1844 in the United States

Incumbents

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

• President: John Tyler
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Winston Jones
• Congress: 28th

  Governors

• Governor of Alabama: Benjamin Fitzpatrick
• Governor of Arkansas:
• * until April 29: Archibald Yell
• * April 29-November 5: Samuel Adams
• * starting November 5: Thomas Stevenson Drew
• Governor of Connecticut: Chauncey Fitch Cleveland , Roger Sherman Baldwin
• Governor of Delaware: William B. Cooper
• Governor of Georgia: George W. Crawford
• Governor of Illinois: Thomas Ford
• Governor of Indiana: James Whitcomb
• Governor of Kentucky: Robert P. Letcher , William Owsley
• Governor of Louisiana: Alexandre Mouton
• Governor of Maine:
• * until January 1: Edward Kavanagh
• * January 1-January 3: David Dunn
• * January 3: John W. Dana
• * starting January 3: Hugh J. Anderson
• Governor of Maryland: Francis Thomas
• Governor of Massachusetts: Marcus Morton , George N. Briggs
• Governor of Michigan: John S. Barry
• Governor of Mississippi: Tilghman Tucker , Albert G. Brown
• Governor of Missouri:
• * until February 9: Thomas Reynolds
• * February 9-November 20: Meredith Miles Marmaduke
• * starting November 20: John C. Edwards
• Governor of New Hampshire: Henry Hubbard , John H. Steele
• Governor of New Jersey: Daniel Haines
• Governor of New York: William C. Bouck
• Governor of North Carolina: John Motley Morehead
• Governor of Ohio:
• * until April 15: Wilson Shannon
• * April 15-December 3: Thomas W. Bartley
• * starting December 3: Mordecai Bartley
• Governor of Pennsylvania: David R. Porter
• Governor of Rhode Island: James Fenner
• Governor of South Carolina: James Henry Hammond , William Aiken, Jr.
• Governor of Tennessee: James C. Jones
• Governor of Vermont: John Mattocks , William Slade
• Governor of Virginia: James McDowell

  Lieutenant Government

• Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: William S. Holabird , Reuben Booth
• Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John Moore
• Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Jesse D. Bright
• Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Manlius Valerius Thomson , Archibald Dixon
• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Henry H. Childs , John Reed, Jr.
• Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Origen D. Richardson
• Lieutenant Governor of Missouri:
• * until February 9: Meredith Miles Marmaduke
• * February 9-November 20: vacant
• * starting November 20: James Young
• Lieutenant Governor of New York: Daniel S. Dickinson
• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Byron Diman
• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Isaac Donnom Witherspoon , J. F. Ervin
• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Horace Eaton

  Events

• January 15 - The University of Notre Dame receives its charter from Indiana.
• February 28 - The "Peacemaker", the largest naval gun in the world, explodes during a demonstration aboard the, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer.
• March 12 - The Columbus and Xenia Railroad, the first railroad that is planned to be built in Ohio, is chartered.
• May 24 - The first electrical telegram is sent by Samuel F. B. Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, Maryland, saying "What hath God wrought".
• June-July - The Great Flood of 1844 hits the Missouri River and Mississippi River.
• June 15 - Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
• June 22 - Influential North American fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon is founded at Yale University.
• June 27 - Death of Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum are killed in Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois by an armed mob, leading to a succession crisis in the movement. John Taylor, future president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is severely injured but survives.
• July 3 - The U.S. signs the Treaty of Wanghia with Qing dynasty China, the first diplomatic agreement between the two nations in history.
• July 25 - Exclusion Law in Oregon prohibits African Americans from entering or remaining in the territory
• October 22 - The Great Disappointment: Millerites find that the Second Coming of Jesus does not occur as predicted by preacher William Miller.
• December 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1844: James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay.
• Undated - The first ever international cricket match is played in New York City between Canada and the United States.

  Births

• March 12 - Patrick Collins, lawyer, 37th Mayor of Boston and U.S. Representatives from Massachusetts
• April 13 - John Surratt, suspected involvement in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, son of Mary Surratt
• April 22 - Lewis Powell, conspirator with John Wilkes Booth, attempted assassin of William H. Seward
• May 2 - Elijah McCoy, inventor of the automatic steam engine lubricator
• June 3 - Garret Hobart, 24th Vice President of the United States from 1897 till 1899.
• July 9 - Charles D. Barney, stockbroker
• August 1 - Levi Ankeny, United States Senator from Washington from 1903 till 1909.
• August 24 - Charles B. Clark, politician and entrepreneur
• October 11 - Henry J. Heinz, entrepreneur and founder of the H. J. Heinz Company

  Deaths

• January 13 - Alexander Porter, United States Senator from Louisiana from 1833 till 1837.
• January 25 - Horace H. Hayden, first licensed American dentist
• February 27 - Nicholas Biddle, financier, last president of the Second Bank of the United States
• February 28 -
• *Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of State from 1843 to 1844
• * Thomas W. Gilmer, fifteenth Secretary of the Navy
• March 6 - Gabriel Duvall, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1811 to 1835
• May 18 - Richard McCarty, politician
• April 4 - Charles Bulfinch, architect of the Massachusetts State House
• April 21 - Henry Baldwin, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court from 1830 till 1844.
• June 27 Joseph Smith Jr., religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement
• July 23 - Christian Gobrecht, third Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from 1840 to 1844
• August 15 - William S. Fulton, United States Senator from Arkansas 1836 till 1844.
• September 14 - Oliver Holden, composer