WHAT HAPPENED IN 1851.
Look what happened the 1851.

Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois. (28. January 1851)

The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria. (6. February 1851)

Edward Hargraves announces that he has found gold in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, starting the Australian gold rushes. (12. February 1851)

The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice. (11. March 1851)

First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans. (27. March 1851)

Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand. (2. April 1851)

Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London. (1. May 1851)

Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America. (21. May 1851)

Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper. (5. June 1851)

Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia. (29. July 1851)

Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine. (12. August 1851)

The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America. (22. August 1851)

Christiana Resistance: Escaped slaves stand against their former owner in armed resistance in Christiana, Pennsylvania, creating a rallying cry for the abolitionist movement. (11. September 1851)

Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (15. September 1851)

First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later becomes The New York Times. (18. September 1851)

Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London. (18. October 1851)

William Lassell, discovers the moons Umbriel, and Ariel, orbiting Uranus. (24. October 1851)

Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape. (9. November 1851)

The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle, Washington. (13. November 1851)

French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic. (2. December 1851)