1812 in the United States

Incumbents

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

• President: James Madison
• Vice President: George Clinton , vacant
• Chief Justice: John Marshall
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Henry Clay
• Congress: 12th

  Governors

• Governor of Connecticut: Roger Griswold , John Cotton Smith
• Governor of Delaware: Joseph Haslet
• Governor of Georgia: David Brydie Mitchell
• Governor of Kentucky: Charles Scott , Isaac Shelby
• Governor of Louisiana: William C. C. Claiborne
• Governor of Maryland: Robert Bowie , Levin Winder
• Governor of Massachusetts: Elbridge Gerry , Caleb Strong
• Governor of New Hampshire: John Langdon , William Plumer
• Governor of New Jersey: Joseph Bloomfield , Aaron Ogden
• Governor of New York: Daniel D. Tompkins
• Governor of North Carolina: William Hawkins
• Governor of Ohio: Return J. Meigs, Jr.
• Governor of Pennsylvania: Simon Snyder
• Governor of Rhode Island: William Jones
• Governor of South Carolina: Henry Middleton , Joseph Alston
• Governor of Tennessee: Willie Blount
• Governor of Vermont: Jonas Galusha
• Governor of Virginia: Peyton Randolph , James Barbour

  Lieutenant Governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: John Cotton Smith
• Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Gabriel Slaughter , Richard Hickman
• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William Gray , William Phillips, Jr.
• Lieutenant Governor of New York: DeWitt Clinton
• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Simeon Martin
• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Samuel Farrow , Eldred Simkins
• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Paul Brigham

  Events

January–March

• January - The New England Journal of Medicine is first published in Boston by Dr John Collins Warren as the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Collateral Branches of Medical Science.
• January 10 -, the first steamship on the Mississippi River, arrives in its namesake city, completing its maiden voyage.
• February 2 - Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California.
• February 7 - The last of four major New Madrid earthquakes strike New Madrid, Missouri, with an estimated moment magnitude of over 8.
• March 26 - The Boston Gazette prints a political cartoon coining the term "Gerrymander" after former Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry's approval of legislation creating oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win re-election.

  April–June

• April 4 - U.S. President James Madison enacts a 90-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
• April 20 - George Clinton, Vice President of the United States, dies in office.
• April 30 - Louisiana is admitted as the 18th U.S. state.
• June 1 - War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the U.S. Congress to declare war on Great Britain.
• June 4 - Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the territory created by that name is renamed the Missouri Territory.
• June 18 - The War of 1812 begins between the United States and the British Empire.

  July–September

• July 12 - Americans invade Canada at Windsor, Upper Canada.
• August 5 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
• August 7 - 130 Filibusters of the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition cross from Louisiana into Spanish Texas, soon after they capture the town of Nacogdoches.
• August 15 - War of 1812: Battle of Fort Dearborn - Potawatomi warriors overrun the U.S. fort in Illinois Territory.
• August 16 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
• August 19 - War of 1812, USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere: defeats the British frigate off the coast of Nova Scotia. The British shot is said to have bounced off Constitutions sides, earning her the nickname "Old Ironsides".
• September 13; Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition: The Expedition, having since grown to 300 men, captures the town of Santísima Trinidad de Salcedo.

  October–December

• October - The capital of Pennsylvania is permanently moved from Lancaster to Harrisburg.
• October 9 - War of 1812: American naval forces under Lieutenant Jesse Duncan Elliott capture two British warships, and.
• October 13 - War of 1812 - Battle of Queenston Heights: As part of the Niagara campaign in Upper Canada, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock.
• November 5 - James Madison defeats DeWitt Clinton in the U.S. presidential election.
• December 7 - Missouri Territory is effective.
• December 29 - War of 1812: USS Constitution defeats the British frigate off the coast of Brazil.

  Undated

• The Bishop James Madison Society is founded at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
• The City Bank of New York is founded.
• The General Land Office becomes an independent agency of the U.S. government, responsible for land in the public domain.
• The Williamsport Academy for the Education of Youth is founded in Pennsylvania.
• The Old Oscar Pepper Distillery, the oldest Kentucky Bourbon distillery, is established along Glenn's Creek in Woodford County, Kentucky.
• Baptist Training Union now Wayland Baptist Theological Seminary is founded by Escaped and Free Slaves in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Princeton Theological Seminary is founded in New Jersey.

  Ongoing

• War of 1812
• Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition

  Births

• January 2 - Augustus C. Doge, United States Senator from Iowa from 1848 to 1855
• January 10 &ndas* February 11 - Alexander H. Stephens, the only Vice President of the Confederate States of America
• February 22 - John B. Weller, United States Senator from California from 1852 to 1857
• February 15 - Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Co.
• February 16 - Henry Wilson, 18th Vice President of the United States from 1873 to 1875
• March 11 - James Speed, U.S. Attorney General from 1864 to 1866 under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson
• March 12 - Isaac P. Christiancy, Chief Justice of Michigan Supreme Court and U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1875 to 1879
• March 13 - James E. English, United States Senator from Connecticut from 1875 to 1876
• March 22 - Stephen Pearl Andrews, anarchist and proponent of pantarchy
• April 2 - Susan May Williams, railroad heiress who married a nephew of Emperor Napoleon I
• April 16 - Sarah Harris Fayerweather, African-American whose 1832 admission to a Connecticut school resulted in the first integrated schoolhouse
• May 4 - John W. Stevenson, United States Senator from Kentucky from 1871 to 1877
• May 6 - Martin Delany, African-American abolitionist, journalist, and physician
• May 17 - Elias Nelson Conway, 5th Governor of Arkansas from 1852 to 1860
• May 30 - John Alexander McClernand, lawyer, politician, and Union General during the American Civil War
• July 27 - Thomas Lanier Clingman, North Carolina congressman, senator, and confederate general
• July 30 - Harrison Ludington, 13th Governor of Wisconsin from 1876 to 1878
• August 11 - Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, French-American Catholic missionary and the first Bishop of Denver
• August 18 - John Hugh Means, 64th Governor of South Carolina from 1850 to 1852
• August 22 - Joseph Mozier, American-born sculptor best known for his work in Italy.
• September 13 - John McMurtry, builder and architect
• September 18 - Herschel Vespasian Johnson, United States Senator from Georgia from 1863 to 1865
• September 29 - George N. Stearns, founder of E. C. Stearns & Company
• October 1 - Stephen P. Hempstead, 2nd Governor of Iowa from 1850 to 1854.
• October 6 - Lazarus W. Powell, United States Senator from Kentucky from 1859 to 1865.
• October 9 - Almon W. Babbitt, Mormon pioneer and first secretary/treasurer of Utah Territory
• October 20 - Austin Flint, co-founder of Buffalo Medical College and president of the American Medical Association
• October 21 - David H. Armstrong, Canadian-born United States Senator from Missouri from 1877 to 1879
• October 22 - James "Grizzly" Adams, mountain man and bear trainer
• November 1 - John Bernard Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Boston
• November 4 - Richard M. Bishop, 34th Governor of Ohio from 1878 to 1880
• November 28 - George Ticknor Curtis, author, lawyer and historian
• December 18 - Jesse D. Bright, United States Senator from Indiana from 1845 to 1862

  Undated

• Stephen Mallory, United States Senator from Florida from 1851 to 1861
• William K. Sebastian, United States Senator from Arkansas from 1848 to 1861

  Deaths

• April 20 - George Clinton, fourth Vice President of the United States from 1805 to 1812
• May 12 - Martha Ballard, diarist and midwife
• June 17 - Jean La Lime, Victim of "the first murder in Chicago"; killed by John Kinzie
• December 20 - Sacagawea, Shoshone interpreter and guide on the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• December 24 - George Beck, artist and poet
• December 26 - Joel Barlow, poet