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| align="center" colspan=2 | Years:
1848 1849 1850 - 1851 - 1852 1853 1854
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| align="center" colspan=2 | 1830s 1840s - 1850s ''' - 1860s 1870s 1880s
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| align="center" | - 19th Century ''' - 20th Century
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1851 (MDCCCLI) was a Common Year Starting On Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Year Starting On Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian Calendar ).
Events
- January 23 - The flip of a coin determines whether a new city in Oregon is named after Boston, Massachusetts , or Portland, Maine , with Portland winning.
- March 1 - Victor Hugo gives speech at the French national assembly and uses the phrase United States Of Europe several times
- March 27 - First reported case of white men seeing Yosemite Valley .
- March 30 - A population Census was taken of all people living in the United Kingdom .
- April 28 - Santa Clara College is chartered in Santa Clara , California .
- May 1 - The '' Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations'' in The Crystal Palace , Hyde Park , London is opened by Queen Victoria . It runs until October 18 .
- May 15 - Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, the first secret society for women, founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia .
- May 15 - Rama IV is crowed King of Thailand .
- July - The Immortal Game , a famous Chess game, is played.
- July 1 - Colony of Victoria separates from New South Wales .
- July 1 - Serial poisoner Helene Jegado is arrested in Rennes , France
- July 29 - Annibale De Gasparis , in Naples , Italy discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia .
- August 5 - Mount Pelee erupts and kills 30 people.
- August 22 - The yacht '' America '' wins the first America's Cup race.
- September 15 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania .
- September 18 - '' The New York Times '' is founded.
- October - Reuters News Service founded.
- October 18 - The Great Exhibition in London is closed.
- October 24 - Ariel and Umbriel , Moon s of Uranus , discovered by William Lassell .
- November 13 - The Denny Party lands at Alki Point , the first settlers of what will become Seattle, Washington .
- November 14 - Herman Melville 's novel Moby-Dick is published in the U.S. by Harper & Brothers , New York - after it was first published on October 18 , by Richard Bentley , London .
- December 2 - Louis Napoleon, president of France, dissolves French National Assembly and declares a new constitution to extend his term. Later he declares himself as an emperor Napoleon III . End of the Second Republic .
- December 6 - Trial of Helene Jegado begins; she is eventually sentenced to death and executed in a Guillotine .
- December 9 - The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec .
- December 24 - The Library Of Congress burns.
- December 26 - 27 - Royal Navy warship bombards Lagos island; Oba Kosoko is wounded and flees to Epe .
- December 29 - The first YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts .
Undated
Births
- January 17 - A. B. Frost , American illustrator (d. 1928 )
- January 19 - Jacobus Kapteyn , Dutch astronomer (d. 1922 )
- February 8 - Kate Chopin , American writer (d. 1904 )
- March 19 - William Henry Stark , Business Leader (d. 1936 )
- March 27 - Vincent D'Indy , French composer and teacher (d. 1931 )
- March 28 - Bernardino Machado , Portuguese President (d. 1944 )
- April 21 - Charles Barrois , French geologist (d. 1939 )
- May 6 - Aristide Bruant , French cabaret singer and comedian (d. 1925 )
- May 20 - Emil Berliner , telephone and recording pioneer (d. 1929 )
- May 21 - Léon Bourgeois , French statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1925 )
- August 14 - Doc Holliday , American gambler and gunfighter (d. 1887 )
- September 7 - David King Udall , American politician (d. 1938 )
- October 2 - Ferdinand Foch , French commander of allied forces in World War I (d. 1929 )
- Robert Abbe , American surgeon (d. 1928 )
- Tom Morris, Jr. , Scottish golfer (d. 1875 )
Deaths
- January 10 - Karl Freiherr Von Müffling , Prussian field marshal (b. 1775 )
- January 27 - John James Audubon , French-American naturalist and illustrator (b. 1785 )
- January 31 - David Spangler Kaufman , Congressman from Texas (b. 1813 )
- February 1 - Mary Shelley , English author (b. 1797 )
- February 18 - Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi , German mathematician (b. 1804 )
- February 28 - Guillaume Dode De La Brunerie , Marshal Of France (b. 1775 )
- March 9 - Hans Christian Ørsted , Danish scientist (b. 1777 )
- September 10 - Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet , American educator (b. 1787 )
- September 11 - Sylvester Graham , American nutritionist and inventor (b. 1794 )
- September 14 - James Fenimore Cooper , American writer (b. 1789 )
- October 4 - Manuel De Godoy , Spanish statesman (b. 1767 )
- October 19 - Marie Thérèse Charlotte (b. 1778 )
- November 26 - Nicolas Jean De Dieu Soult , French marshal and politician (b. 1769 )
- December 19 - Joseph Mallord William Turner , English artist (b. 1775 )
- 1851 - John Brown Russwurm , Abolitionist (b. 1799 )
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