1857

January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, Postimees, is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. January 9 – The 7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). January 24 – The University of Calcutta is established in Calcutta, as the first multidisciplinary modern university in South Asia. The University of Bombay is also established in Bombay, British India, this year. February 3 – The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, D.C., becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf. February 5 – The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States is promulgated. March – The Austrian garrison leaves Bucharest. March 3 France and the United Kingdom formally declare war on China, in the Second Anglo-Chinese War. The largest slave auction in U.S. history is held, dubbed The Weeping Time. Over a 2-day period (starting March 2), Pierce M. Butler sells 436 men, women, children, and infants, all of whom are kept in stalls meant for horses at a racetrack in Savannah, Georgia, for weeks beforehand. March 4 – James Buchanan is sworn in as the 15th President of the United States. March 6 – Dred Scott v. Sandford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that blacks are not citizens and slaves can not sue for freedom, driving the U.S. further towards the American Civil War (the ruling is not overturned until the 14th Amendment is adopted in 1868). March 8–March 12 – Spirit Lake Massacre, near Okoboji and Spirit lakes in the northwestern territory of Iowa near the Minnesota border. March 12 – Elizabeth Blackwell opens a hospital, the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. March 14 – Youssef Bey Karam is assigned, by the people of Ehden and Bsharri, to be the region's ruler. March 23 – Elisha Otis' first elevator is installed (at 488 Broadway, New York City).