1811 in the United States
Encyclopedia
Incumbents
- PresidentPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
: James MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
(Democratic-Republican) - Vice PresidentVice President of the United StatesThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
: George ClintonGeorge Clinton (vice president)George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...
(Democratic-Republican) - Chief JusticeChief Justice of the United StatesThe Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
: John MarshallJohn MarshallJohn Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches... - Speaker of the House of RepresentativesSpeaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
: Joseph Bradley VarnumJoseph Bradley VarnumJoseph Bradley Varnum was a U.S. politician of the Democratic-Republican Party from Massachusetts.-Biography:...
(Dem.-Rep.-Massachusetts) (until March 4), Henry ClayHenry ClayHenry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
(Dem.-Rep.-Kentucky) (starting November 4) - CongressUnited States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
: 11th11th United States Congress- House of Representatives :-Leadership:- Senate :* President: George Clinton * President pro tempore:** John Milledge ** Andrew Gregg , elected June 26, 1809** John Gaillard , elected February 28, 1810...
(until March 4), 12th12th United States Congress- House of Representatives :During this congress, one new House seat was added for the new state of Louisiana.- Senate :*President: George Clinton *President pro tempore: William H. Crawford -House of Representatives:*Speaker: Henry Clay...
(starting March 4)
Events
- January 8 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles DeslandesCharles DeslandesCharles Deslondes was one of the slave leaders of the 1811 German Coast Uprising, a slave revolt that began on January 8, 1811 in the Territory of Orleans. He led more than 200 rebels against the plantations along the Mississippi River toward New Orleans. White planters formed militias and ended up...
in St. Charles and St. James, LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. - January 22 – The Casas RevoltJuan Bautista de las CasasJuan Bautista de las Casas led a revolt against the governor of Spanish Texas in 1811 and served as head of the province for 39 days until he was deposed.-Revolt:...
begins in San Antonio, TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. - March 22 – The Commissioners' Plan of 1811Commissioners' Plan of 1811The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design plan for the streets of Manhattan, which put in place the grid plan that has defined Manhattan to this day....
for Manhattan is presented. - October 11 – Inventor John StevensJohn Stevens (inventor)Col. John Stevens, III was an American lawyer, engineer and an inventor.-Life and career:Born the son of John Stevens , a prominent New Jersey politician who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and Elizabeth Alexander, daughter of New York lawyer and statesman James Alexander. His...
' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steamSteamSteam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...
-powered ferryFerryA ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
(service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New JerseyHoboken, New JerseyHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
). - November 6 – Battle of TippecanoeBattle of TippecanoeThe Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, between United States forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American warriors associated with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa were leaders of a confederacy of...
: American troops led by William Henry HarrisonWilliam Henry HarrisonWilliam Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...
defeat the Native AmericanNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
chief TecumsehTecumsehTecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
. - December 16 – The New Madrid earthquakeNew Madrid earthquakeThe 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes were an intense intraplate earthquake series beginning with an initial pair of very large earthquakes on December 16, 1811. These earthquakes remain the most powerful earthquakes ever to hit the eastern United States in recorded history...
in Mississippi Valley near New Madrid reverses the course of the river for a while. Other earthquakes along the fault occur on January 23, 1812 and February 7, 1812.
Further reading
- Franklin D. Scott. President Madison's Foreign Policy--The Views of An American Merchant Abroad in 1811. The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Dec., 1944), pp. 294-298
- D. Fedotoff White. A Russian Sketches Philadelphia, 1811-1813. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Jan., 1951), pp. 3-24
- Willard E. Wight, Robert J. Miller. The Journals of the Reverend Robert J. Miller, Lutheran Missionary in Virginia, 1811 and 1813. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1953), pp. 141-166
- Willard E. Wight. Two Lutheran Missionary Journals, 1811, 1813. The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Jan., 1954), pp. 6-14
- Florence G. Watts. Lieutenant Charles Larrabee's Account of the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 57, No. 3 (September 1961), pp. 225-247
- Donald R. Hickey. The Federalists and the Coming of the War, 1811-1812. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 75, No. 1 (March 1979), pp. 70-88
- Raymond W. Champagne Jr., Thomas J. Rueter. Jonathan Roberts and the "War Hawk" Congress of 1811-1812. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 104, No. 4 (Oct., 1980), pp. 434-449
- Raymond H. Hammes. The Cantine Mounds of Southern Illinois: The First Published Report of Their Existence and an 1811 Eyewitness Account of the Monks Who Lived There. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984), Vol. 74, No. 2 (Summer, 1981), pp. 145-156
- Thomas Marshall Thompson. National Newspaper and Legislative Reactions to Louisiana's Deslondes Slave Revolt of 1811. Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Winter, 1992), pp. 5-29
- Peter J. Kastor. Toward "the Maritime War Only": The Question of Naval Mobilization, 1811- 1812. The Journal of Military History, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Jul., 1997), pp. 455-480