1820 in the United States

::John W. Taylor (DR-New York) (starting November 15) - Congress: [16th](16th-united-states-congress) #### State governments ::data[format=table] | Governors and lieutenant governors | |---| | | :: ## Demographics *Main article: [1820 United States census](1820-united-states-census)* ## Events - February 6 – 86 free African American colonists sail from New York City to Freetown, Sierra Leone. - March 3 & 6 – Slavery in the United States: The Missouri Compromise becomes law. - March 15 – Maine is admitted as the 23rd U.S. state (*see* History of Maine). - 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](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. ### Undated - Indiana University is founded as the Indiana State Seminary and renamed the Indiana College in 1846, to later be renamed Indiana University. - Charlottesville Woolen Mills built along the Rivanna River ### Ongoing - Era of Good Feelings (1817–1825) ## Births - February 1 – George Hendric Houghton, Episcopal clergyman (died [1897](1897-in-the-united-states)) - February 4 – David C. Broderick, U.S. Senator from California from 1857 to 1859 (died [1859](1859-in-the-united-states)) - February 6 - Henry Howard Brownell, poet and historian (died [1872](1872-in-the-united-states)) - Thomas C. Durant, American railroad financier (died [1885](1885-in-the-united-states)) - February 8 – William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War general (died [1891](1891-in-the-united-states)) - February 15 – Susan B. Anthony, suffragist (died [1906](1906-in-the-united-states)) - March 1 – George Davis, Confederate States Senator from North Carolina, 4th and last Confederate States Attorney General (died [1896](1896-in-the-united-states)) - March 3 – Henry D. Cogswell, temperance campaigner and philanthropist (died [1900](1900-in-the-united-states)) - March 17 – William F. Raynolds, military engineer (died [1894](1894-in-the-united-states)) - March 24 - Fanny Crosby, mission worker and hymnist (died [1915](1915-in-the-united-states)) - George G. Wright, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1871 to 1877 (died [1896](1896-in-the-united-states)) - April 8 – John Taylor Johnston, businessman and patron of the arts (died [1893](1893-in-the-united-states)) - April 17 – Alexander Cartwright, baseball pioneer (died 1892 in Hawaii) - April 26 – Alice Cary, poet and short story writer, sister to Phoebe Cary (died [1871](1871-in-the-united-states)) - May 23 – Lorenzo Sawyer, 9th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California (died 1891) - May 30 – Edward Doane, Protestant missionary (died 1890) - June 2 – Willard Saulsbury, Sr., U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1859 to 1871 (died [1892](1892-in-the-united-states)) - July 5 – Luke Pryor, U.S. Senator from Alabama in 1880 (died 1900) - July 23 – Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (died [1889](1889-in-the-united-states)) - July 31 – John W. Garrett, banker, railroad president and philanthropist (died [1884](1884-in-the-united-states)) - August 26 – James Harlan, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1865 to 1866 (died [1899](1899-in-the-united-states)) - August 30 – George Frederick Root, songwriter (died [1895](1895-in-the-united-states)) - September 2 – Lucretia Peabody Hale, journalist and author (died [1900](1900-in-the-united-states)) - September 3 – George Hearst, U.S. Senator from California from 1887 to 1891 (died 1891) - September 20 – John F. Reynolds, U.S. Army general (killed [1863](1863-in-the-united-states)) - October 5 – David Wilber, politician (died [1890](1890-in-the-united-states)) - October 28 – John Henry Hopkins, Jr., Episcopal clergyman and hymnist (died 1891) - November 13 – Eugene Casserly, U.S. Senator from California from 1869 to 1873 (died [1883](1883-in-the-united-states)) - December 12 – James L. Pugh, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1880 to 1897 (died [1907](1907-in-the-united-states)) - December 19 – Mary Livermore, born Mary Ashton Rice, journalist, abolitionist and women's rights advocate (died [1905](1905-in-the-united-states)) - December 21 – William H. Osborn, railroad president and philanthropist (died [1894](1894-in-the-united-states)) - December 29 – John S. Barbour, Jr., U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1889 to 1892 (died 1892) - Eagle Woman, Lakota leader (died [1888](1888-in-the-united-states)) ## Deaths - February 5 – William Ellery, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (born [1729](1729)) - March 11 – Benjamin West, American-born painter of historical scenes (born [1738](1738)) - March 22 – Stephen Decatur, U.S. Navy commander (born [1779](1779-in-the-united-states)) - April 14 – Levi Lincoln Sr., statesman from Massachusetts (born [1749](1749)) - April 20 – James Morris III, Continental Army officer from Connecticut (born [1752](1752)) - July 10 – William Wyatt Bibb, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1813 to 1816, 1st Governor of Alabama (born [1781](1781-in-the-united-states)) - August 12 – Manuel Lisa, fur trader (born [1772](1772)) - September 3 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect (born [1764 in Great Britain](1764-in-great-britain)) - September 21 – Joseph Rodman Drake, poet (born [1795](1795-in-the-united-states); consumption) - September 26 – Daniel Boone, pioneer (born [1734](1734)) - September 29 – Barthelemy Lafon, Creole architect, engineer, city planner, surveyor and smuggler (born [1769 in France](1769-in-france)) - October 4 – Thomas Hope, architect (born [1757 in Great Britain](1757-in-great-britain)) - November 8 – Lavinia Stoddard, poet and educationalist (born [1787](1787-in-the-united-states)) ## References ## References 1. William Tecumseh Sherman. (1891). ["Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman: By Himself. To which are Added Chapters Completing His Life and Including His Funeral Obsequies by W. Fletcher Johnson and Carefully Reviewed by Major-General O. O. Howard"](https://books.google.com/books?id=c9w4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA438). *D. Appleton*. 2. Kuiper, Kathleen. (1995). "Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature". *Merriam-Webster*. ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1820_in_the_United_States) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1820_in_the_United_States?action=history). ::