March 4: Zachary Taylor becomes the 12th U.S. President
Millard Fillmore becomes the 12th U.S. Vice President
January 23 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thus becoming the United States' first woman doctor.
February 14 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first sitting President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
February 28 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay. The California leaves New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounds Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrives at San Francisco, California after a 4-month-21-day journey.
March 3
Minnesota Territory is established.
The United States Department of the Interior is established.
The U.S. Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of goldcoins.
March 4 – Zachary Taylor becomes the 12th President of the United States, and Millard Fillmore becomes Vice President of the United States, but both refuse to be sworn in office on a Sabbath (Sunday). Urban legend holds that David Rice Atchison, President pro tempore of the United States Senate is President de jure for a single day.
March 5 – President Zachary Taylor and Vice President Millard Fillmore are sworn into office.
May 3 – The Mississippi River levee at Sauvé's Crevasse breaks, flooding much of New Orleans, Louisiana.
May 20 – Astor Place Riot occurs in Manhattan.
June 6 – Fort Worth, Texas is founded.
September 1 – The first segment of the Pennsylvania Railroad, from Lewistown, Pennsylvania to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, opens for service.
September 17 – Harriet Tubman emancipates herself.
November – Austin College receives a charter in Huntsville.
November 13 – The Constitution of California is ratified by the electorate.
Undated – Pfizer is founded by cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles F. Erhart in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as a manufacturer of fine chemicals.
Continuing[]
California Gold Rush (January 24, 1848–1855)
Births[]
January 12 – Murphy J. Foster, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1901 to 1913 (died 1921)
January 29 – Newton C. Blanchard, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1894 to 1897 (died 1922)
March 2 – Robert Means Thompson, naval officer (died 1930)
March 7 – Luther Burbank, biologist (died 1926)
March 10 – Mary Evelyn Hitchcock, author and explorer (died 1920)
March 17 – Cornelia Clapp, marine biologist (died 1934)[1]
April 3 – Walter Guion, U.S. Senator from Louisiana in 1918 (died 1927)
April 17 – William R. Day, politician and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1923)
April 19 – John Uri Lloyd, pharmacist and science fiction author (died 1936)
April 30 – Jennie Tuttle Hobart, Second Lady of the United States as wife of Garret Hobart (died 1941)
^Reynolds, Moira Davison (2004). American Women Scientists: 23 Inspiring Biographies, 1900-2000. Jefferson NC: McFarland. p. 5. ISBN978-0-78642-161-9.
^James, Edward T.; Wilson James, Janet; Boyer, Paul S. (1971). Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 274. ISBN978-0-67462-731-4.
^Robert, Price (1971). "Catherwood, Mary Hartwell". In James, Edward T. (ed.). Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1. p. 308. ISBN978-0-67462-734-5.