Explore 657 historical events from 1850–1859.
The Congress of the Republic of Colombia is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.
The Congress of Colombia passed a law abolishing slavery in the country, to take effect at the beginning of the new year
America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America's Cup international sailing trophy.
The yacht America won the race for the Cup of One Hundred Sovereigns (trophy pictured), later renamed the America's…
James Fenimore Cooper was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th…
James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist, short story writer, and historian (born 1789)
Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and alcohol temperance. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New …
Sojourner Truth (pictured) delivered her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron
The Christiana Resistance, also known as Christiana incident, or Christiana riot, was the successful armed resistance by free Blacks and escaped slaves to a raid led by a federal m…
In a fight near Christiana, Pennsylvania, a group of escaped slaves and free Blacks led by William Parker fought off a…
The New York Times (NYT) is a newspaper based in Manhattan, New York City. The New York Times covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces and re…
The New York Times, the largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, was founded.
The Arana–Southern Treaty or Convention of Settlement, formally known as the Convention for the perfect restoration of friendly relations between the Argentine Confederation and He…
The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina
The American League of Colored Laborers (ALCL) was a short-lived labor union established in New York City in 1850. It is notable for being the first union created for African Ameri…
The American League of Colored Laborers, the first African American labor union in the United States, is established in
Louise of the Netherlands, also called Lovisa, was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 8 July 1859 until her death in 1871 as the wife of King Charles XV & IV.
Princess Louise of the Netherlands marries Crown Prince Karl of Sweden–Norway
Autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Orthodox and Orie…
Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece
Zachary Taylor was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army,…
U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit and iced milk; he is succeeded in office by Vice President…
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This s…
Vega becomes the first star (other than the Sun) to be photographed.
California is a U.S. state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, and Nevada and Arizona to the east; it also shares an intern…
California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was a statute passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern inter…
The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works include The Minute Man, an 1874 statue in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 m…
Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (died 1931)
The Báb was an Iranian religious leader who founded Bábism, and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in hi…
Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia.
Millard Fillmore was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and th…
U.S. President Millard Fillmore is sworn in, a day after becoming president upon Zachary Taylor's death.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor, best known for his operas, although his mature works are often referred to as music dramas.…
Richard Wagner's Lohengrin premieres at the Staatskapelle Weimar.
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that temporarily defused tensions between slave and free states d…
The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory to federal control in return for the U.S.…
Luise Adolpha Le Beau was a German composer of classical music. She studied with noted musicians Clara Schumann and Franz Lachner, but her primary instructor was Josef Gabriel Rhei…
Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (died 1927)
Hans Hartwig von Beseler was a German colonel general.
Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (died 1921)
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served a…
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (died 1942)
Edward Weston was an English-born American chemist and engineer noted for his achievements in electroplating and his development of the electrochemical cell, named the Weston cell,…
Edward Weston, English-American chemist (died 1936)
Sir Frederick William Holder was an Australian politician who served as the first speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 1901 to 1909. A member of the Free Trade P…
Frederick Holder, Australian politician, 19th Premier of South Australia (died 1909)