1820

Events from the year **1820 in the United States**.

* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Henry Clay (DR-KY) (until October 28), John W. Taylor (DR-NY) (starting November 15)
* Congress: 16th

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: William Wyatt Bibb (Democratic-Republican) (until July 10), Thomas Bibb (Democratic-Republican) (starting July 10)
* Governor of Connecticut: Oliver Wolcott Jr. (Toleration)
* Governor of Delaware:
	+ until January 18: John Clark (Federalist)
	+ January 18: Henry Molleston (Federalist)
	+ starting January 18: Jacob Stout (Federalist)
* Governor of Georgia: John Clark (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Shadrach Bond (Independent)
* Governor of Indiana: Jonathan Jennings (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Gabriel Slaughter (Democratic-Republican) (until August 29), John Adair (Democratic-Republican) (starting August 29)
* Governor of Louisiana: Jacques Villeré (Democratic-Republican) (until December 18), Thomas Bolling Robertson (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 18)
* Governor of Maine: William King (Democratic-Republican) (starting March 15)
* Governor of Maryland: Samuel Sprigg (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Brooks (Federalist)
* Governor of Mississippi: David Holmes (Democratic-Republican) (until January 5), George Poindexter (Democratic-Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Samuel Bell (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Isaac Halstead Williamson (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of New York: DeWitt Clinton (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: John Branch (Democratic-Republican) (until December 7), Jesse Franklin (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 7)
* Governor of Ohio: Ethan Allen Brown (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: William Findlay (Democratic-Republican) (until December 19), Joseph Hiester (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 19)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Nehemiah R. Knight (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: John Geddes (Democratic-Republican) (until December 7), Thomas Bennett Jr. (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 7)
* Governor of Tennessee: Joseph McMinn (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Jonas Galusha (Democratic-Republican) (until October 15), Richard Skinner (Democratic-Republican) (starting October 15)
* Governor of Virginia: Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. (Democratic-Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Jonathan Ingersoll (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Pierre Menard (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Ratliff Boon (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant (until August 29), William T. Barry (Democratic-Republican) (starting August 29)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: William Phillips, Jr. (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Duncan Stewart (no political party) (until month and day unknown), James Patton (no political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: John Tayler (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Edward Wilcox (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William Youngblood (Democratic-Republican) (until month and day unknown), William Pinckney (Democratic-Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Paul Brigham (Democratic-Republican) (until October 23), William Cahoon (Democratic-Republican) (starting October 23)

## Events

* February 6 – 86 free African American colonists sail from New York City to Freetown, Sierra Leone.
* March 3 – Slavery in the United States: The Missouri Compromise becomes law.
* March 6 – Slavery in the United States: President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise.
* March 15 – Maine admitted becomes the 23rd U.S. state.
* April 24 – The Land Act of 1820 reduces the price of land in the Northwest Territory and Missouri Territory encouraging Americans to settle in the west.
* August 7 – The 1820 United States Census is conducted, eventually determining a population of 11,176,475.
* December 3 – U.S. presidential election, 1820: James Monroe is re-elected, virtually unopposed.

## Memoriam

* February 5 – William Ellery, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (aged 92; Newport, RI, USA)
* March 11 – Benjamin West, American-born painter of historical scenes (aged 81; London, England, UK)
* March 22 – Stephen Decatur, U.S. Navy commander (aged 41; Washington, DC, USA)
* April 14 – Levi Lincoln Sr., statesman from Massachusetts (aged 70; Worcester, MA, USA)
* April 20 – James Morris III, Continental Army officer from Connecticut (aged 68; Goshen, CT, USA)
* July 10 – William Wyatt Bibb, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1813 to 1816, 1st Governor of Alabama (aged 38; Elmore County, AL, USA)
* August 12 – Manuel Lisa, fur trader (aged 47; St. Louis, MO Territory, USA)
* September 3 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect (aged 56; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* September 21 – Joseph Rodman Drake, poet (aged 25; Bronx County, NY, USA)
* September 26 – Daniel Boone, pioneer (aged 85; Defiance, MO Territory, USA)
* September 29 – Barthelemy Lafon, Creole architect, engineer, city planner, surveyor and smuggler (aged 51; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* October 4 – Thomas Hope, architect (aged 62; Kingsport, TN, USA)
* November 8 – Lavinia Stoddard, poet and educationalist (aged 33; Blakely, AL, USA)
* November 29 – William Richardson Davie, 10th Governor of North Carolina from 1798 to 1799 (aged 64; Chester County, SC, USA)