1846 in the United States

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← 1845 1844 1843 1846 in the United States → 1847 1848 1849
Decades:	1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s
See also:	History of the United States (1789–1849) Timeline of United States history (1820–1859) List of years in the United States

Events from the year 1846 in the United States. In this year, the United States declares war on Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.

• President: James K. Polk (D-Tennessee)
• Vice President: George M. Dallas (D-Pennsylvania)
• Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John Wesley Davis (D-Indiana)
• Congress: 29th

• January 4 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
• January 30 – The City of Milwaukee is incorporated in Wisconsin, merging Juneautown, Kilbourntown and Walker's Point following the Milwaukee Bridge War of 1845. Solomon Juneau is elected first mayor.
• February 11 – Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Great Salt Lake, led by Brigham Young.
• February 18 – In Austin, Texas, the newly formed Texas state government is officially installed.
• February 27 – The Liberty Bell is cracked while being rung for George Washington's birthday.
• April 26 – Mexican–American War: Open conflict begins over border disputes of Texas' boundaries.
• May 8 – Mexican–American War – Battle of Palo Alto: Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.
• May 14 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
• May 23 – The Associated Press is founded in New York City.

• June 14 – Mexican–American War: The California Republic declares independence from Mexico.
• June 15 – Bear Flag Revolt: American settlers in Sonoma, California start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
• June 16 – The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
• June 20 – The first officially recorded baseball game using modern rules developed by Alexander Cartwright is played in Hoboken, New Jersey.
• July 8 – Battle of Monterey: Acting on instructions from Washington, D.C., Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena thus beginning the United States annexation of California.
• August 11 – Establishment of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
• September 21–24 – Battle of Monterrey: General Pedro de Ampudia and the Mexican Army of the North are defeated by General Zachary Taylor's Army of Occupation, comprising U. S. Regulars, U. S. Volunteers and Texas Rangers. The battle ends after three days of fighting with 120 U. S. soldiers killed, 360 wounded, and 43 missing. The Mexicans suffer 367 killed and wounded.
• November 30 – The Donner Party becomes snowbound.
• December 29 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state (see History of Iowa).

• The portion of the District of Columbia that was ceded by Virginia in 1789 is re-ceded to it.
• Elias Howe patents the sewing machine.
• Stevens Linen Works business established in Dudley, Massachusetts.
• Grinnell College, then called Iou University, is founded in Grinnell, Iowa Territory.

• Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

• January 5 – Alfred Thomas Agate, artist, painter, and miniaturist (born 1812)
• March 24 – William Lee D. Ewing, U.S. Senator from Illinois in 1834 (born 1795)
• May 10 – Jane Irwin Harrison, Acting First Lady of the United States (born 1804)
• May 13 – Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton, poet (born 1759)
• August 11 – John Caspar Wild, landscape painter and lithographer (born 1804 in Switzerland)
• August 15 – Samuel Humphreys, naval architect (born 1778)
• September 4 – James Alexander, Jr., U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1837 to 1839 (born 1789)
• September 15 – Jacques Dupré, Louisiana State Representative, State Senator and Governor (born 1773)
• September 16 – Samuel A. Foote, 28th Governor of Connecticut from 1834 to 1835, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1827 to 1833 (born 1780)
• October 3 – Benjamin Waterhouse, physician (born 1754)
• November 13 – William Findlay, 4th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1817 to 1820, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1821 to 1827 (born 1768)
• December 30 – Alexander Barrow, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1841 to 1846 (born 1801)

• Timeline of United States history (1820–1859)

• DeVoto, Bernard Augustine (1960). The year of decision, 1846. With an introductory essay by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 3963759.

• Media related to 1846 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
• Smithsonian exhibit. 1846: Portrait of the Nation