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1851 in the United States
Last updated
July 15, 2025
Contents
Incumbents
Federal government
Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January–March
April–June
July–September
October–December
Undated
Ongoing
Births
Deaths
See also
References
External links
←
1850
1849
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1851
in
the United States
→
1852
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1854
Decades:
1830s
1840s
1850s
1860s
1870s
See also:
History of the United States (1849–1865)
Timeline of the history of the United States (1820-1859)
List of years in the United States
1851 in the United States
1851 in U.S. states
States
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin
Washington, D.C.
List of years in the United States by state or territory
v
t
e
Events from the year
1851 in the United States
.
Incumbents
Federal government
President
:
Millard Fillmore
(
W
-
New York
)
Vice President
:
vacant
Chief Justice
:
Roger B. Taney
(
Maryland
)
Speaker of the House of Representatives
:
Howell Cobb
(
D
-
Georgia
) (until March 4)
Linn Boyd
(
D
-
Kentucky
) (starting December 1)
Congress
:
31st
(until March 4),
32nd
(starting March 4)
Governors
and
lieutenant governors
Governors
Governor of Alabama
:
Henry W. Collier
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Arkansas
:
John Selden Roane
(
Democratic
)
Governor of California
:
Peter Hardeman Burnett
(
Democratic
) (until January 9),
John McDougall
(
Democratic
) (starting January 9)
Governor of Connecticut
:
Thomas H. Seymour
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Delaware
:
William Tharp
(
Democratic
) (until January 21),
William H. H. Ross
(
Democratic
) (starting January 21)
Governor of Florida
:
Thomas Brown
(
Whig
)
Governor of Georgia
:
George W. Towns
(
Democratic
) (until November 5),
Howell Cobb
(
Democratic
) (starting November 5)
Governor of Illinois
:
Augustus C. French
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Indiana
:
Joseph A. Wright
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Iowa
:
Stephen P. Hempstead
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Kentucky
:
John L. Helm
(
Democratic
) (until September 2),
Lazarus W. Powell
(
Democratic
) (starting September 2)
Governor of Louisiana
:
Joseph Marshall Walker
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Maine
:
John Hubbard
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Maryland
:
Philip F. Thomas
(
Democratic
) (until January 6),
Enoch Louis Lowe
(
Democratic
) (starting January 6)
Governor of Massachusetts
:
George N. Briggs
(
Democratic
) (until January 11),
George S. Boutwell
(
Democratic
) (starting January 11)
Governor of Michigan
:
John S. Barry
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Mississippi
:
until February 3:
John A. Quitman
(
Democratic
)
February 3-November 4:
John I. Guion
(
Democratic
)
starting November 24:
James Whitfield
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Missouri
:
Austin Augustus King
(
Democratic
)
Governor of New Hampshire
:
Samuel Dinsmoor, Jr.
(
Democratic
)
Governor of New Jersey
:
Daniel Haines
(
Democratic
) (until January 21),
George F. Fort
(
Democratic
) (starting January 21)
Governor of New York
:
Washington Hunt
(
Whig
) (starting January 1)
Governor of North Carolina
:
Charles Manly
(
Whig
) (until January 1),
David Settle Reid
(
Democratic
) (starting January 1)
Governor of Ohio
:
Reuben Wood
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Pennsylvania
:
William F. Johnston
(
Whig
)
Governor of Rhode Island
:
Henry B. Anthony
(
Whig
) (until May 6),
Philip Allen
(
Democratic
) (starting May 6)
Governor of South Carolina
:
John Hugh Means
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Tennessee
:
William Trousdale
(
Democratic
) (until October 16),
William B. Campbell
(
Whig
) (starting October 16)
Governor of Texas
:
Peter Hansborough Bell
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Vermont
:
Charles K. Williams
(
Whig
)
Governor of Virginia
:
John B. Floyd
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Wisconsin
:
Nelson Dewey
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant governors
Lieutenant Governor of California
:
John McDougall
(
Democratic
) (until January 9),
David C. Broderick
(
Democratic
) (starting January 9)
Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
:
Charles H. Pond
(
Democratic
) (until month and day unknown),
Green Kendrick
(
Whig
) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
:
William McMurtry
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
:
James H. Lane
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
: vacant (until September 2),
John Burton Thompson
(political party unknown) (starting September 2)
Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
:
Jean Baptiste Plauche
(
Whig
)
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
:
John Reed, Jr.
(political party unknown) (until January 11),
Henry W. Cushman
(political party unknown) (starting January 11)
Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
:
William M. Fenton
(
Democratic
) (until month and day unknown), vacant (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri
:
Thomas Lawson Price
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant Governor of New York
:
Sanford E. Church
(
Democratic
) (starting January 1)
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island
: Thomas Whipple (political party unknown) (until May 6),
William Beach Lawrence
(political party unknown) (starting May 6)
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
:
Joshua John Ward
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant Governor of Texas
:
John Alexander Greer
(
Democratic
) (until August 4),
James Wilson Henderson
(
Democratic
) (starting August 4)
Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
:
Julius Converse
(
Whig
)
Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
:
Samuel W. Beall
(
Democratic
)
Events
January–March
January 1
–
HBCU, University of the District of Columbia is established, the 2nd HBCU in America.
January 15
–
Christian Female College, later
Columbia College
, receives its charter from the
Missouri General Assembly
.
January 23
–
The flip of a coin determines whether a new city in the
Oregon Territory
is named after
Boston, Massachusetts
, or
Portland, Maine
, with
Portland
winning.
January 28
–
The
Illinois General Assembly
grants a charter to create
Northwestern University
.
April–June
April 9
–
San Luis
, the oldest permanent settlement in the state of
Colorado
, is founded by settlers from
Taos, New Mexico
.
April 28
–
Santa Clara College
is chartered in
Santa Clara, California
.
May
–
August
–
The Great
Flood of 1851
causes extensive damage in the Midwest; the town of
Des Moines
is virtually destroyed.
May 6
–
John Gorrie
of
Apalachicola, Florida
is granted
Patent
No. 8080 for a machine to make ice
.
May 15 –
Alpha Delta Pi
sorority, the first secret society for women, is founded at
Wesleyan College
in
Macon, Georgia
.
May 29
–
Sojourner Truth
delivers the first version of her "
Ain't I a Woman?
" speech, at the Women's Rights Convention in
Akron, Ohio
.
July–September
July 10
–
The
University of the Pacific
is chartered as California Wesleyan College in
Santa Clara, California
.
August 1
–
Virginia
closes its Reform Constitutional Convention deciding that all white men have the right to vote.
August 3
–
The filibustering
Lopez Expedition
departs
New Orleans
for
Cuba
.
August 4
–
Henry W. Collier
is
reelected
the 14th
governor of Alabama
defeating James Shields.
August 22
–
The yacht
America
of the
New York Yacht Club
wins the first
America's Cup
race, off the coast of England.
September 15
–
Saint Joseph's University
is founded in
Philadelphia
,
Pennsylvania
.
September 18
–
The New York Times
is founded.
October–December
October 15
–
The City of
Winona, Minnesota
is founded.
November 13
–
The
Denny Party
lands at
Alki Point
, the first settlers of what later becomes
Seattle, Washington
.
November 14
–
Herman Melville
's novel
Moby-Dick
; or The Whale
is published in the U.S. by
Harper & Brothers
,
New York
, after being first published on October 18 in
London
by
Richard Bentley
, in 3 volumes as
The Whale
.
December 29
–
The first
YMCA
opens in
Boston, Massachusetts
.
Undated
Western Union
is founded as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company.
House sparrows
first released in the U.S., in
Brooklyn
.
Stephen Foster
's minstrel song "
Old Folks at Home
" is first published.
Hope College
is established in
Holland, Michigan
, as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants.
Ongoing
California Gold Rush
(1848–1855)
Births
January 17
–
A. B. Frost
, illustrator (died
1928
)
January 19
–
David Starr Jordan
, ichthyologist, educator, eugenicist and peace activist (died
1924
)
January 24
–
Marcus A. Smith
, U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1912 to 1921 (died
1924
)
February 2
–
Ella Giles Ruddy
, author and essayist (died
1917
)
February 9
–
Nora Trueblood Gause
, humanitarian (died
1955
)
February 13
–
Joseph B. Murdock
, U.S. Navy admiral and New Hampshire politician (died
1931
)
March 14
–
John Sebastian Little
, politician, congressman (died
1916
)
March 19
–
William Henry Stark
, business leader (died
1936
)
March 26
–
John Eisenmann
, Cleveland architect (died 1924)
April 13
Robert Abbe
, surgeon (died 1928)
Helen M. Winslow
, editor, author and publisher (died
1938
)
May 14
–
Anna Laurens Dawes
, author and suffragist (died 1938)
May 15
–
Lillian Resler Keister Harford
, church organizer and editor (died
1935
)
May 21
–
Moses E. Clapp
, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1901 to 1917 (died
1929
)
May 29
–
Fred Dubois
, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1891 to 1897 and from 1901 to 1907 (died
1930
)
June 24
–
Stuyvesant Fish
, entrepreneur (died
1923
)
August 12
–
Frank O. Briggs
, U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1907 to 1913 (died
1913
)
August 14
–
Doc Holliday
, born John H. Holliday, gunfighter, gambler and dentist (died
1887
)
September 7
–
David King Udall
, politician (died 1938)
September 13
–
Walter Reed
, army physician, bacteriologist (died
1902
)
[
1
]
September 21
–
Fanny Searls
(died
1939
), doctor and botanist.
[
2
]
October 5
–
Thomas Pollock Anshutz
, painter and educator (died
1912
)
October 13
–
Charles Sprague Pearce
, painter (died
1914
)
October 20
–
George Gandy
, entrepreneur (died
1946
)
November 16
Minnie Hauk
, operatic soprano (died
1929
)
William Elbridge Sewell
, naval officer and
Governor of Guam
(died
1904
)
December 9
–
Thomas H. Paynter
, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1907 to 1913 (died
1921
)
December 10
–
Melvil Dewey
, born Melville Dewey, librarian (died
1931
)
December 30
–
Asa Griggs Candler
, businessman and politician (died 1929)
Albery Allson Whitman
, African American poet (died
1901
)
Deaths
January 17
–
Thomas Lincoln
, farmer and father of
President of the United States
Abraham Lincoln
(born
1778
)
January 27
–
John James Audubon
, naturalist and illustrator (born 1785 in
Saint-Domingue
)
January 31
–
David Spangler Kaufman
, Congressman from Texas (born
1813
)
February 3
–
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield
, Congressman from Massachusetts, secretary of U.S. Navy (born
1772
)
March 11
–
George McDuffie
, 55th
Governor of South Carolina
from 1842 to 1846 (born
1790
)
May 3
–
Thomas Hickman Williams
, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1838 to 1839 (born
1801
)
May 22
–
Mordecai Manuel Noah
, Jewish playwright, diplomat, journalist and utopian (born
1785
)
June 21
–
Martin Chester Deming
, American businessman and politician (b.
1789
)
[
3
]
July 6
–
Thomas Davenport
, electrical engineer (born
1802
)
August 24
–
James McDowell
, politician (born
1795
)
September 10
–
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
, minister, educator, co-founder of the first permanent school for the deaf in North America (born
1787
)
September 11
–
Sylvester Graham
, nutritionist and inventor (born
1794
)
September 14
–
James Fenimore Cooper
, historical novelist (born
1789
)
September 24
–
Lucius Lyon
, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1843 to 1845 (born
1800
)
November
–
Willis Buell
, politician and portrait painter (born
1790
)
See also
Timeline of United States history (1820–1859)
References
↑
Miller, Dean (January 1, 2014).
Immunologists and Virologists
. Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC. p.
86.
ISBN
978-1-62712-562-8
.
↑
Tiehm, Arnold (1985). "Fanny Searls (1851-1939)".
Brittonia
.
37
(1): 41.
doi
:
10.1007/BF02809668
.
S2CID
87755152
.
↑
Wiley, Edgar J. (1917).
Catalogue of Officers and Students of Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, 1800-1915
. Middlebury:
Middlebury College
. pp.
22–
23.
External links
Media related to
1851 in the United States
at Wikimedia Commons
v
t
e
Years in the United States
18th century
1776
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21st century
2001
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By U.S. state/territory
States
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Washington D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Territories
American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
v
t
e
Timeline of United States history
Year
Before 1760
1760–1789
1790–1819
1820–1859
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1900–1929
1930–1949
1950–1969
1970–1989
1990–2009
2010–present
General
Civil rights movement
Civil marriage
Colonial America
Conservatism
Constitution drafting and ratification
Counterculture in the 1960s
COVID-19
2020
2021
Diplomatic
Japan–U.S. relations
Flag
Terrorist attacks
September 11
Statehood
Voting
Western Frontier
Military
Revolution
Timeline of the War of 1812
Prelude to Civil War
Spanish–American War
Philippine–American War
World War I
World War II
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War on Terror
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Groups
African Americans
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Colleges
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Mathematics
Religion
Science
Warfare
before 1900
1900–1949
1950–1999
2000–2010
2011–present
LGBTQ
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Industry
Discoveries
Inventions
before 1890
1890–1945
1991–present
Railroads
Space Race
Years in the United States
History of the United States
Outline
v
t
e
1851 in North America
Sovereign states
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
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United States
Dependencies
, colonies
and other territories
Bermuda
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