Year 1846: Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read presents a mix of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 1846. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, noteworthy inventions, famous birthdays and deaths, retail prices, entertainment trivia, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: James K. Polk (D-Tennessee)
2. Vice President: George M. Dallas (D-Pennsylvania)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Wesley Davis (D-Indiana)
5. The 29th U.S. Congress was in session.
6. Inflation rate: 1.32%
7. Consumer price index (CPI): 7.700
8. $100.00 in 1846 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $4,324.94 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 2.11% per year” between 1846 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of $4,224.94. In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 2.312% of what it could purchase back in 1846.
9. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost about 98% of its value since 1846.
10. American companies founded in 1846 included the Columbia River Bar Pilots (a maritime pilotage company), HP Hood (a dairy company), and the Waterbury Brass Company (a rolled brass maker).
11. American railroads established in 1846 were the Cincinnati and Richmond Railroad, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad.
12. In 1846, there were 29 U.S. states. In order of admission to the Union, they were Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803), Louisiana (1837), Indiana (1816), Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), Missouri (1821), Arkansas (1836), Michigan (1837), Florida (1845), Texas (1845), and Iowa (1846).
13. On January 15, Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky published his first novel, Poor Folk, “which explores poverty and the relationship between the poor and the rich, common themes of literary naturalism.”
14. On February 4, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) began a long westward migration from Nauvoo, Illinois, that eventually brought them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
15. Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, “but its formal transfer of sovereignty took place on February 19, 1846.”
16. On May 13, the U.S. Congress voted in favor of President Polk’s request “to declare war on Mexico in a dispute over Texas.”
17. On June 15, representatives of Great Britain and the United States signed the Oregon Treaty, which settled “a long-standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon territory.” The treaty “established the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Georgia as the boundary between the United States and British Canada. The United States gained formal control over the future states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana; and the British retained Vancouver Island and navigation rights to part of the Columbia River.”
18. On June 28, Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax obtained a patent for the saxophone, which he had invented a few years earlier.
19. On July 9, U.S. Navy Captain John Berrien Montgomery of the USS Portsmouth “landed ashore at the settlement of Yerba Buena [San Francisco] during the Mexican-American War. His party met no resistance, claimed the settlement for the United States, and raised the American flag in the central plaza.”
20. On July 13, a fire began in a hat store on Main Street in Nantucket, Massachusetts, “and raced through town, consuming everything in its path. At the wharves, barrels of stored whale oil burst into flames, flowed into the water, and created a sea of fire. More than 250 buildings were destroyed, including most of the commercial district.”
21. On August 10, President Polk signed the Smithsonian Institution Act into law, thus ending “a decade of debate about how best to spend a bequest left to America from an obscure English scientist.”
22. On September 10, Elias Howe Jr. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, received the first U.S. patent for a lock-stitch sewing machine.
23. On September 12, Victorian poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning were married in the Saint Marylebone Parish Church, located in London.
24. On December 28, Iowa became the 29th U.S. state.
25. Published in 1846, Mary Howitt's Wonderful Stories for Children was the first English translation of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales.
26. In 1846, Isaac D. Baker and Charles Scribner founded the New York City publishing firm, Baker & Scribner, a precursor to Charles Scribner's Sons.
27. Favorite baby names for boys in 1846 were Arthur, Benjamin, Eli, George, Henry, James, John, Joseph, Thomas, and William. Popular baby names for girls were Ada, Alice, Amelia, Charlotte, Clara, Cora, Elizabeth, Emma, Jane, and Lucy.
28. In 1846, the average life expectancy at birth in the United States was about 41 years for a white male and around 43 years for a white female. During the 1800s, if an individual survived to age 10, their remaining life expectancy would jump considerably, and they could often expect to live into their 50s, 60s, or even 70s.
29. What types of recreation were popular in the 1840s? For adults, familiar activities included berry-picking socials, card games, church socials, dominos, parlor games, picnics, puzzles, and square dances. Children enjoyed games like marbles and shinny.
30. Popular 1840s slang expressions included “absquatulate” (to leave abruptly), “afternoonified” (a refined or sophisticated person), “chisel” (to swindle or cheat), “chowderhead” (a foolish person), “clodhoppers” (heavy work shoes), “Drat!” (an expression of frustration), “highfalutin” (pretentious or pompous), “hornswoggle” (to cheat or deceive someone), “muttonhead” (a stupid person), “raft” (a large number), “shifty” (not trustworthy), and “whooperups” (people who are inferior singers).
31. Famous people born in 1846 were Buffalo Bill Cody (an American showman), Carry Nation (an American activist who campaigned against alcohol consumption), and Peter Carl Faberge (a Russian jeweler who created “Faberge eggs” made from gemstones and precious metals).
32. Notable people who died in 1846 included Benjamin Waterhouse (an American physician), Dorothea Christina Thomas (a Grenada-based businesswoman), and Friedrich Bessel (a German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist).
33. In 1846 as well, the words “air brake,” “baking powder,” “begrudging,” “bighearted,” “brownstone,” “Brunswick stew,” “certificate of deposit,” “candleholder,” “checkbook,” “dietitian,” “embarcadero,” “family practitioner,” “flypaper,” “folklore,” “futurist,” “general delivery,” “hairline,” “Heracles,” “interest rate,” “kugel,” “meat-and-potatoes,” “nonsmoker,” “overmedicate,” “right-hander,” “shock wave,” “small stuff,” “stressful,” “synovial fluid,” “test tube,” “Texas Ranger,” “third dimension,” “time card,” “typesetting,” “union suit,” “vaporizer,” and “woman suffrage” all appeared in print for the first time.
34. 12 eggs: Around 12 cents
35. One bushel of potatoes: About 50 cents
36. One pound of butter: Around 20 cents
37. One ton of coal for home heating: About $1.00
38. Two pounds of ham: Around 25 cents
39. Two pounds of sugar: About 30 cents
40. Washboard: Around 37 cents

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1846_in_the_United_States
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_companies_established_in_1846
3. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1846
4. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1846
5. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1846
6. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/died-1846.php
7. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1846.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1846_in_literature
9. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1846

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor