William Lloyd Garrison founds the abolitionist journal The Liberator in Boston
John James Audubon publishes the first volume of Ornithological Biography—Delineations of American Scenery and Character, a five-volume companion to The Birds of America
Alexis de Toqueville travels in America
Michael Faraday develops the electric dynamo
Michael Faraday discovers the principles of electromagnetic induction
Charles Darwin sails aboard H.M.S. Beagle to South America
Belgium secedes from The Netherlands
The Nat Turner Slave Revolt erupts in late August, in Southampton County, Virginia, resulting in the death of 60 whites (August 21)
Mary Mapes (later Mary Mapes Dodge) is born (January 26)
