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Hamilton Smith patents the rotary washing machine.
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Jean Lenoir invents an internal combustion engine.
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New York’s Central Park
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, landscape architects, win the competition for a plan for New York’s Central Park. The begin transforming a square mile of Manhattan into their plan for Central Park. -
Kansas pro-slavery and anti-slavery violence erupts
Violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery populations in and near Kansas escalated to such a level that the 2nd Infantry and 3rd Artillery regiments under the command of Captain Lyon joined two companies of the 1st Cavalry under Captain Sturgis in attempts to restore order during the ongoing "Bleeding Kansas" period. -
First transatlantic cable is completed
The first transatlantic cable is completed by Cyrus West Field and others. It would fail its test due to weak current on September 1. -
Julia Archibald Holmes became the first woman on record to reach the summit of Pikes Peak.
Julia Archibald Holmes became the first woman on record to reach the summit of Pikes Peak. She and three others, including her husband James, started their hike on August 1 and reached the top on August 5. Julia Holmes wore what she called her "American costume" a short dress, bloomers, moccasins, and a hat. This was another first in American sports for women. -
Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln Debates begin
A series of seven debates between politicians Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln began in Ottawa, Illinois. -
Dred Scott dies
Dred Scott, the American slave whose case for freedom precipitated the 1857 decision by the Supreme Court on the topic of slavery, dies a free man. -
Douglas-Lincoln Debates end
The Douglas-Lincoln Debates ended at Alton, Illinois. Lincoln’s debates with the probable Democratic Party nominee for President in the 1860 election make Lincoln a national figure who is seen as a moderate within the Republican Party. The debates also make Douglas less palatable to some southern party leaders. -
First commercial oil well is drilled
The first commercial oil well is drilled by Edwin L. Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania. -
John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown tired of all of the talk of ending slavery and wanted for the murder of five settlers in Kansas leads his ill-fated raid on the United States Armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). Brown leads twenty-one men into Harper’s Ferry with the plan of seizing wagon loads of arms and ammunition to supply what he expects will be an army of run-away slaves in the hills of Virginia, North Carolina and on into Tennessee and Georgia that will cause slavery to fall under the assult -
Cape Lookout lighthouse lit
The Cape Lookout, North Carolina lighthouse is lit for the first time while the new and technologically advanced Fresnel lens allows the light to be seen nineteen miles away over the sea. -
John Brown is hanged for treason by the state of Virginia
John Brown is hanged for treason by the state of Virginia due to his leadership role in the raid on the Harper's Ferry armory and failed attempt to spur revolt among Virginia slaves. -
New England shoe workers win labor strike
After a long winter nearly twenty thousand New England shoe workers won a strike and higher wages, this led to the creation of larger and more productive shoe factories throughout New England that were the model for those later in the century in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. -
The Pony Express begins
The Pony Express began. Overland mail between Sacramento, California and St. Joseph's, Missouri . This system carried almost exclusively business mail over the Oregon Trail for a year and one half by this series of riders on horseback, only to be rendered obsolete when the transcontinental telegraph is completed in 1861. Pony Express service ended on October 24, 1861. -
Republican Party Convention meets in Chicago
In Chicago the Republican Party Convention met in a building called “the Wigwam” and after three ballots the convention nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois as the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States. Lincoln would be a candidate of a party that was not even listed on the ballots of southern states. -
Minority of Southern Democrats meet to nominate John C. Breckenridge for President
In Richmond, Virginia the minority of Southern Democrats who walked out of the Baltimore convention met to nominate John C. Breckenridge, the incumbent Vice president of the United States, for President and Joseph Lane of Oregon as Vice President. The Southern Democratic party accomplished this on one ballot due to the preplanning of the convention by Yancey and Robert Rhett, both “fire-eaters” who expected and wanted southern independence. -
The Liberal Party meets in Convention Hall in Syracuse, New York
The Liberal Party with one hundred delegates from seven states including the slave state of Kentucky met in Convention Hall in Syracuse, New York and these delagates divided over the nomination of the abolitionist, Gerrit Smith (who was named as one of the people who inspired John Brown) and William Goodell who was also an abolitionist. Gerrit Smith plead ill-health and did not attend. Smith was nominated for president and Samuel McFarland of Pennsylvania was nominated for Vice President. -
Abraham Lincoln, running on an anti-slavery platform, defeats three opponents in the campaign for the presidency
Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, running on an anti-slavery platform, defeats three opponents in the campaign for the presidency; Democrats Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell, Constitutional Union Party, leading to ardent cries of potential rebellion in southern slave states. Although Lincoln won the Electoral College by a large majority, 180 to 123 for all other candidates, the popular vote showed just how split the nation was. Lincoln garnered 1.9 million votes t -
South Carolina secedes from the Union
South Carolina responds to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President by being the first southern state to secede from the Union. -
Elisha Otis patents elevator safety brakes
Elisha Otis patents elevator safety brakes, creating a safer elevator equipped with a safety device to prevent falling in case a supporting cable should break. This increased public confidence in such devices. In 1853, Elisha Otis established a company for manufacturing elevators and patented (1861) a steam elevator with the braking system. Elisha G. Otis did not invent the first elevator, he invented the brake used in modern elevators, and his brakes made skyscrapers a practical reality. In 185 -
Pierre Michaux and his son invent the velocopede bicycle
Pierre Michaux and his son, both blacksmiths in the carriage trade, invented a bicycle with pedals for the front wheel, they called it a ‘velocopede’ others called it a Michauline. -
Linus Yale invents the Yale lock
Linus Yale invents the Yale lock or cylinder lock. This changed the security of locks by requiring more and more detailed work to trip all of the pins in the cylinder. American, Linus Yale Jr. was a trained mechanical engineer and a lock manufacturer who patented a cylinder pin-tumbler lock in 1861. Yale invented the modern combination lock in 1862. -
Richard Gatling patents the machine gun
Richard Gatling patents the machine gun. It was available, but was not used in the civil war. It was adopted by armies around the world and was the standard machine gun until the rise of the gas powered machine gun by another American Hyram Maxim. -
Alexander Parkes invents the first man-made plastic
Alexander Parkes invents the first man-made plastic called, appropriately enough Parkesine, an organic material derived from cellulose that once heated could be molded, and retained its shape when cooled.