List of heads of state 1861

Mexico
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President Miguel Miramón (1859-March 1861)
  2. President Benito Juárez (March 1861–1864, 1867–1872 )

United States of America
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President James Buchanan (1857– March 4, 1861)
  2. President Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861–1865)

Central America

Costa Rica
- Head of State and Government: (provisional) José María Montealegre Fernández (1859–1863)

Dominican Republic
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President Pedro Santana ( 1844–1848, 1853–1856 , 1859– May 1, 1861)
  2. President Antonio Pimentel (May 1, 1861–1865)

El Salvador
- Head of State and Government: President Gerardo Barrios (1859–1863)

Guatemala
- Head of State and Government: President Rafael Carrera y Turcios ( 1844–1848 , 1851–1865)

Haiti
- Head of State and Government: President Fabre Geffrard (1859–1867)

Honduras
- Head of State and Government: President José Santos Guardiola Bustillo (1856–1862)

Nicaragua
- Head of State and Government: President Tomás Martínez (1857–1867)

South America

Argentina
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President Santiago Derqui (1860– November 5, 1861)
  2. (officiating) Juan Esteban Pedernera (November 5 - December 12, 1861)

Bolivia
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President José María Linares (1857–14 January 1861)
  2. Government junta José María Achá , Ruperto Fernández , Manuel Antonio Sánchez (14 January – 4 May 1861)
  3. President José Maria de Achá (May 4, 1861–1864)

Brazil
- Ruler: Emperor Peter II (1831–1889)

Chile
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President Manuel Montt (1851– September 18, 1861)
  2. President José Joaquín Pérez (September 18, 1861–1871)

Ecuador
- Head of State and Government: President Gabriel García Moreno (1859–1865)

Granada Confederation (from July 18, Colombia )
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President Mariano Ospina Rodríguez (1857-18 July 1861)
  2. President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera (July 18, 1861–1863)

Paraguay
- Head of State and Government: President Carlos Antonio López ( 1841–1844 , 1844–1862)

Peru (controversial)
- Head of State and Government: President Ramón Castilla (1855–1862)

Uruguay
- Head of State and Government: President Bernardo Prudencio Berro (1860–1864)

Venezuela
- Head of State and Government:
  1. President Manuel Felipe de Tovar (1859–1861)
  2. President Pedro Gual Escandon (1861-10 September 1861)
  3. President José Antonio Páez (September 10, 1861–1863)

Asia

Abu Dhabi
- Emir: Zayed I (1855-1909)

Ajman
- Sheikh: Humaid I. (1848–1872)

Afghanistan
- Emir: Dost Mohammed Khan (1842–1863)

Bahrain
- Emir: Muhammad ibn Khalifah Al Khalifah (1842–1868)

China ( Qing Dynasty )
- Emperor: Xianfeng (1850–1861)
- Emperor: Tongzhi (1861–1874)

British India
- Viceroy : Charles John Canning (1856–1862)

Japan
- Emperor : Kōmei (1846–1867)
- Shogun : ( Tokugawa ): Tokugawa Iemochi (1858–1866)

Korea
- King: Cheoljong (1849–1864)

Kuwait
- Emir: Sabbah II. (1859–1866)

Oman
- Sultan: Thuwaini ibn Said (1856–1866)

Persia ( Qajar dynasty)
- Shah : Naser od-Din Shah (1848–1896)

Thailand
- King: Mongkut , King of Thailand (1851–1868)

Australia and Oceania

Hawaii
- King : Kamehameha IV (1855–1863)

Europe

Abkhazia
- Prince: Mikheil Sharvashidze (1822–1864)

Andorra
- Co-princes :
  - Emperor of France : Napoleon III. (1848-1870)
  - Bishop of Urgell : Josep Caixal i Estradé (1851–1879)

Belgium
- Head of State: King Leopold I (1831–1865)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Charles Rogier ( 1847–1852 , 1857–1868)

Denmark
- Head of State: King : Christian VIII. Friedrich VII. (1848–1863)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Carl Christian Hall ( 1857–1859 , 1860–1863)

German Confederation
- Austria
  - Emperor : Franz Joseph I (1848–1916)
    - Prime Minister: Johann Bernhard Graf von Rechberg and Rothenlöwen (1859–1861)
    - Prime Minister: Archduke Rainer of Austria (1861–1865)
- Prussia
  - King : Friedrich Wilhelm IV. (1840–1861)
  - King: Wilhelm I (1861–1888)
    - Prime Minister : Karl Anton Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1858–1862)
- Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg
  - Duke : Alexander Karl (1834–1863)
- Principality of Anhalt-Dessau
  - Duke : Leopold IV (1817–1871)
- to bathe
  - Grand Duke : Friedrich I (1856–1907)
- Bavaria
  - King : Maximilian II (1848–1864)
- Braunschweig
  - Duke : Wilhelm (1831-1884)
- Bremen
  - Mayor : Arnold Duckwitz (1857–1863) (1866–1869)
  - Mayor: Carl Friedrich Gottfried Mohr (1857–1861) (1864–1867) (1870–1873)
- Frankfurt
  - Senior Mayor : Friedrich Carl Hector Wilhelm Freiherr von Günderrode called von Kellner (1841) (1847) (1851) (1861)
- Hamburg
  - Mayor : Friedrich Sieveking (1861–1862) (1865) (1868)
- Hanover
  - King : George V (1851–1866)
- Hessen-Darmstadt
  - Grand Duke : Ludwig III. (1848–1877)
- Hessen-Homburg
  - Landgrave : Ferdinand (1848–1866)
- Hessen-Kassel
  - Elector: Friedrich Wilhelm (1847–1866)
- Holstein and Lauenburg (personal union with Denmark 1815–1864)
  - Duke: Friedrich II. (1848–1863)
- Liechtenstein
  - Prince : Johann II. (1858–1929)
- lip
  - Prince : Leopold III. (1851–1873)
- Lübeck
  - Mayor : Heinrich Brehmer (1849–1850) (1861–1862) (1865–1866)
- Luxembourg and Limburg (personal union with the Netherlands 1815–1890)
  - Grand Duke : Wilhelm III. (1849-1890)
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin
  - Grand Duke : Friedrich Franz II. (1842–1883)
- Mecklenburg-Strelitz
  - Grand Duke : Friedrich Wilhelm (1860–1904)
- Nassau
  - Duke : Adolf I (1839–1866)
- Oldenburg
  - Grand Duke : Nikolaus Friedrich Peter (1853–1900)
- Reuss older line
  - Prince : Heinrich XXII. (1859–1902) until 1867 under guardianship
  - Regent: Caroline von Hessen-Homburg (1859–1867)
- Reuss younger line
  - Prince : Heinrich LXVII. (1854-1867)
- Saxony
  - King : Johann (1854–1873)
- Saxony-Altenburg
  - Duke : Ernst I (1853–1908)
- Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
  - Duke : Ernst II (1844-1893)
- Saxony-Meiningen
  - Duke : Bernhard II. (1803–1866)
- Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
  - Grand Duke : Carl Alexander (1853–1901)
- Schaumburg-Lippe
  - Prince : Adolf I. Georg (1860-1893)
- Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
  - Prince : Friedrich Günther (1807–1867)
- Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
  - Prince : Günther Friedrich Karl II. (1835–1880)
- Waldeck-Pyrmont
  - Prince : Georg Viktor (1845-1893)
- Württemberg
  - King : Wilhelm I (1816–1864)

France
- Emperor : Napoleon III. (1851-1870)

Greece
- King : Otto I (1832–1862)

Italian states
- Papal States
  - Pope : Pius IX (1846–1870) (1870 dissolution of the Papal States - pontificate ends in 1878)
- Lombardy-Veneto (personal union with Austria 1815–1859 / 66) (Lombardy ceded to Sardinia except for Mantua in 1859)
  - King : Franz Joseph (1848–1859 / 66)
- Kingdom of Italy (created March 17, 1861 from the Kingdom of Sardinia)
  - King : Victor Emanuel II (1861–1878)
- San Marino
  - Capitani Reggenti : Gaetano Belluzzi , Costanzo Damiani (October 1, 1860– April 1, 1861)
  - Capitani Reggenti: Settimio Belluzzi , Giacomo Berti (April 1, 1861– October 1, 1861)
  - Capitani Reggenti: Melchiorre Filippi , Domenico Fattori (October 1, 1861– April 1, 1862)
- Sardinia (annexed Sicily in 1861, called the Kingdom of Italy from March 17, 1861)
  - King : Victor Emanuel II (1849–1861)
- Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (annexed by Sardinia in 1861)
  - Dictator: Giuseppe Garibaldi (1860–1861)

Moldova under Ottoman suzerainty (1859–1862 in personalunionwith Wallachia,unitedto Romania in1862)
- Prince : Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1862)

Monaco
- Prince Charles III (1856-1889)

Montenegro (until 1878 under Ottoman suzerainty)
- Prince : Nikola I. Petrović Njegoš (1860–1918) (from 1910 king )

Neutral Moresnet
- Ruler: Leopold I , King of the Belgians (1831–1865)
- Ruler: Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , King of Prussia (1840–1861)
- King: Wilhelm I (1861–1888)
- Mayor: Joseph Kohl (1859–1882)

Netherlands
- King: Wilhelm III. (1849-1890)

Norway :
- King: Charles IV (1859–1872) (identical to Charles XV of Sweden; Norwegian-Swedish personal union)

Ottoman Empire
- Sultan: Abdülmecid I (1839–1861)
- Sultan: Abdülaziz (1861–1876)

Portugal
- King : Peter V (1853–1861)
- King: Ludwig I (1861–1889)

Russia
- Emperor : Alexander II (1855-1881)

Sweden
- King : Charles XV. (1859–1872) (1859–1872 King of Norway)

Serbia (until 1878 under Ottoman suzerainty)
- Prince : Mihailo Obrenović III. ( 1839-1842 , 1860-1868)

Spain
- Queen : Isabella II (1833–1868)

Hungary
- King : Franz Joseph I (1848–1916) (1848–1916 King of Bohemia, 1848–1916 Emperor of Austria)

United Kingdom
- Head of State: Queen Victoria (1837–1901) (1877–1901 Empress of India)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston ( 1855–1858 , 1859–1865)

Wallachia (under Ottoman rule) (united with Moldavia to form Romania in 1861)
- Prince : Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1861) (1859–1861 Prince of Moldova, 1861–1866 Prince of Romania)