What Happened in 1848 — Events, Births & Deaths

The Palermo rising takes place in Sicily against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.

Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican–American War.

Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.

The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna.

A revolution breaks out in Hungary, and the Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the reform party.

The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.

Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.

Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.

The Slavic Congress opens in Prague.

In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell issue the Proclamation of Islaz and create a new republican government.

A photograph of the June Days uprising becomes the first known instance of photojournalism.

Governor-General Peter von Scholten emancipates all remaining slaves in the Danish West Indies.

Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.

Pica Law (Legge Pica), a form of martial law, is established as the Italian government passes this anti-brigandage law to suppress resistance to the Unification of Italy.

Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives an iron rod 1+1⁄4 inches (3.2 cm) in diameter being driven through his brain; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate discussion of the nature of the brain and its functions.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.

California Gold Rush: In a message to the United States Congress, U.S. President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.

French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic.