1811 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: James Madison
• Vice President: George Clinton
• Chief Justice: John Marshall
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph Bradley Varnum , Henry Clay
• Congress: 11th, 12th

  Governors

• Governor of Connecticut: John Treadwell , Roger Griswold
• Governor of Delaware: George Truitt , Joseph Haslet
• Governor of Georgia: David Brydie Mitchell
• Governor of Kentucky: Charles Scott
• Governor of Maryland: Edward Lloyd , Robert Bowie
• Governor of Massachusetts: Elbridge Gerry
• Governor of New Hampshire: John Langdon
• Governor of New Jersey: Joseph Bloomfield
• Governor of New York: Daniel D. Tompkins
• Governor of North Carolina: David Stone , William Hawkins
• Governor of Ohio: Return J. Meigs, Jr.
• Governor of Pennsylvania: Simon Snyder
• Governor of Rhode Island: James Fenner , William Jones
• Governor of South Carolina: Henry Middleton
• Governor of Tennessee: Willie Blount
• Governor of Vermont: Jonas Galusha
• Governor of Virginia:
• * until January 15: John Tyler, Sr.
• * January 15-January 19: George William Smith
• * January 19-April 3: James Monroe
• * April 3-December 26: George William Smith
• * December 26-December 27: vacant
• * starting December 27: Peyton Randolph

  Lieutenant Governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Roger Griswold , John Cotton Smith
• Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Gabriel Slaughter
• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William Gray
• Lieutenant Governor of New York: John Tayler , DeWitt Clinton
• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Isaac Wilbour , Simeon Martin
• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Samuel Farrow
• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Paul Brigham

  Events

• January 8 - An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
• January 22 - The Casas Revolt begins in San Antonio, Texas.
• March 22 - The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 for Manhattan is presented.
• July 9 - British explorer David Thompson posts a notice at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers claiming the area for the United Kingdom.
• October 11 - Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry.
• November 7 - Battle of Tippecanoe: American troops led by William Henry Harrison defeat the Native American chief Tecumseh.
• December 16 - The New Madrid earthquake in Mississippi Valley near New Madrid reverses the course of the river for a while. Other earthquakes along the fault occur on January 23, 1812, and February 7, 1812.
• December 26 - The Richmond Theatre fire in Virginia kills 72 people including the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

  Births

• January 5 - Richard Brodhead, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1851 to 1857
• January 6 - Charles Sumner, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1851 to 1874
• January 16 - William Alexander Richardson, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1863 to 1865
• January 17 - George S. Houston, Governor of Alabama from 1874 to 1878 and U.S. Senator from Alabama in 1879
• February 3 - Horace Greeley, author and statesman, founder and editor of the New-York Tribune
• February 4 - Asa Biggs, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1855 to 1858
• February 8 - Edwin D. Morgan, 21st Governor of New York from 1859-1862
• February 24
• * Edward Dickinson Baker, English-born U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1860 to 1861
• * Henry Smith Lane, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1836 to 1837 and from 1854 to 1858
• March 15 - Robert Allen, Union Army brigadier general
• March 20 - George Caleb Bingham, artist, soldier and politician
• August 6 - Judah P. Benjamin, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1853 to 1861, 1st Confederate States Attorney General, 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War, 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State
• June 14 - Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and author best known for the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
• July 11 - Isaac A. Van Amburgh, animal trainer

  Deaths

• June 19 - Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, signatory of the Declaration of Independence
• August 2 - William Williams, signatory of the Declaration of Independence