1842

Events from the year 1842 in the United States.
==Incumbents==
===Federal Government===
* President: John Tyler (W-VA)
* Vice President: vacant
* Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (MD)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: John White (W-KY)
* Congress: 27th
==Events==
* February 1 – Willamette University is established in Salem, Oregon.
* March 1 – 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 1 – 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.
==Memoriam==
* January 4 – John W. Beschter, Jesuit priest and academic (aged 78; Paradise, PA, USA)
* March 4 – James Forten, African American abolitionist and businessman (aged 75; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* March 13 – Samuel Eells, founder of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity (aged 32; Cincinnati, OH, USA)
* July 23 – Timothy Swan, psalmist and hatter (aged 84; Northfield, MA, USA)
* September 10 – Letitia Christian Tyler, First Lady of the United States from 1841 to 1842 as wife of 10th President John Tyler (aged 51; Washington, DC, USA)
* October 2 – William Ellery Channing, Unitarian theologian and minister (aged 62; Old Bennington, VT, USA)
* November 3 – Robert Smith, 6th United States Secretary of State (aged 85; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* December 1 – Philip Spencer, founder of Chi Psi fraternity and midshipman aboard USS Somers (aged 19; Atlantic Ocean)
* December 31 – George Cassedy, U.S. Representative from New Jersey (aged 59; Hackensack, NJ, USA)
==External links==
* 1842 in the United States
Category:United States History: Volume 7