1848

Years: 1845 1846 1847 - 1848 - 1849 1850 1851
Decades: 1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s

Events of 1848

January 3 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of the independent African Republic of Liberia.
January 12 – The Palermo rising erupts in Sicily, against the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
January 24 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California.
January 31 – The Washington Monument is established.
January 31 – John C. Fremont court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders.
February 2 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the war and ceding to the United States virtually all of what is today the southwest of that country.
March 15 – The start of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
March 24 – The First Schleswig War begins.

April 10
- A Chartist 'Monster Rally' is held in Kennington Park London, headed by Feargus O'Connor. A petition demanding the franchise is presented to parliament.
- A bridge collapses in Great Yarmouth, England, leaving 250 dead.
May 1 – Phi Gamma Delta is founded.
May 15 – Radicals invade the French Chamber of deputies.
May 18 – The first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) opens in Frankfurt, Germany.
May 19 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, is ratified by the Mexican government. (cf. February 2, above.)
May 29 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
June 17 – The Austrian army bombards Prague and crushes a working class revolt.
June 22 – The French government dissolves the national workshops in Paris, giving the workers the choice of joining the army or going to workshops in the provinces.

July 19 – Women's rights – Seneca Falls Convention: The 2-day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York.
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 17 – Yucatán officially unites 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).
September 12 – One of the 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.
September 13 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage incredibly survives a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head.

October 28 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Barcelona–Mataró railroad route (the first to be constructed in all the Iberian Peninsula) is inaugurated.
November 1 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which later merges with Boston University School of Medicine), opens.
November 3 – A greatly revised Dutch constitution is proclaimed.
November 4 – France ratifies a new constitution. The Second Republic of France is set up, ending the state of temporary government lasting since the Revolution of 1848.
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 2 – Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicates in favor of his nephew, Franz Josef I.
December 10 – Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is elected first president of the French Second Republic.
December 18 – Punta Arenas, the first major settlement in the Strait of Magellan, is founded.
December 20 – President Bonaparte takes his Oath of Office in front of the French National Assembly.
December 20 – Slavery is abolished in Réunion. This day is celebrated every year since 1981.
December 26 – Phi Delta Theta Fraternity is founded.

Part of this article consists of modified text from Wikipedia, and the article is therefore licensed under GFDL.