1844 in the United States

1844 in the United States
Years:	1841 1842 1843 – 1844 – 1845 1846 1847
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26 stars (1837–45)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1789–1849)

Events from the year 1844 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: John Tyler (W-Virginia)
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Winston Jones (D-Virginia)
• Congress: 28th

Events

February 28: USS Princeton disaster

• January 15 – The University of Notre Dame receives its charter from Indiana.
• February 28 – The "Peacemaker", the largest naval gun in the world, explodes during a demonstration aboard the USS Princeton, killing seven, including Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer.
• March 12 – The Columbus and Xenia Railroad, the first railroad that is planned to be built in Ohio, is chartered.
• May 24 – The first electrical telegram is sent by Samuel F. B. Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, Maryland, saying "What hath God wrought".
• June 22 – Influential North American fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon is founded at Yale University.
• June 27 – Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum, are killed in Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois.
• July 3 – The United States signs The Sino-American Treaty of Wanghia with the Chinese Government (the first diplomatic agreement between China and the United States in history).
• August 8 – During a meeting held in Nauvoo, the Quorum of the Twelve, headed by Brigham Young, is chosen as the leading body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• October 22 – The Great Disappointment: Millerites (including future members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church) find that the Second Coming of Jesus does not occur as predicted by preacher William Miller.
• December 4 – U.S. presidential election, 1844: James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay .

Undated

• The first ever international cricket match is played in New York City between Canada and the United States.

Births

• April 13 – John Surratt, suspected involvement in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, son of Mary Surratt (died 1916)
• April 22 – Lewis Powell, conspirator with John Wilkes Booth, attempted assassin of William H. Seward (died 1865)
• August 1 – Levi Ankeny, United States Senator from Washington from 1903 till 1909. (died 1921)
• June 3 – Garret Hobart, 24th Vice President of the United States from 1897 till 1899. (died 1899)

Deaths

• January 13 – Alexander Porter, United States Senator from Louisiana from 1833 till 1837. (born 1785)
• April 21 – Henry Baldwin, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court from 1830 till 1844. (born 1780)
• June 27 – Joseph Smith Jr., religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement (born 1805)
• August 15 – William S. Fulton, United States Senator from Arkansas 1836 till 1844. (born 1795)

External links

• Media related to 1844 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons