1857 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Franklin Pierce , James Buchanan
• Vice President: vacant, John C. Breckinridge
• Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nathaniel P. Banks , James Lawrence Orr
• Congress: 34th, 35th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

• January 9 - The 7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake affects Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX.
• February 3 - The National Deaf Mute College 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.
• 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.
• March 12 - Elizabeth Blackwell opens a hospital, the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children.
• March 23 - Elisha Otis' first elevator is installed.
• March 27 - Waterbury Clock Company is legally incorporated in Waterbury, Connecticut, predecessor to the modern-day Timex Group USA and the iconic Timex brand.
• 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 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.

  Undated

• Speculation in U.S. railway shares causes financial crisis in Europe.
• The seat of government of Iowa is moved from Iowa City to modern-day Des Moines.
• The Mormons abandon the Las Vegas Valley of Nevada.
• Maryland politician William Daniel proposes the Local Option for prohibition.

  Ongoing

• Bleeding Kansas
• Third Seminole War
• Utah War

  Births

• January 11 - William Gentles, U.S. Army private, known for killing Crazy Horse
• February 1 - Lucy Wheelock, early childhood education pioneer within the kindergarten movement
• February 7 - Benjamin Eli Smith, editor of reference books
• February 13 - Almanzo Wilder, writer
• March 6 - George Dayton, businessman, founder of Target Corporation
• March 7 - Genevieve Stebbins, performer of the Delsarte system of expression
• March 20 - Benjamin F. Shively, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1909 to 1916
• March 21
• * Charles Ellis Johnson, photographer
• * Hunter Liggett, general
• April 22 - Paul Dresser, songwriter
• May 17 - Mary Devens, pictorial photographer
• May 19 - John Jacob Abel, pharmacologist
• June 8 - Lawrence Marston, actor, playwright and film director
• June 10 - Caroline Louise Dudley, stage actress
• June 20 - Mary Gage Day, physician
• July 1 - Martha Hughes Cannon, politician
• July 30
• * Lucy Bacon, California Impressionist painter
• * Thorstein Veblen, economist
• August 8 - Henry Fairfield Osborn, geologist, paleontologist and eugenist
• September 13 - Milton S. Hershey, chocolate manufacturer
• September 14 - Julia Platt, embryologist and politician
• September 15 - William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States from 1909 t0 1913 and tenth Chief Justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930
• October 7 - George P. McLean, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1911 to 1923
• October 24 - Ned Williamson, baseball player
• November 5 - Ida Tarbell, investigative journalist
• December 1 - Samuel M. Ralston, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1923 to 1925
• December 2
• * J. Frank Allee, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1903 to 1907
• * Charles E. Rushmore, businessman, attorney, namesake of Mount Rushmore
• December 4 - Julia Evelyn Ditto Young, poet and novelist

  Deaths

• February 16 - Elisha Kane, Arctic explorer
• May 1 - Stephen Adams, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1852 to 1857
• May 26 - James Bell, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1855 to 1857
• June 19 - Alexander Twilight, educator and minister, first African-American known to have earned a bachelor's degree from an American college or university
• July 4 - William L. Marcy, 21st Secretary of State from 1853 to 1857
• September 15 - John Henderson, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1839 to 1845
• October 7 - Louis McLane, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1827 to 1829
• October 10 - Thomas Crawford, sculptor
• October 20 - John Diamond, minstrel dancer
• October 27 - John Blennerhassett Martin, painter, engraver and lithographer
• December 24 - Robert C. Nicholas, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1836 to 1841
• Jasper Grosvenor, financier
• Aspasia Cruvellier Mirault, planter and landowner