1846 in the United States

← 1845 1844 1843 1846 in the United States → 1847 1848 1849
Decades:	1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s
See also:	History of the United States (1789–1849) Timeline of United States history (1820–1859) List of years in the United States

Events from the year 1846 in the United States. In this year, the United States declares war on Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: James K. Polk (D-Tennessee)
• Vice President: George M. Dallas (D-Pennsylvania)
• Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Wesley Davis (D-Indiana)
• Congress: 29th

Governors and Lieutenant Governors

Governors Governor of Alabama: Joshua L. Martin (Independent) Governor of Arkansas: Thomas Stevenson Drew (Democratic) Governor of Connecticut: Roger Sherman Baldwin (Whig) (until May 6), Isaac Toucey (Democratic) (starting May 6) Governor of Delaware: until March 2: Thomas Stockton (Whig) March 2-May 3: Joseph Maull (Whig) May 3-May 6: vacant starting May 6: William Temple (Whig) Governor of Florida: William Dunn Moseley (Democratic) Governor of Georgia: George W. Crawford (Whig) Governor of Illinois: Thomas Ford (Democratic) (until December 9), Augustus C. French (Democratic) (starting December 9) Governor of Indiana: James Whitcomb (Democratic) Governor of Iowa: Ansel Briggs (Democratic) (starting December 28) Governor of Kentucky: William Owsley (Whig) Governor of Louisiana: Alexandre Mouton (Democratic) (until February 12), Isaac Johnson (Democratic) (starting February 12) Governor of Maine: Hugh J. Anderson (Democratic) Governor of Maryland: Thomas Pratt (Democratic) Governor of Massachusetts: George N. Briggs (Democratic) Governor of Michigan: John S. Barry (Democratic) (until January 5), Alpheus Felch (Democratic) (starting January 5) Governor of Mississippi: Albert G. Brown (Democratic Party) Governor of Missouri: John C. Edwards (Democratic) Governor of New Hampshire: John H. Steele (Democratic) (until June 4), Anthony Colby (Whig) (starting June 4) Governor of New Jersey: Charles C. Stratton (Whig) Governor of New York: Silas Wright (Democratic) (until end of December 31) Governor of North Carolina: William Alexander Graham (Whig) Governor of Ohio: Mordecai Bartley (Democratic) (until December 12), William Bebb (Whig) (starting December 12) Governor of Pennsylvania: Francis R. Shunk (Democratic) Governor of Rhode Island: Charles Jackson (Know Nothing) (until May 6), Byron Diman (Law and Order) (starting May 6) Governor of South Carolina: William Aiken, Jr. (Democratic) (until December 8), David Johnson (Democratic) (starting December 8) Governor of Tennessee: Aaron V. Brown (Democratic) Governor of Texas: Anson Jones (political party unknown) (until February 19), James Pinckney Henderson (Democratic) (starting February 19) Governor of Vermont: William Slade (Whig) (until October 9), Horace Eaton (Whig) (starting October 9) Governor of Virginia: James McDowell (Democratic) (until January 1), William Smith (Democratic) (starting January 1) Lieutenant Governors Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Reuben Booth (Whig) (until May 6), Noyes Billings (Democratic) (starting May 6) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John Moore (Democratic) (until December 9), Joseph Wells (Democratic Party) (starting December 9) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: vacant (until December 9), Paris C. Dunning (Democratic) (starting December 9) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Archibald Dixon (Whig) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Trasimond Landry (Whig) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: John Reed, Jr. (political party unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Origen D. Richardson (Whig) (until month and day unknown), William L. Greenly (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: James Young (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Addison Gardiner (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Byron Diman (political party unknown) (until May 6), Elisha Harris (Whig) (starting May 6) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: J. F. Ervin (Democratic) (until December 8), William Cain (Democratic Party) (starting December 8) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Albert Clinton Horton (Democratic) (starting February 19) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Horace Eaton (Whig) (until October 9), Leonard Sargeant (Whig) (starting October 9)

Events

• January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
• January 31 – The City of Milwaukee is incorporated in Wisconsin, merging Juneautown, Kilbourntown and Walker's Point following the Milwaukee Bridge War of 1845. Solomon Juneau is elected first mayor.
• February 10 – Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Great Salt Lake, led by Brigham Young.
• February 19 – In Austin, Texas, the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed.
• February 26 – The Liberty Bell is cracked while being rung for George Washington's birthday.
• April 25 – Mexican-American War: Open conflict begins over border disputes of Texas' boundaries.
• May 8 – Mexican-American War – Battle of Palo Alto: Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.
• May 13 – Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.

September 21–24: Battle of Monterrey (Mexican–American War).

• 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.
• 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.
• July 7 – 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 10 – Establishment of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..
• November – The Donner Party becomes snowbound.
• December 28 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state (see History of Iowa).

Undated

• The portion of the District of Columbia that was ceded by Virginia in 1790 is re-ceded to Virginia.
• Elias Howe patents the sewing machine.

Ongoing

• Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

Births

• January 9 – Verner Clarges, silent film actor (died 1911)
• January 26 – Benjamin Franklin Keith, vaudeville theatre owner (died 1914)
• March 15 – James D. Moffat, 3rd president of Washington & Jefferson College (died 1916)
• April 14 – Henry Overholser, businessman (died 1915)
• May 18 – Anna Morton, wife of Levi P. Morton, Second Lady of the United States (died 1918)
• June 8 – Lucien Baker, United States Senator from Kansas from 1895 till 1901. (died 1907)
• August 2 – Abram J. Buckles, soldier and jurist (died 1915)
• August 15 – Albert J. Hopkins, United States Senator from Illinois from 1903 till 1909. (died 1922)
• August 25 – John Thornton, United States Senator from Louisiana from 1910 till 1915. (died 1917)
• December 1 – William Henry Holmes, anthropologist, archaeologist, geologist and museum director (died 1933)

Full date unknown

• Neil Burgess, comedian (died 1910)
• John Denny, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient (died 1901)
• Pugsey Hurley, British-born burglar, river pirate and underworld figure in New York City
• Peter Charles Remondino, Italian-born physician, author, first president of the San Diego Board of Health, and co-founder of San Diego’s first private hospital (died 1926)
• Thomas Shaw, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient (died 1895)
• Thomas Wakeman, founded the first Sioux Indian YMCA (died 1886)
• James E. Ware, architect who devised the "dumbbell plan" for New York City tenements (died 1918)

Deaths

• March 25 – William Lee D. Ewing, United States Senator from Illinois in 1834. (born 1795)
• September 5 – James Alexander, Jr., United States Representative from Ohio from 1837 till 1839. (born 1789)
• September 15 – Samuel A. Foote, 28th Governor of Connecticut from 1834 till 1835. United States Senator from Connecticut from 1827 till 1833. (born 1780)
• December 29 – Alexander Barrow, United States Senator from Louisiana from 1841 till 1846. (born 1801)

Further reading

• DeVoto, Bernard Augustine (1960). The year of decision, 1846. With an introductory essay by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 3963759.

External links

• Media related to 1846 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
• Smithsonian exhibit. 1846: Portrait of the Nation