1850

1850:
Nathaniel Hawthorne: "The Scarlet Letter" See: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/33
An excerpt: "I know not! I know not!" she hurriedly replied. "Better? Yea; so we may both die, and little Pearl die with us!"
"For thee and Pearl, be it as God shall order," said the
minister; "and God is merciful! Let me now do the will which He
hath made plain before my sight. For, Hester, I am a dying man.
So let me make haste to take my shame upon me!"

Partly supported by Hester Prynne, and holding one hand of
little Pearl's, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale turned to the
dignified and venerable rulers; to the holy ministers, who were
his brethren; to the people, whose great heart was thoroughly
appalled yet overflowing with tearful sympathy, as knowing that
some deep life-matter--which, if full of sin, was full of
anguish and repentance likewise--was now to be laid open to
them. The sun, but little past its meridian, shone down upon the
clergyman, and gave distinctness to his figure, as he stood
out from all the earth, to put in his plea of guilty at the bar
of Eternal Justice."

Wilkie Collins: "Antonia" See: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3606
An excerpt: 'Do not mourn for me now,' she pursued, gently interrupting some broken
expressions of compassion which fell from the lips of the young Goth.
'If you are merciful to me, I shall forget all that I have suffered!
Though your nation is at enmity with mine, while you remain my friend, I
fear nothing! I can look on your great stature, and heavy sword, and
bright armour now without trembling! You are not like the soldiers
of Rome;--you are taller, stronger, more gloriously arrayed! You are
like a statue I once saw by chance of a warrior of the Greeks! You have
a look of conquest and a presence of command!'

Catharine Maria Sedgwick: "Tales of City Life" See: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/sedgwick.htm

Susan Warner: "The Wide Wide World"
Elizabeth Barret Browning: "Sonnets from the Portuguese"
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Representative Men"
William Wordsworth and Honore de Balzac died.
American Express is founded by Wells and Fargo.
Los Angeles is incorporated into a city.
California is admitted as the 31st State.
Harriet Tubman becomes an official conductor of the underground railroad.