1791

Events from the year **1791 in the United States**.

* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick Muhlenberg (Pro-Admin.-PA) (until March 4), Jonathan Trumbull Jr. (Pro-Admin.-CT) (starting October 24)
* Congress: 1st (until March 4), 2nd (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Connecticut: Samuel Huntington (Federalist)
* Governor of Delaware: Joshua Clayton (Federalist)
* Governor of Georgia: Edward Telfair (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: John E. Howard (Federalist) (until November 14), George Plater (no political party) (starting November 14)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Hancock (no political party)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: William Paterson (Federalist)
* Governor of New York: George Clinton (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Alexander Martin (Anti-Federalist)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Thomas Mifflin (no political party)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Arthur Fenner (Country) (starting May 29)
* Governor of South Carolina: Charles Pinckney (Federalist)
* Governor of Vermont: Thomas Chittenden (no political party) (starting March 4)
* Governor of Virginia: Beverley Randolph (no political party) (until December 1), Henry Lee III (Federalist) (starting December 1)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Oliver Wolcott (Federalist)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Samuel Adams (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Pierre Van Cortlandt (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Samuel J. Potter (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Alexander Gillon (Federalist) (until February 15), Isaac Holmes (Federalist) (starting February 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Peter Olcott (political party unknown) (starting March 4)

## Events

* March 4 – Vermont admitted becomes the 14th U.S. state.
* March 5 – Thomas Chittenden is inaugurated as the first governor of Vermont.
* March 9 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant arrives in Georgetown and begins designing the federal capital city.
* March 30 – District of Columbia is established.
* August 26 – John Fitch is granted a patent for the steamboat in the United States.
* September 5 – An ordinance is written barring the game of baseball within 80 yards of the Meeting House in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the first known reference to the game of baseball in North America.
* September 9 – Washington, D.C. is officially named after the incumbent President.
* September 25 – Mission Santa Cruz is founded by Basque Franciscan Father Fermín Lasuén, becoming the 12th mission in the California mission chain.
* October 9 – Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad is founded by Father Fermin Lasuen, becoming the 13th mission in the California mission chain.
* October 25 – The State of the Union address.
* December 15 – Ratification by the states of the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution is completed, creating the United States Bill of Rights. Two additional amendments remain pending, and one of these is finally ratified in 1992, becoming the 27th Amendment.

## Memoriam

* April 24 – Benjamin Harrison V, signer of Declaration of Independence, father of President William Henry Harrison, great-grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison (aged 65; Charles City County, VA, USA)
* May 9 – Francis Hopkinson, signer of Declaration of Independence (aged 53; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* July 22 – John Roth, Prussian clergyman (aged 65; York, PA, USA)