On This Day

Historical Events in January 1850

  • Jan 5 California Exchange opens
  • Jan 18 British blockade Piraeus, Greece, to enforce mercantile claims

DiscoveryHistoric Expedition

Jan 20 HMS Investigator headed by Robert McClure leaves England, 1st expedition to make a Northwest passage (though some over ice)

Explorer Robert McClure
Explorer
Robert McClure
  • Jan 22 Alta California becomes a daily paper, 1st such in Calif
  • Jan 26 1st German language daily newspaper in US published, NYC

Agreement of InterestCompromise of 1850

Jan 29 Senator Henry Clay drafts the Compromise of 1850 to defuse tensions between slave states and free states over territories won during the Mexican–American War

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Henry Clay's handwritten draft of one of the bills that formed the Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay's handwritten draft of one of the bills that formed the Compromise of 1850
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