1842 in the United States

Decades:	1820s ; 1830s ; 1840s ; 1850s ; 1860s ;
See also:	History of the United States (1789–1849) ; Timeline of the history of the United States (1820-1859) ; List of years in the United States ;

Last updated November 19, 2025

Incumbents

Federal government

President: John Tyler (I-Virginia)
Vice President: vacant
Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
Speaker of the House of Representatives: John White (W-Kentucky)
Congress: 27th

State governments

Governors and lieutenant governors
Governors Governor of Alabama: Benjamin Fitzpatrick (Democratic) Governor of Arkansas: Archibald Yell (Democratic) Governor of Connecticut: William W. Ellsworth (Whig) (until May 4), Chauncey Fitch Cleveland (Democratic) (starting May 4) Governor of Delaware: William B. Cooper (Whig) Governor of Georgia: Charles J. McDonald (Democratic) Governor of Illinois: Thomas Carlin (Democratic) (until December 8), Thomas Ford (Democratic) (starting December 8) Governor of Indiana: Samuel Bigger (Whig) Governor of Kentucky: Robert P. Letcher (Whig) Governor of Louisiana: André B. Roman (Whig) Governor of Maine: Edward Kent (Whig) (until January 5), John Fairfield (Democratic) (starting January 5) Governor of Maryland: William Grason (Democratic) (until January 3), Francis Thomas (Democratic) (starting January 3) Governor of Massachusetts: John Davis (Whig) Governor of Michigan: James Wright Gordon (Whig) (until January 3), John S. Barry (Democratic) (starting January 3) Governor of Mississippi: Alexander G. McNutt (Democratic) (until January 10), Tilghman Tucker (Democratic) (starting January 10) Governor of Missouri: Thomas Reynolds (Democratic) Governor of New Hampshire: John Page (Democratic) (until June 2), Henry Hubbard (Democratic) (starting June 2) Governor of New Jersey: William Pennington (Whig) Governor of New York: William H. Seward (Whig) (until end of December 31) Governor of North Carolina: John Motley Morehead (Whig) Governor of Ohio: Thomas Corwin (Whig) (until December 14), Wilson Shannon (Democratic) (starting December 14) Governor of Pennsylvania: David R. Porter (Democratic) Governor of Rhode Island: Samuel Ward King (Rhode Island) Governor of South Carolina: John Peter Richardson II (Democratic) (until December 8), James Henry Hammond (Democratic) (starting December 8) Governor of Tennessee: James C. Jones (Whig) Governor of Vermont: Charles Paine (Whig) Governor of Virginia: John Rutherfoord (Whig) (until March 31), John Munford Gregory (Whig) (starting March 31) Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Charles Hawley (Whig) (until May 4), William S. Holabird (Democratic) (starting May 4) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Stinson Anderson (Democratic) (until December 8), John Moore (Democratic) (starting December 8) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Samuel Hall (Whig) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Manlius Valerius Thomson (political party unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: George Hull (political party unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Origen D. Richardson (Whig) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Meredith Miles Marmaduke (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Luther Bradish (Whig) (until end of December 31) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Byron Diman (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Nathaniel Bullock (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William K. Clowney (Democratic) (until December 8), Isaac Donnom Witherspoon (Democratic) (starting December 8) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Waitstill R. Ranney (Whig)

Events

February 1 – Willamette University is established in Salem, Oregon.
March – Commonwealth v. Hunt : the Massachusetts Supreme Court makes strikes and unions legal in the United States.
March 5 – Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio, and then head back to the Rio Grande. This is the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution.
March 9 – First documented discovery of gold in California, by Francisco Lopez at Placerita Canyon in Rancho San Francisco, sparking a small-scale gold rush, mainly of Mexicans from Sonora.
May 19 – Dorr Rebellion: Militiamen supporting Thomas Wilson Dorr attack the arsenal in Providence, Rhode Island but are repulsed.
August 1 – A parade in Philadelphia celebrating the end of slavery in the Caribbean is attacked by a mob, leading to the 3-day Lombard Street riot.
August 4 – The Armed Occupation Act is signed, providing for the armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled part of the Peninsula of East Florida.
August 9 – The Webster–Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States–Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
September – Ohio Wesleyan University is established in Delaware, Ohio.
November 26 – The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana is established by Father Edward Sorin of the Roman Catholic Congregation of Holy Cross.
December 20 – The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina is established.

Undated

The Sons of Temperance is founded in New York City.
Founding of:
- Cumberland University (in Lebanon, Tennessee)
- Hollins University (in Roanoke, Virginia by Charles Cocke)
- Villanova University (in Villanova, Pennsylvania by the Augustinian order)
- Indiana University Bloomington
- Indiana University Maurer School of Law
- The Merchants Fund organization in Philadelphia^[1]
The Scroll and Key secret society of Yale University is established.

Ongoing

Second Seminole War (1835–1842)

Births

January 11 – William James, psychologist and philosopher (died 1910)
January 21 – Henry Livermore Abbott, Union Army major and brevet brigadier general (died 1864)
February 3 – Sidney Lanier, musician, poet and writer (died 1881)
February 28 – Stephen Wallace Dorsey, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1873 to 1879 (died 1916)
March 30 – John Fiske, philosopher (died 1901)
June 16 – David Herold, accomplice of John Wilkes Booth (died 1865)
June 24 – Ambrose Bierce, writer and satirist (died c. 1914 in Mexican Revolution)
July 9 – Mary E. Smith Hayward, businesswoman and suffragist (died 1938)
July 15 – James Hard, last verified living Union combat veteran of the American Civil War (died 1953)
July 30 – Thomas J. O'Brien, politician and diplomat (died 1933)
August 31 – Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, African American civil rights campaigner and publisher (died 1924)
September 13 – John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1907 to 1920 (died 1920)
October 3 – Frederick Rodgers, admiral (died 1917)
October 14 – Joe Start, baseball first baseman (died 1927)
October 28 – Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, orator (died 1932)
December 15 – George Keller, architect (died 1935)
Unknown – George Truesdell, businessman (died 1921)

Deaths

January 4 – John W. Beschter, Jesuit priest and academic (born 1763 in Luxembourg)
March 4 – James Forten, African American abolitionist and businessman (born 1766)
March 13 – Samuel Eells, founder of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity (born 1810)
July 23 – Timothy Swan, psalmist and hatter (born 1758)
September 10 – Letitia Tyler, First Lady of the United States from 1841 to 1842 as wife of the 10th U.S. president, John Tyler (born 1790)
October 2 – William Ellery Channing, Unitarian theologian and minister (born 1780)
November 3 – Robert Smith, 6th United States Secretary of State (born 1757)
December 1 – Philip Spencer, founder of Chi Psi fraternity and midshipman aboard USS Somers (born 1823)
December 31 – George Cassedy, U.S. Representative from New Jersey (born 1783)

References

↑ Smith, Carol Wojtowicz (1996). Benefits of Inestimable Value: History of the Mercantile Beneficial Association. Mercantile Beneficial Association. pp. 8–10.

External links

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[1] Smith, Carol Wojtowicz (1996). Benefits of Inestimable Value: History of the Mercantile Beneficial Association. Mercantile Beneficial Association. pp. 8–10.

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