1845 in the United States

Incumbents

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

• President: John Tyler , James K. Polk
• Vice President: vacant, George M. Dallas
• Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Winston Jones , John Wesley Davis
• Congress: 28th, 29th

  Governors

• Governor of Alabama: Benjamin Fitzpatrick , Joshua L. Martin
• Governor of Arkansas: Thomas Stevenson Drew
• Governor of Connecticut: Roger Sherman Baldwin
• Governor of Delaware: William B. Cooper , Thomas Stockton
• Governor of Florida: John Branch , William Dunn Moseley
• Governor of Georgia: George W. Crawford
• Governor of Illinois: Thomas Ford
• Governor of Indiana: James Whitcomb
• Governor of Kentucky: William Owsley
• Governor of Louisiana: Alexandre Mouton
• Governor of Maine: Hugh J. Anderson
• Governor of Maryland: Francis Thomas , Thomas Pratt
• Governor of Massachusetts: George N. Briggs
• Governor of Michigan: John S. Barry
• Governor of Mississippi: Albert G. Brown
• Governor of Missouri: John C. Edwards
• Governor of New Hampshire: John H. Steele
• Governor of New Jersey: Daniel Haines , Charles C. Stratton
• Governor of New York: Silas Wright
• Governor of North Carolina: John Motley Morehead , William Alexander Graham
• Governor of Ohio: Mordecai Bartley
• Governor of Pennsylvania: David R. Porter , Francis R. Shunk
• Governor of Rhode Island: James Fenner , Charles Jackson
• Governor of South Carolina: William Aiken, Jr.
• Governor of Tennessee: James C. Jones , Aaron V. Brown
• Governor of Texas: Anson Jones
• Governor of Vermont: William Slade
• Governor of Virginia: James McDowell

  Lieutenant Governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Reuben Booth
• Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John Moore
• Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Jesse D. Bright , vacant
• Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Archibald Dixon
• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: John Reed, Jr.
• Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Origen D. Richardson
• Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: James Young
• Lieutenant Governor of New York: Addison Gardiner
• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Byron Diman
• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: J. F. Ervin
• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Horace Eaton

  Events

January–March

• January 1 - The Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn is completed.
• January 29 - "The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time.
• February 1 - Anson Jones, President of the Republic of Texas, signs the charter officially creating Baylor University, which becomes the oldest university in the State of Texas operating under its original name.
• February 28 - The United States Congress approves the annexation of Texas.
• March 1 - President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
• March 3
• *Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.
• *Postal reform act of Congress standardizes nationwide mail rates.
• March 4
• *The United States Congress passes legislation overriding a presidential veto for the first time.
• *James K. Polk is sworn in as the 11th President of the United States.

  April–June

• April 10 - The Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroys much of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• May - Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by himself, is published by the Boston Anti-Slavery Society.

  July–September

• July 4 - Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a 2-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond.
• July 19 - Great New York City Fire of 1845 breaks out in Lower Manhattan.
• July-August - In the United States Magazine and Democratic Review editor John L. O'Sullivan declares that foreign powers are trying to prevent American annexation of Texas in order to impede "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions", the first use of the phrase "Manifest Destiny".
• August 28 - The journal Scientific American begins publication.

  October–December

• October 10 - In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School opens with 50 midshipmen students and 7 professors.
• October 13 - A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the United States Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.
• October 21 - The New York Herald becomes the first newspaper to mention the game of baseball.
• October 22 - The New York Morning News becomes the first newspaper to include a box-score of a baseball game.
• December 2 - Manifest Destiny: U.S. President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the Monroe Doctrine should be strictly enforced and that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
• December 5 - The Templars of Honor and Temperance is founded in the United States.
• December 6 - Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity is founded.
• December 27
• *Anesthesia is used for childbirth for the first time.
• *American journalist John L. O'Sullivan claims in a newspaper article that the United States has a "Manifest Destiny" to expand its borders, the second time he uses the term; it will have a huge influence on the American imperialistic movement of the 19th century.
• December 29 - Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.

  Unknown date

• Spaniards find Lost Dutchman Mine, Arizona.

  Births

• February 15 - Elihu Root, statesman and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912
• March 4 - Henry Clay Taylor, admiral
• March 20 - Lucy Myers Wright Mitchell, scholar of classical sculpture
• March 22 - John Banister Tabb, poet
• April 21 - William Healey Dall, malacologist and explorer
• May 14 - Charles J. Train, admiral
• May 18 - John B. Allen, U.S. Senator from Washington from 1889 to 1893
• June 13 - Effie Germon, actress and singer
• July 4 - Edmonia Lewis, African American sculptor
• July 19 - Horatio Nelson Young, naval hero
• September 9 - Warner B. Bayley, admiral
• September 17 - Calvin S. Brice, U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1891 to 1897
• October 13 - Charles Stockton, admiral
• October 17 - John J. Gardner, politician
• October 21 - Will Carleton, poet
• November 3 - Edward Douglass White, 9th Chief Justice of the United States from 1910 to 1921, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1894 to 1910, and U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1891 to 1894
• November 9 - Elizabeth Reed, resident of Macon, Georgia, subject of The Allman Brothers Band song "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"
• November 18 - Edwin Winter, railroad manager
• December 9 - Joel Chandler Harris, writer

  Deaths

• March 16 - Isaac C. Bates, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1841 to 1845
• March 18 - Johnny Appleseed, nurseryman and pioneer
• April 10 - Thomas Sewall, anatomist
• June 8 - Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837
• June 9 - Gabriel Moore, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1831 to 1837
• September 10 - Joseph Story, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1811 to 1845
• November 11 - Maria Gowen Brooks, poet