This Year in History:
1856
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
The American Party, also known as the “Known‑Nothing Party,” convenes in Philadelphia to nominate its first presidential candidate. The Know‑Nothing movement began in the 1840s, when an increasing rate of…
Angered by the shooting of a prominent journalist, San Franciscans form their second vigilance committee to combat lawlessness. The need for vigilance committees in San Francisco was obvious. Only two…
Southern Congressman Preston Brooks savagely beats Northern Senator Charles Sumner in the halls of Congress as tensions rise over the expansion of slavery. When the controversial Kansas‑Nebraska Act of 1854…
On June 6, 1856, the fifth and final day of the Democratic Party’s national convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, President Franklin Pierce becomes the first elected president of the United States…
In an extraordinary demonstration of resolve and fortitude, nearly 500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints (often informally known as Mormons) leave Iowa City and head west for…
In Music Fund Hall in Philadelphia, the first national convention of the Republican Party, founded two years before, comes to its conclusion. John Charles Fremont of California, the famous explorer…
A hurricane hits the Louisiana coast, killing more than 400 people, on this day in 1856. Isle Derniere, a resort community, was totally submerged by the storm surges. This hurricane,…
On August 23, 1856, Eunice Foote’s work is presented to a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Albany, New York. She is the first to…
On this day, the Revue de Paris publishes the first segment of Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert. The novel was published in installments from this day until December 15, 1856.…
On this day, the United States buttresses its control over the Gadsden Purchase with the establishment of Fort Buchanan. Named for recently elected President James Buchanan, Fort Buchanan was located…
Future President Woodrow Wilson is born in Staunton, Virginia on December 28, 1856. He attended private schools and graduated from Princeton University in 1879 before studying law at the University of…
Thomas Woodrow Wilson, who will become the 28th president of the United States, is born on this day in Staunton, Virginia. A former president of Princeton University and governor of…
