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What Happened in March 1850

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Historical Events

  • Mar 5 The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the Isle of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened

Compromise of 1850

Mar 7 Daniel Webster endorses Compromise of 1850, proposed by Henry Clay to settle issues over slavery between states

Henry Clay's handwritten draft of one of the bills that formed the Compromise of 1850
  • Mar 11 Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania opens, 2nd female medical school in the US
  • Mar 12 1st US $20 gold piece issued

The Scarlet Letter

Mar 16 Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" published by Ticknor, Reed and Fields in Boston

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Mar 18 Henry Wells & William Fargo form American Express in Buffalo
  • Mar 29 SS Royal Adelaide sinks in storm; 200 die
  • Mar 31 US population hits 23,191,876 (Black population: 3,638,808 (15.7%))
Events in 1850

Famous Birthdays

  • Mar 5 Daniel Brink Towner, American hymn composer ("He's A Friend of Mine"; "Though the Fig Tree Shall Not Blossom"), and music director, born in Rome. Pennsylvania (d. 1919)
  • Mar 7 Champ Clark, American politician, US Speaker of the House (1911-19), born in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky (d. 1921)

Tomáš Masaryk (1850-1937)

Mar 7 Czech philosopher and 1st President of Czechoslovakia (1918-35), born in Hodonín, Austrian Empire

Tomáš Masaryk
  • Mar 9 Alexandre Luigini, French violinist, conductor (Lyon Grand Théâtre, 1877-97; Opéra-Comique Paris, 1897-1906), composer (Ballet égyptien), and pedagogue, born in Lyon, France (d. 1906)
  • Mar 10 Mary Mills Patrick, American author and 1st President of Istanbul Woman's College, born in Canterbury, New Hampshire (d. 1940)
  • Mar 10 Spencer Gore, British tennis player (1st Wimbledon winner 1877), born in Wimbledon, England (d. 1906)
  • Mar 13 Emilio Serrano y Ruiz, Spanish composer, born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain (d. 1939)
  • Mar 18 Alfred Maudslay, British administrator who pioneered Maya archaeology, born near London (d. 1931)
  • Mar 24 Silas Hocking, British novelist and preacher (d. 1935)
  • Mar 26 Edward Bellamy, American author (Looking Backward) and socialist, born in Chicopee, Massachusetts (d. 1898)
Born in 1850

Famous Weddings

  • Mar 14 French writer and playwright Honoré de Balzac marries Ewelina Hańska in Berdyczów, Ukraine

Famous Deaths

  • Mar 3 Oliver Cowdery, American religious leader (Later Day Saint apostle), dies at 43
  • Mar 19 Adalbert Gyrowetz [Vojtěch Jírovec], Bohemian composer (Robert oder die Prüfung), dies at 87 [1]
  • Mar 21 Miguel Pedrorena, American settler
  • Mar 26 Samuel Turell Armstrong, American politician and acting Governor of Massachusetts (1833- 36), dies at 65
  • Mar 27 Wilhelm Beer, German banker and amateur astronomer (1st full map of the Moon), dies at 53
  • Mar 28 Gerard C. Brandon, American politician (b. 1788)

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850)

Mar 31 US Vice President (1825-32), dies of tuberculosis at 68

John C. Calhoun



What Happened in 1850

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