1839

Events from the year **1839 in the United States**.

* Speaker of the House of Representatives: James K. Polk (D-TN) (until March 4), Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (W-VA) (starting December 16)
* Congress: 25th (until March 4), 26th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Arthur P. Bagby (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: James Sevier Conway (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: William W. Ellsworth (Whig)
* Governor of Delaware: Cornelius P. Comegys (Whig)
* Governor of Georgia: George R. Gilmer (Whig) (until November 6), Charles J. McDonald (Democratic) (starting November 6)
* Governor of Illinois: Thomas Carlin (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: David Wallace (Whig)
* Governor of Kentucky: James Clark (Whig) (until August 27), Charles A. Wickliffe (Whig) (starting August 27)
* Governor of Louisiana: Edward Douglass White Sr. (Whig) (until February 4), André B. Roman (Whig) (starting February 4)
* Governor of Maine: Edward Kent (Whig) (until January 2), John Fairfield (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Maryland: Thomas W. Veazey (Whig) (until January 7), William Grason (Democratic) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Edward Everett (Whig)
* Governor of Michigan: Stevens T. Mason (Democratic)
* Governor of Mississippi: Alexander G. McNutt (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Lilburn W. Boggs (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Isaac Hill (Democratic) (until June 5), John Page (Democratic) (starting June 5)
* Governor of New Jersey: William Pennington (Whig)
* Governor of New York: William H. Seward (Whig) (starting January 1)
* Governor of North Carolina: Edward Bishop Dudley (Whig)
* Governor of Ohio: Wilson Shannon (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Joseph Ritner (Anti-Masonic) (until January 15), David R. Porter (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Rhode Island: William Sprague III (Democratic) (until May 2), Samuel Ward King (Rhode Island) (starting May 2)
* Governor of South Carolina: Patrick Noble (Democratic)
* Governor of Tennessee: Newton Cannon (Whig) (until October 14), James K. Polk (Democratic) (starting October 14)
* Governor of Vermont: Silas H. Jennison (Whig)
* Governor of Virginia: David Campbell (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Charles Hawley (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Stinson Anderson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: David Hillis (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Charles A. Wickliffe (Democratic-Republican) (until August 27), vacant (starting August 27)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: George Hull (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Franklin Cannon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Luther Bradish (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Joseph Childs (political party unknown) (until May 2), vacant (starting May 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Barnabas Kelet Henagan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: David M. Camp (Whig)

## Events

* February 11 – The University of Missouri is established in Columbia, Missouri, becoming the first public university west of the Mississippi River.
* March 5 – Longwood University is founded in Farmville, Virginia.
* March 7 – Baltimore City College, the third public high school in the United States, is established in Baltimore, Maryland.
* March 23 – The *Boston Morning Post* first records the use of "OK".
* August 8 – The Beta Theta Pi fraternity is founded in Oxford, Ohio.
* September 9 – In the Great Fire of Mobile, Alabama hundreds of buildings are burned.
* October 1 – Robert Cornelius takes the first photographic self portrait in the United States.
* November 11 – The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia.
* November 27 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded.

## Memoriam

* January 14 – John Wesley Jarvis, portrait painter (aged 58; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 26 – Sybil Ludington, heroine of the American Revolutionary War (aged 77; Unadilla, NY, USA)
* April 1 – Benjamin Pierce, 11th Governor of New Hampshire from 1827 to 1828 and from 1829 to 1830, father of 14th President of the United States Franklin Pierce (aged 81; Hillsborough, NH, USA)
* April 2 – Hezekiah Niles, magazine publisher (aged 61; Wilmington, DE, USA)
* April 5 – John Tipton, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1832 to 1839 (aged 52; Logansport, IN, USA)
* April 22 – Samuel Smith, U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1822 to 1833 (aged 86; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* May 11 – Thomas Cooper, political philosopher (aged 79; Columbia, SC, USA)
* July 16 – The Bowl (*Di'wali*), Cherokee chief, shot (aged 83; Neches River, TX Republic, USA)
* August 22 – Benjamin Lundy, abolitionist (aged 50; Lowell, IL, USA)
* September 28 – William Dunlap, actor-manager, dramatist and painter (aged 73; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 4 – John Leamy, merchant (aged 82; Philadelphia, PA, USA)