1804 in the United States

1804 in the United States
Decades:	1780s 1790s – 1800s – 1810s 1820s
Years:	1801 1802 1803 – 1804 – 1805 1806 1807
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Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1789–1849)

Events from the year 1804 in the United States.

Incumbents

• President: Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)
• Vice President: Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican)
• Chief Justice: John Marshall
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nathaniel Macon (Dem.-Rep.-North Carolina)
• Congress: 8th

Events

January–March

• February 15 – New Jersey becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery.
• February 16 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.
• February 18 – Ohio University is chartered by the Ohio General Assembly.
• March 10 – Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.

April–June

• May 14 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begins their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
• June 15 – The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified by New Hampshire, and arguably becomes effective (subsequently vetoed by the Governor of New Hampshire).

July–September

• July 11 – Burr-Hamilton duel: Alexander Hamilton is shot during a duel with Aaron Burr and dies the next day.
• July 27 – The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified by Tennessee, removing doubt surrounding adoption.
• August 20 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery, whose purpose is to explore the Louisiana Purchase, suffers its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.

October–December

• November 3 – The Treaty of St. Louis (1804) is signed by Quashquame and William Henry Harrison; controversy surrounding the treaty eventually causes the Sauks to ally with the British during the War of 1812 and is the main cause of the Black Hawk War of 1832.
• November 30 – The Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Senate begin an impeachment trial against Federalist-partisan Supreme Court of the United States Justice Samuel Chase (he was charged with political bias but was acquitted by the United States Senate of all charges on March 1, 1805).
• December 3 – Thomas Jefferson defeats Charles C. Pinckney in the U.S. presidential election.

Ongoing

• First Barbary War (1801–1805)
• Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806)

Births

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Deaths

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See also

• Timeline of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Further reading

• Everett S. Brown. The Senate Debate on the Breckinridge Bill for the Government of Louisiana, 1804. The American Historical Review, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Jan., 1917), pp. 340–364
• Bayrd Still. To the West on Business in 1804. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan., 1940), pp. 1–21
• José de Onís. Valentin de Foronda's Memoir on the United States of North America, 1804. The Americas, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jan., 1948), pp. 351–362
• W. H. G. Armytage. A Sheffield Quaker in Philadelphia 1804-1806. Pennsylvania History, Vol. 17, No. 3 (1950), pp. 192–205
• Helmut de Terra. Motives and Consequences of Alexander von Humboldt's Visit to the United States (1804). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jun. 15, 1960), pp. 314–316
• Herman R. Friis. Baron Alexander von Humboldt's Visit to Washington, D. C., June 1 through June 13, 1804. Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., Vol. 60/62, The 44th separately bound book (1960/1962), pp. 1–35
• James E. Scanlon, Albert Gallatin. A Sudden Conceit: Jefferson and the Louisiana Government Bill of 1804. Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Spring, 1968), pp. 139–162
• Jerry W. Knudson. The Jeffersonian Assault on the Federalist Judiciary, 1802–1805; Political Forces and Press Reaction. The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan., 1970), pp. 55–75
• Charles Merrill Mount. Gilbert Stuart in Washington: With a Catalogue of His Portraits Painted between December 1803 and July 1805. Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., Vol. 71/72, The 48th separately bound book (1971/1972), pp. 81–127
• Alfred J. Marini. Political Perceptions of the Marine Forces: Great Britain, 1699, 1739 and the United States 1798, 1804. Military Affairs, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 171–176
• John W. Wagner. New York City Concert Life, 1801-5. American Music, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Summer, 1984), pp. 53–69
• Ellen G. Miles. Saint-Mémin's Portraits of American Indians, 1804-1807. American Art Journal, Vol. 20, No. 4 (1988), pp. 2–33
• Kevin M. Gannon. Escaping "Mr. Jefferson's Plan of Destruction": New England Federalists and the Idea of a Northern Confederacy, 1803-1804. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 413–443

External links

• Media related to 1804 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons