1845

Events from the year **1845 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: John Tyler (W-VA) (until March 4), James K. Polk (D-TN) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: *vacant* (until March 4), George M. Dallas (D-PA) (starting March 4)
* Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (MD)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Winston Jones (D-VA) (until March 4), John Wesley Davis (D-IN) (starting December 1)
* Congress: 28th (until March 4), 29th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Benjamin Fitzpatrick (Democratic) (until December 10), Joshua L. Martin (Independent) (starting December 10)
* Governor of Arkansas: Thomas Stevenson Drew (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: Roger Sherman Baldwin (Whig)
* Governor of Delaware: William B. Cooper (Whig) (until January 21), Thomas Stockton (Whig) (starting January 21)
* Governor of Florida: John Branch (Democratic) (until June 25), William Dunn Moseley (Democratic) (starting June 25)
* Governor of Georgia: George W. Crawford (Whig)
* Governor of Illinois: Thomas Ford (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: James Whitcomb (Democratic)
* Governor of Kentucky: William Owsley (Whig)
* Governor of Louisiana: Alexandre Mouton (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Hugh J. Anderson (Democratic)
* Governor of Maryland: Francis Thomas (Democratic) (until January 6), Thomas Pratt (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Massachusetts: George N. Briggs (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: John S. Barry (Democratic)
* Governor of Mississippi: Albert G. Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: John C. Edwards (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John Hardy Steele (Democratic)
* Governor of New Jersey: Daniel Haines (Democratic) (until January 21), Charles C. Stratton (Whig) (starting January 21)
* Governor of New York: Silas Wright (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: John Motley Morehead (Whig) (until January 1), William Alexander Graham (Whig) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Ohio: Mordecai Bartley (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: David R. Porter (Democratic) (until January 21), Francis R. Shunk (Democratic) (starting January 21)
* Governor of Rhode Island: James Fenner (Law and Order) (until May 6), Charles Jackson (Know Nothing) (starting May 6)
* Governor of South Carolina: William Aiken Jr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Tennessee: James C. Jones (Whig) (until October 14), Aaron V. Brown (Democratic) (starting October 14)
* Governor of Texas: Anson Jones (political party unknown) (starting December 29)
* Governor of Vermont: William Slade (Whig)
* Governor of Virginia: James McDowell (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Reuben Booth (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John Moore (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Jesse D. Bright (Democratic) (until March 4), vacant (starting March 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Archibald Dixon (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: John Reed Jr. (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Origen D. Richardson (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: James Young (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Addison Gardiner (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Byron Diman (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: J. F. Ervin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Horace Eaton (Whig)

## Events

### January - March

* January 1 – The Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn is completed.
* January 29 – "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time (*New York Evening Mirror*).
* February 1 – Anson Jones, President of the Republic of Texas, signs the charter officially creating Baylor University, which becomes the oldest university in the State of Texas operating under its original name.
* February 28 – The United States Congress approves the annexation of Texas.
* March 1 – President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
* March 3
	+ Florida admitted becomes the 27th U.S. state.
	+ Postal reform act of Congress standardizes nationwide mail rates.
* March 4
	+ The United States Congress passes legislation overriding a presidential veto for the first time.
	+ James K. Polk is sworn in as the 11th President of the United States, and George M. Dallas is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.

### April - June

* April 10 – The Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroys much of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
* April 21 – Peoria, Illinois is incorporated a city.
* May 1 – Frederick Douglass's *Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave*, written by himself, is published by the Boston Anti-Slavery Society.
* May 23 -The New York City Police Department is formed.

### July - September

* July 4 – Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a 2-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden).
* July 19 – Great New York City Fire of 1845 breaks out in Lower Manhattan.
* July 31 – In the *United States Magazine and Democratic Review* editor John L. O'Sullivan declares that foreign powers are trying to prevent American annexation of Texas in order to impede "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions", the first use of the phrase "Manifest Destiny".
* August 28 – The journal *Scientific American* begins publication.

### October - December

* October 10 – In Annapolis, Maryland, the Best School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipmen students and 7 professors.
* October 13 – A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the United States Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.
* October 21 – The *New York Herald* becomes the first newspaper to mention the game of baseball.
* October 22 – The *New York Morning News* becomes the first newspaper to include a box-score of a baseball game.
* December 2 – Manifest Destiny: U.S. President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the Monroe Doctrine should be strictly enforced and that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
* December 5 – The Templars of Honor and Temperance is founded in the United States.
* December 6 – Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity is founded.
* December 27
	+ Anesthesia is used for childbirth for the first time (Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia).
	+ American journalist John L. O'Sullivan claims in a newspaper article (in connection with the annexation of the Oregon Country) that the United States has a "Manifest Destiny" to expand its borders, the second time he uses the term; it will have a huge influence on the American imperialistic movement of the 19th century.
* December 29 – Texas admitted becomes the 28th U.S. state.

## Memoriam

* March 15 – Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 (aged 78; Nashville, TN, USA)
* March 16 – Isaac C. Bates, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1841 to 1845 (aged 66; Washington, DC, USA)
* March 18 – Johnny Appleseed, nurseryman and pioneer (aged 70; Fort Wayne, IN, USA)
* April 10 – Thomas Sewall, anatomist (aged 58; Washington, DC, USA)
* September 10 – Joseph Story, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1811 to 1845 (aged 65; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* November 11 – Maria Gowen Brooks, poet (aged 51; Matanzas, Cuba)