1841

Events from the year **1841 in the United States**. It was the first calendar year to have three different presidents, which would only occur again till 40 years.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President:
	+ until March 4: Martin Van Buren (D-NY)
	+ March 4–April 4: William Henry Harrison (W-OH)
	+ starting April 4: John Tyler (W-VA)
* Vice President:
	+ until March 4: Richard Mentor Johnson (D-KY)
	+ March 4–April 4: John Tyler (W-VA)
	+ starting April 4: *vacant*
* Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (MD)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (W-VA) (until March 4), John White (W-KY) (starting May 31)
* Congress: 26th (until March 4), 27th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Arthur P. Bagby (Democratic) (until November 22), Benjamin Fitzpatrick (Democratic) (starting November 22)
* Governor of Arkansas: Archibald Yell (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: William W. Ellsworth (Whig)
* Governor of Delaware: Cornelius P. Comegys (Whig) (until January 19), William B. Cooper (Whig) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Georgia: Charles J. McDonald (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Thomas Carlin (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: Samuel Bigger (Whig)
* Governor of Kentucky: Robert P. Letcher (Whig)
* Governor of Louisiana: André B. Roman (Whig)
* Governor of Maine:
	+ until January 12: John Fairfield (Democratic)
	+ January 12-January 13: Richard H. Vose (Whig)
	+ starting January 13: Edward Kent (Whig)
* Governor of Maryland: William Grason (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Marcus Morton (Democratic) (until January 7), John Davis (Whig) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Michigan: William Woodbridge (Whig) (until February 23), James Wright Gordon (Whig) (starting February 23)
* Governor of Mississippi: Alexander G. McNutt (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Thomas Reynolds (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John Page (Democratic)
* Governor of New Jersey: William Pennington (Whig)
* Governor of New York: William H. Seward (Whig)
* Governor of North Carolina: Edward Bishop Dudley (Whig) (until January 1), John Motley Morehead (Whig) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Ohio: Thomas Corwin (Whig)
* 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)
* Governor of Tennessee: James K. Polk (Democratic) (until October 15), James C. Jones (Whig) (starting October 15)
* Governor of Vermont: Silas H. Jennison (Whig) (until October 15), Charles Paine (Whig) (starting October 15)
* Governor of Virginia:
	+ until March 20: Thomas Walker Gilmer (Whig)
	+ March 20-March 31: John M. Patton (Whig)
	+ starting March 31: John Rutherfoord (Whig)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Charles Hawley (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Stinson Anderson (Democratic)
* 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: James Wright Gordon (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Meredith Miles Marmaduke (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Luther Bradish (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Byron Diman (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina:
	+ until April 7: Barnabas Kelet Henagan (Democratic)
	+ April 7-December 9: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William K. Clowney (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: David M. Camp (Whig) (until October 15), Waitstill R. Ranney (Whig) (starting October 15)

## Events

* January 30 – A fire destroys 300 of the 500 housing units in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Spanish Empire.
* February 18 – First ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins.
* February 24 – Richland County is chartered by the Illinois General Assembly.
* March 4 – William Henry Harrison is sworn in as the 9th President of the United States, and John Tyler is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
* March 9 – *Amistad*: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the case that the Africans who seized control of the ship had been taken into slavery illegally.
* March 11 – First ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate ends.
* March 27 – The first steam self-propelled fire engine in the U.S. is completed by Paul Rapsey Hodge for use in New York City.
* April 4 – President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and at one month, the president with the shortest term served. He is succeeded by Vice President John Tyler, who becomes the 10th President of the United States.
* April 6 – President John Tyler is sworn in.
* April 20 – Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is published in *Graham's Magazine* (Philadelphia) (of which he became editor in February). The story will be recognized as the first significant work of detective fiction.
* June 21 – Fordham University is opened in The Bronx by the Society of Jesus as St. John's College.
* July 28 – Mary Rogers, the "Beautiful Cigar Girl", is found murdered in New York City.
* August 16 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
* September 17 – John C. Colt murders Samuel Adams in an argument over a business debt in New York City.
* November 1 – The city of Dallas in Texas is founded by John Neely Bryan.

## Memoriam

* February 25 – Philip P. Barbour, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1836 to 1841 (aged 57; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 4 – William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States from March to April 1841 (aged 68; Washington, DC, USA)
* September 25 – John Chandler, politician (aged 79; Augusta, ME, USA)
* October 6 – George Childress, lawyer and politician (aged 37; Galveston, TX Republic, USA)
* October 21 – John Forsyth, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1818 to 1819 and 1829 to 1834 (aged 60; Washington, DC, USA)