Henry Pope leased a portion of his farm three miles from Franklin in western Pennsylvania for oil exploration and drilling.  This became the famous Pope Oil Farm that yielded thousands of barrels of oil for the nascent petroleum industry over the next few years.  (By John Osborne)

Impressed by his performance in the recent debates with Stephen Douglas, the Republican Chicago Press and Tribune made a very strong endorsement of Abraham Lincoln for nomination as a presidential candidate in 1860.  (By John Osborne)

The South Carolina House of Representatives voted through a resolution that "South Carolina is ready to enter, together with other slaveholding States, or such as desire present action, into the formation of a Southern Confederacy."  They went on to request that Governor William Henry Gist transmit this message to other southern state governors.  (By John Osborne) 

November 30 marked the end of the fiscal year and many states and corporations were reporting their expenditures and balances, along with other statistics.  Pennsylvania, for example, reported a total public debt of $38,638,961.07 and an available balance in the state treasury of $839,323.09. (By John Osborne)  

John Brown wrote his last letter to his family from the Charlestown Jail where he was awaiting execution.  He urged them to keep up the anti-slavery fight and expressed a supreme confidence that "our seeming disaster will ultimately result in the most glorious success."  He was hanged on the morning of December 2, 1859.  (By John Osborne)

The State of Indiana reported that at the end of the fiscal year for 1859, 556 inmates remained in state prisons.  This figure turned out the be the highest number reported between the year of statehood in 1816 and 1878.  (By John Osborne) 

By imperial decree, Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary lifted all restrictions on Jews testifying in court in Hungary continuing the small reforms he had begun earlier.  Seven weeks before, he had abolished the requirement that Jews gain the permission of the authorities before they marry.   (By John Osborne)

By imperial decree, Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary abolished the requirement that Jews in Hungary gain the permission of the authorities before they marry.  The law was made retroactive so that many "unauthorized" unions became legal.  In a later loosening of the state grip, in January 1860 all restrictions on Jews testifying in court were also removed. (By John Osborne)