lord Tennyson's poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade" published. [1]
- December 15
- First street-cleaning machine in US first used in Philadelphia. [1]
- December 19
- Allen Wilson of Connecticut patents sewing machine to sew curving seams. [1]
- December 26
- Wood-pulp paper first exhibited, Buffalo. [1]
- December 30
- Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, first in US, incorporated in New York City, New York. [1]
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