1857

Events from the year **1857 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Franklin Pierce (D-NH) (until March 4), James Buchanan (D-PA) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: *vacant* (until March 4), John C. Breckinridge (D-KY) (starting March 4)
* Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (MD)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nathaniel P. Banks (A-MA) (until March 4), James Lawrence Orr (D-SC) (starting December 7)
* Congress: 34th (until March 4), 35th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: John A. Winston (Democratic) (until December 1), Andrew B. Moore (Democratic) (starting December 1)
* Governor of Arkansas: Elias Nelson Conway (Democratic)
* Governor of California: J. Neely Johnson (Know Nothing)
* Governor of Connecticut: William T. Minor (Know Nothing) (until May 6), Alexander H. Holley (Republican) (starting May 6)
* Governor of Delaware: Peter F. Causey (Know Nothing)
* Governor of Florida: James E. Broome (Democratic) (until October 5), Madison S. Perry (Democratic) (starting October 5)
* Governor of Georgia: Herschel V. Johnson (Democratic) (until November 6), Joseph E. Brown (Democratic) (starting November 6)
* Governor of Illinois: Joel Aldrich Matteson (Democratic) (until January 12), William Henry Bissell (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Indiana: Joseph A. Wright (Democratic) (until January 12), Ashbel P. Willard (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Iowa: James W. Grimes (Whig)
* Governor of Kentucky: Charles S. Morehead (Know Nothing)
* Governor of Louisiana: Robert C. Wickliffe (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine:
	+ until January 8: Samuel Wells (Democratic)
	+ January 8-February 25: Hannibal Hamlin (Republican)
	+ starting February 25: Joseph H. Williams (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Thomas W. Ligon (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Henry Gardner (Know Nothing)
* Governor of Michigan: Kinsley S. Bingham (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: John J. McRae (Democratic) (until November 16), William McWillie (Democratic) (starting November 16)
* Governor of Missouri:
	+ until January 5: Sterling Price (Democratic)
	+ January 5-February 27: Trusten Polk (Democratic)
	+ February 27-October 22: Hancock Lee Jackson (Democratic)
	+ starting October 22: Robert Marcellus Stewart (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Ralph Metcalf (Know Nothing) (until June 4), William Haile (Republican) (starting June 4)
* Governor of New Jersey: Rodman M. Price (Democratic) (until January 20), William A. Newell (Republican) (starting January 20)
* Governor of New York: John Alsop King (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Thomas Bragg (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Salmon P. Chase (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: James Pollock (Whig)
* Governor of Rhode Island: William W. Hoppin (Whig) (until May 26), Elisha Dyer (Republican) (starting May 26)
* Governor of South Carolina: Robert Francis Withers Allston (Democratic) (starting December 9)
* Governor of Tennessee: Andrew Johnson (Democratic) (until November 3), Isham G. Harris (Democratic) (starting November 3)
* Governor of Texas: Elisha M. Pease (Unionist) (until December 21), Hardin R. Runnels (Democratic) (starting December 21)
* Governor of Vermont: Ryland Fletcher (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Henry A. Wise (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Coles Bashford (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Robert M. Anderson (Know Nothing)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Albert Day (Free Soil) (until May 6), Alfred A. Burnham (Republican) (starting May 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Gustavus Koerner (Democratic) (until January 12), John Wood (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Ashbel P. Willard (Democratic) (until January 12), Abram A. Hammond (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: William F. Griffin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Henry W. Benchley (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: George Coe (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri:
	+ until January 5: vacant
	+ January 5-February 27: Hancock Lee Jackson (Democratic)
	+ February 27-October 22: vacant
	+ starting October 22: Hancock Lee Jackson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Henry R. Selden (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Thomas H. Ford (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Nicholas Brown III (political party unknown) (until May 26), Thomas G. Turner (political party unknown) (starting May 26)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Gabriel Cannon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Hardin Richard Runnels (Democratic) (until December 21), Francis R. Lubbock (Democratic) (starting December 21)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: James M. Slade (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Elisha W. McComas (political party unknown) (until December 7), William Lowther Jackson (Democratic) (starting December 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Arthur MacArthur Sr. (Democratic)

## Events

* January 9 – The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake affects Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (*Violent*).
* February 3 – The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet University) is established in Washington, D.C., becoming the first school for the advanced education of the deaf.
* March 4 – James Buchanan is sworn in as the 15th President of the United States, and John C. Breckinridge is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
* March 6 – *Dred Scott v. Sanford*: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Blacks are not citizens and slaves can not sue for freedom, driving the country further towards the American Civil War (the ruling is not overturned until the 14th Amendment in 1868).
* March 12 – Elizabeth Blackwell opens a hospital, the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children.
* May 25 – Flying Eagle cent released for circulation.
* July 18 – The Utah Expedition leaves Fort Leavenworth, effectively beginning the Utah War.
* August 24 – Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company suspends payments, leading to the Panic of 1857.
* September 11 – Mountain Meadows massacre in Utah.
* September 12 – The SS *Central America* sinks off the coast of North Carolina, killing 425 people.
* October 1 – Eviction of last residents of Seneca Village to make way for New York City's Central Park is completed.
* October 13 – Panic of 1857: New York banks close and do not reopen until December 12.

## Memoriam

* January 1 – Aspasia Cruvellier Mirault, planter and landowner (aged 57; GA, USA)
* January 25 – Andrew Stevenson, 11th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (aged 73; Albemarle County, VA, USA)
* January 27 – Preston Brooks, politician (aged 37; Washington, DC, USA)
* February 16 – Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic explorer (aged 37; Havana, Cuba)
* May 1 – Stephen Adams, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1852 to 1857 (aged 49; Memphis, TN, USA)
* May 8 – Jasper Grosvenor, financier (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 26 – James Bell, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1855 to 1857 (aged 52; Laconia, NH, USA)
* June 19 – Alexander Twilight, educator and minister, first African-American known to have earned a bachelor's degree from an American college or university (Middlebury College, 1823) (aged 61; Brownington, VT, USA)
* July 4 – William L. Marcy, 21st Secretary of State from 1853 to 1857 (aged 70; Ballston Spa, NY, USA)
* September 15 – John Henderson, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1839 to 1845 (aged 60; Pass Christian, MS, USA)
* October 7 – Louis McLane, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1827 to 1829 (aged 71; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* October 10 – Thomas Crawford, sculptor (aged 43; London, England, UK)
* October 20 – John Diamond, minstrel dancer (aged 34; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* October 27 – John Blennerhassett Martin, painter, engraver and lithographer (aged 60; Richmond, VA, USA)
* November 18 – James G. Birney, abolitionist, politician, and attorney (aged 65; Perth Amboy, NJ, USA)
* December 24 – Robert C. Nicholas, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1836 to 1841 (aged 69; Terreboone Parish, LA, USA)