1809

Events from the year **1809 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Thomas Jefferson (DR-VA) (until March 4), James Madison (DR-VA) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: George Clinton (DR-NY)
* Chief Justice: John Marshall (VA)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph Bradley Varnum (DR-MA)
* Congress: 10th (until March 4), 11th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Connecticut: Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (Federalist)
* Governor of Delaware: George Truitt (Federalist)
* Governor of Georgia: Jared Irwin (Democratic-Republican) (until November 10), David Brydie Mitchell (Democratic-Republican) (starting November 10)
* Governor of Kentucky: Charles Scott (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Robert Wright (Democratic-Republican) (until June 9), Edward Lloyd (Democratic-Republican) (starting June 9)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Levi Lincoln Sr. (Democratic-Republican) (until May 1), Christopher Gore (Federalist) (starting May 1)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John Langdon (Democratic-Republican) (until June 8), Jeremiah Smith (Federalist) (starting June 8)
* Governor of New Jersey: Joseph Bloomfield (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of New York: Daniel D. Tompkins (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: David Stone (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Samuel Huntington (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Simon Snyder (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: James Fenner (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: John Drayton (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: John Sevier (Democratic-Republican) (until September 20), Willie Blount (Democratic-Republican) (starting September 20)
* Governor of Vermont: Isaac Tichenor (Federalist) (until October 14), Jonas Galusha (Democratic-Republican) (starting October 14)
* Governor of Virginia: John Tyler Sr. (Democratic-Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: John Treadwell (Federalist) (until August 7), Roger Griswold (Federalist) (starting August 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Gabriel Slaughter (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Levi Lincoln Sr. (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), David Cobb (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: John Broome (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Simeon Martin (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Frederick Nance (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Paul Brigham (Democratic-Republican)

## Events

* February 3 – Illinois Territory is created.
* February 11 – Robert Fulton patents the steamboat.
* February 17 – Miami University (Ohio) is established (by Act of February 2) on the township of land required to be set aside for it under the conditions of the Miami Purchase in 1794.
* February 20 – A decision by the Supreme Court of the United States states that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state.
* March 1
	+ Non-Intercourse Act passed to replace the Embargo Act of 1807.
	+ Illinois Territory is effective.
* March 4 – James Madison is sworn in as the 4th President of the United States, and George Clinton is sworn in for a second term as Vice President of the United States.
* May 5 – Mary Dixon Kies becomes the first recipient of a patent granted to a woman by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She invented a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
* August 1 – Following refitting, the USS *Constitution* ("Old Ironsides") is recommissioned as the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron.
* October 11 – Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand. It is considered an alleged suicide though some evidence suggests murder.
* December 30 – Wearing masks at balls is forbidden in Boston, Massachusetts.

## Memoriam

* January 21 – Josiah Hornblower, statesman and delegate for New Jersey in the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786 (aged 79; Newark, NJ, USA)
* March 6 – Thomas Heyward Jr., signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and of the Articles of Confederation (aged 62; Old House, SC, USA)
* June 8 – Thomas Paine, political activist, philosopher, Founding Father of the United States and author of Common Sense (aged 72; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 11 – Meriwether Lewis, leader of the Corps of Discovery (aged 35; Hickman County, TN, USA)
* November 4 – Gabriel Manigault, architect (aged 51; Philadelphia, PA, USA)