1817

Events from the year **1817 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: James Madison (DR-VA) (until March 4), James Monroe (DR-VA) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: *vacant* (until March 4), Daniel D. Tompkins (DR-NY) (starting March 4)
* Chief Justice: John Marshall (VA)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Henry Clay (DR-KY)
* Congress: 14th (until March 4), 15th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Connecticut: John Cotton Smith (Federalist) (until May 8), Oliver Wolcott Jr. (Toleration) (starting May 8)
* Governor of Delaware: Daniel Rodney (Federalist) (until January 21), John Clark (Federalist) (starting January 21)
* Governor of Georgia: David Brydie Mitchell (Democratic-Republican) (until March 4), William Rabun (Democratic-Republican) (starting March 4)
* Governor of Indiana: Jonathan Jennings (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Gabriel Slaughter (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Louisiana: Jacques Villeré (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Charles Carnan Ridgely (Federalist)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Brooks (Federalist)
* Governor of Mississippi: David Holmes (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 10)
* Governor of New Hampshire: William Plumer (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Mahlon Dickerson (Democratic-Republican) (until February 1), Isaac Halstead Williamson (Democratic-Republican) (starting February 1)
* Governor of New York:
	+ until February 24: Daniel D. Tompkins (Democratic-Republican)
	+ February 24-June 30: John Tayler (Democratic-Republican)
	+ starting July 1: DeWitt Clinton (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: William Miller (Democratic-Republican) (until December 6), John Branch (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 6)
* Governor of Ohio: Thomas Worthington (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Simon Snyder (Democratic-Republican) (until December 16), William Findlay (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 16)
* Governor of Rhode Island: William Jones (Federalist) (until May 7), Nehemiah R. Knight (Democratic-Republican) (starting May 1)
* Governor of South Carolina: Andrew Pickens (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Joseph McMinn (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Jonas Galusha (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: James Patton Preston (Democratic-Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Jonathan Ingersoll (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Christopher Harrison (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William Phillips, Jr. (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Duncan Stewart (no political party) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York:
	+ until month and day unknown: John Tayler (Democratic-Republican)
	+ month and day unknown: Philetus Swift (Democratic-Republican)
	+ starting month and day unknown: John Tayler (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Jeremiah Thurston (political party unknown) (until May 7), Edward Wilcox (political party unknown) (starting May 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: John A. Cuthbert (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Paul Brigham (Democratic-Republican)

## Events

### January - March

* February 7 – Baltimore becomes the first U.S. city with public street gas lighting.
* March 3
	+ President James Madison vetoes John C. Calhoun's Bonus Bill.
	+ U.S. Congress passes law to split the Mississippi Territory, after Mississippi drafts a constitution, creating the Alabama Territory effective in August.
* March 4 – James Monroe is sworn in as the 5th President of the United States, and Daniel D. Tompkins is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.

### April - June

* April 15 – The first American school for the deaf opens in Hartford, Connecticut.
* April 29 – The Rush–Bagot Treaty, between the U.S. and the United Kingdom, is signed.
* May – The General Convention of the Episcopal Church founds the General Theological Seminary while meeting in New York City.
* June 18 – Henry Perry, a former member of the Republican Army of the North, is defeated near Coleto Creek after leading a force to capture Presidio La Bahía.

### July - September

* July 4 – At Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
* July 12 – Benjamin Russell, in his *Columbian Centinel* newspaper, coins the phrase "Era of Good Feelings", which is later used to describe American politics from 1817 to 1825.
* August 15 – By act of the U.S. Congress (March 3), the Alabama Territory is created by splitting the Mississippi Territory in half, on the day the Mississippi constitution is drafted, four months before Mississippi becomes a U.S. state.

### October - December

* November 20 – The first Seminole War begins in Florida.
* December 10 – Mississippi admitted becomes the 20th U.S. state, formerly the Mississippi Territory. Then Alabama Territory is effective.
* December 30 – Hawaii plants coffee for the first time.

## Memoriam

* January 16 – Alexander J. Dallas, statesman and financier (aged 57; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* April 6 – Caleb Bingham, textbook author (aged 60; Boston, MA, USA)
* May 12 – William Goforth, physician and paleontologist (aged 50; Cincinnati, OH, USA)
* June 24 – Thomas McKean, lawyer, President of the Continental Congress, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence (aged 83; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* August 7 – Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French-born industrialist (aged 77; Greenville, DE, USA)
* September 18 – William Charles Wells, physician (aged 60; London, England, UK)
* September 23 – Solomon Metcalf Allen, professor of languages, killed in fall from college roof (aged 28; Middlebury, VT, USA)
* October 19 – John Milton, Secretary of State of Georgia from 1777 to 1799 (aged 77, Richmond, GA, USA)