this was a big year in the US
1846 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1846
January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom.
February 4 – Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake, led by Brigham Young.
February 19 – United States president James K. Polk's annexation of the Republic of Texas is finalized by Texas president Anson Jones in a formal ceremony of transfer of sovereignty. The newly formed Texas state government is officially installed in Austin.
February 26 – The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is cracked while being rung for George Washington's birthday.
April 25 – Mexican–American War: Open conflict begins, over the disputed border of Texas.
May – The Associated Press is founded in New York.
May 13 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
June 10 – Mexican–American War: The California Republic declares independence from Mexico.
June 14 – Bear Flag Revolt: American settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic. (if you ever wondered why California has a bear on the state flag)
June 15 - The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
June 28 – The saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax.
July 7 – Mexican–American War – Battle of Monterey: Acting on instructions from Washington, D.C., Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the United States annexation of California.
August – Canadian physician and geologist Abraham Pineo Gesner demonstrates a process to refine a liquid fuel, which he calls kerosene, from coal, bitumen or oil shale.
September 10 – Elias Howe is awarded the first United States patent for a sewing machine, using a lockstitch design
September 23 – Discovery of Neptune: The planet is observed for the first time by German astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, as predicted by British astronomer John Couch Adams and French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier.
November 4 – The Donner Party, a wagon train of 87 settlers traveling to California, is stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains by the first of several snowstorms. By the time a relief party reaches the starving settlers three months later, only 48 survivors are left, many of whom have survived by cannibalism.
December 27 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
The Great Famine continues in Ireland. The first deaths from hunger take place early in the year and Phytophthora infestans almost totally destroys the summer potato crop.