1857

1857 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It was marked by major political, legal, and economic events across several regions.

In the United States, the Supreme Court issued the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford on March 6, ruling that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be U.S. citizens and that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. Later in the year, the Panic of 1857, a financial crisis sparked by overextended credit and a collapse in railroad and banking sectors, rippled through the United States and Europe.

In Mexico, the liberal reforms advanced with the promulgation of the Constitution of 1857 on February 5, which established secular and civil guarantees. The liberal-conservative conflict escalated into the War of the Reform, which began in 1857 and would persist for several years.

In India, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 began in May with mutinies by sepoys at Meerut and spread to large portions of northern and central India, challenging the authority of the British East India Company and precipitating a major political shift in the governance of the region.

In China, the ongoing Second Opium War continued, with renewed hostilities between Qing authorities and Western powers shaping regional dynamics in the aftermath of several related incidents and treaties. Overall, 1857 was a year of significant upheavals that influenced political restructuring and reform movements in multiple world regions.