President James Buchanan signed the new federal copyright law governing photographic images. It had been passed through the Congress the day previously. (By John Osborne)

The federal copyright law governning photographic images passed through Congress and was signed into law the next day by President James Buchanan.  (By John Osborne)

The abolition of capital punishment that had been signed into law the previous May became effective in Michigan.  "Treason against the state" remained the only crime under the death penalty. (By John Osborne)

The Confederate Congress authorized the first Confederate States government bond issue.  The amount was not to exceed fifteen million dollars. (By John Osborne)

The first perforated postage stamps were issued in the United States.  They were one cent stamps, blue in color, and portrayed the bust of Benjamin Franklin. (By John Osborne)

The steamship California of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, Captain Cleveland Forbes commanding, arrives in San Francisco harbor crammed with 365 passengers after a voyage of almost five months. She had left New York on the inaugural run of the service on October 8, 1848 making multiple calls in South American ports along the way. In the days after the arrival, most of her crew desert to join the rush to the goldfields of Northern California. (By John Osborne)

The Republican Party held its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Its purpose was to plan for a national nominating convention for the upcoming election. (By John Osborne)

Nathaniel Gordon of Portsmouth, Maine was executed under the 1820 federal law that designated slave trading as piracy. He had been captured with his ship the Erie on August 8, 1860 off the coast of West Africa by the USS Mohican with a cargo of 897 men, women, and children. The slaves were freed and landed in Liberia and Gordon returned to New York City for trial. He was convicted and hanged there, in the Tombs Prison. (By John Osborne)

Edwin Thomas Holmes installed a burglar alarm in a Boston building. Using an electrical circuit that trips when the connection was broken with opening of a door or window, it was the first of its kind. Holmes eventually established a successful "protection company." (By John Osborne)