1801 CE

An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved, when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. Contingent election of 1801: An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved, when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. Edinburgh music teacher Anne Gunn is granted the first British patent for a board game, designed as a music teaching aid.

In the 1800s, the 19th century.

1801 at a glance

World population: about 986 million Our World in Data
United States: John Adams, then Thomas Jefferson (President) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
United Kingdom: George III (King); William Pitt the Younger, then Henry Addington (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
Russian Empire: Paul, then Alexander I (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
Qing dynasty: Jiaqing (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
French First Republic: Napoleon I (First Consul) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931
Tokugawa shogunate of Japan: Kōkaku (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1360994931

Who led every country in 1801 →

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 1 – The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland is completed under the Act of Union 1800, bringing about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the abolition of the Parliament of Ireland.source
1 January – legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland completed under the Act of Union 1800, bringing about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Scotland source
January 3 – Toussaint Louverture triumphantly enters Santo Domingo, the capital of the former Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, which has become a colony of Napoleonic France.source
January 31 – John Marshall is appointed Chief Justice of the United States.source
February 4 – William Pitt the Younger resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
February 9 – The Treaty of Lunéville ends the War of the Second Coalition between France and Austria. Under the terms of the treaty, all German territories left of the Rhine are officially annexed by France while Austria also has to recognize the Batavian, Helvetian, Cisalpine and Ligurian Republics.source
9 February – The Treaty of Lunéville ends the War of the Second Coalition between France and Austria. Under the terms of the treaty, Aachen is officially annexed by France.Germany source
February 17 – An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved, when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.source
February 27 – Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress.source
February – Contingent election of 1801: An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved, when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.United States source
March 14 – Henry Addington becomes First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, effectively Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
17 March – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth becomes Prime Minister.United Kingdom source
June 7 – War of the Oranges ends: Portugal and Spain sign the Treaty of Badajoz; Portugal loses the city of Olivenza.source
July 7 – Toussaint Louverture promulgates a reforming constitution for Santo Domingo, declaring himself emperor for life of the entire island of Hispaniola, and nominally abolishing slavery.source
September 9 – Alexander I of Russia confirms the privileges of the Baltic provinces.source
September 30 – The Treaty of London is signed for preliminary peace between the French First Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.source
October 8 - Treaty of Paris ends Russian participation in the War of the Second CoalitionRussia source
The schooner Cumberland (28 tons) is launched in Sydney. The vessel is purchased by the government and becomes the first armed vessel belonging to the colony.Australia source
Denmark joins the Second League of Armed Neutrality.Denmark source
Maharaja Ranjit Singh created an imperial powerIndia source

Conflict & Security

April 2 – War of the Second Coalition: First Battle of Copenhagen – The British Royal Navy, under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, forces the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy to accept an armistice. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson leads the main attack, deliberately disregarding his commander's signal to withdraw. He is created a Viscount on May 19; Denmark-Norway is forced to withdraw from the Second League of Armed Neutrality.source
2 April – War of the Second Coalition – First Battle of Copenhagen: The British Royal Navy, under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, forces the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy to accept an armistice. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson leads the main attack, deliberately disregarding his commander's signal to withdraw. He is created a Viscount on 19 May; Denmark-Norway is forced to withdraw from the Second League of Armed Neutrality.Norway source
2 April – Battle of Copenhagen in the War of the Second Coalition: The Royal Navy under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker forces the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy to accept an armistice. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson leads the main attack, deliberately disregarding his commander's signal to withdraw.United Kingdom source
9 April – A meeting between Crown Prince Frederik and Vice Admiral Lord Nelson at Amalienborg Palace results in a ceasefire. Denmark-Norway has to leave the neutrality pact.Denmark source
May 6 – French Revolutionary Wars: Action of 6 May 1801 off Barcelona – British Royal Navy brig HMS Speedy, although outmanned and outgunned, captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.source
May 10 – The pascha of Tripoli declares war on the United States, by having the flagpole on the consulate chopped down.source
4 June – Soldiers of the Ross and Cromarty Rangers fire on a mob in Aberdeen celebrating the King's birthday, killing two.Scotland source
June 15 – A bull breaks through barriers at a bullfight in Madrid, killing two people (including the mayor of Torrejón de Ardoz) and injuring a number of other spectators.source
June 27 – Siege of Cairo ends: Cairo falls to British troops.source
July 6 – First Battle of Algeciras: The French fleet defeats the British fleet.source
July 12 – Second Battle of Algeciras: The British fleet defeats the French and Spanish fleets.source
August 1 – First Barbary War: Action of 1 August 1801 – United States Navy schooner USS Enterprise captures the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair polacca Tripoli off the north African coast, in a single-ship action.source
August 1 – Action of 1 August 1801 (First Barbary War): United States Navy schooner USS Enterprise captures the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair polacca Tripoli off the north African coast in a single-ship action.United States source
September 2 - Siege of Alexandria: French troops (some 10,000 men) under General Jacques-François Menou surrender to the British after a siege of 17 days. According to the terms, the French are allowed to keep their personal weapons and baggage.source
October 17 – A coup d'état is staged in the Batavian Republic.source
Annexation of Allahabad by the British.India source
Indian March of Paul - attempted Russian attack on British IndiaRussia source
Hester Thrale - Retrospection: or a review of the most striking events, characters, situations, and their consequences, which the last eighteen hundred years have presented to the view of mankindWales source

Exploration & Expansion

January – Brig Harbinger, under John Black, is the second vessel to sail through Bass Strait en route to Port Jackson.Australia source
2 March – The El Plumier, Captain William Reid arrives at Hauraki (the Waihou River between the Hauraki Plains and Coromandel Peninsula) to collect timber. There are women and children on board. In attempting to travel up the Waihou the ship runs aground causing some damage. The crew meet Thomas Taylor, who acts as interpreter for the local Māori who help in unsuccessful attempts to refloat the ship and also provide the crew with food.New Zealand source
20 April – The Royal Admiral, Captain William Wilson, arrives at Hauraki to collect timber before taking several London Missionary Society Brothers to the mission in Tahiti. They encounter Māori who help with provisioning and inform them of a ship further up river. They send a boat several days later which soon finds the El Plumier. Captain Wilson later encounters Thomas Taylor who had been staying with local Māori for 2 years. Captain Wilson and the LMS Brothers record some details of Māori life given to them by Taylor.New Zealand source
27 May – The French cartographic expedition of Nicolas Baudin sights Cape Hamelin.Australia source
18 July – Matthew Flinders sets out on a voyage to produce a detailed survey of the coastline of Australia, the southern coast of which is still unknown.United Kingdom source
Two ships, the Sarah and the Dove, arrive at Upper Canada carrying 700 passengers from Lochaber, Scotland from the Cameron and Fraser clans.Canada source
Chivas Brothers open a grocery store in Aberdeen which will blend Chivas Regal whisky.Scotland source
The Truter-Somerville Expedition of Petrus Johannes Truter, William Somerville, John Barrow and Samuel Daniell with missionaries Jan Matthys Kok and William Edwards reaches Dithakong near current day KurumanSouth Africa source

Religion & Belief

14 March – William Pitt the Younger resigns over the failure to introduce Catholic emancipation, having first tendered his resignation on 5 February.United Kingdom source
15 July – Concordat of 1801, agreement signed between France and Pope Pius VII that reaffirms the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and restores some of its civil status.France source
July 18 – Napoleon signs a Concordat with Pope Pius VII.source
3 November – James Murphy succeeds Hugh O'Reilly as Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher, an office which he will hold until 1824.Ireland source
November 16 – The first edition of the New-York Evening Post is printed.source
November 16 – The first edition of New York Evening Post is printed.United States source
The Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA) is founded within Freemasonry.source
The Bishop of Iceland position is created, with Geir Vídalín being the first to hold the position.Iceland source
Dundee Courier & Argus first published.Scotland source
James Hogg publishes Scottish Pastorals, Poems, Songs.Scotland source
The "Great Debate" is held at Ramoth Chapel in Llanfrothen, Merionethshire, as a result of which John Richard Jones forms the "Scottish Baptist" connexion.Wales source

Economy & Finance

1 March – London Stock Exchange founded as a regulated institution; its new building is completed on 30 December.United Kingdom source
Cassidy's Ltd. is established, third oldest company closed its doors in 2000Canada source

Technology & Infrastructure

16 March – Edinburgh music teacher Anne Gunn is granted the first British patent for a board game, designed as a music teaching aid.Scotland source
July – Eli Whitney demonstrates before Congress the advantages of the system of interchangeable parts in the manufacture of firearms.United States source
December 24 – Cornish engineers Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian demonstrate "Puffing Devil", their steam-powered road locomotive, in Camborne. The trial is successful but Trevithick realizes the limitations of steam power in a road-running vehicle and turns his attention to rail, introducing the world's first steam railway locomotive in 1804.source
24 December – Richard Trevithick demonstrates the first steam-powered vehicle to carry passengers at Camborne.United Kingdom source
Shipbuilding has become an important industry in Canada.Canada source
First official, dedicated life-boat in Ireland stationed at Clontarf by the Dublin Ballast Board.Ireland source
Jefferson, the first American yacht, is built in Salem, Massachusetts, for George Crowninshield Jr.United States source
Chirk aqueduct is completed and opened.Wales source
First railway in north Wales is built by Lord Penrhyn to link his quarries with Bethesda and Port Penrhyn.Wales source

Science & Discovery

January 1 – Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the asteroid and dwarf planet Ceres.source
September 8 - Solar eclipse of September 8, 1801Russia source
26 November – Charles Hatchett announces his discovery of the chemical element niobium to the Royal Society.United Kingdom source
The first of a continuous series of censuses is held in France.source
Ultraviolet radiation is discovered by Johann Wilhelm Ritter.source
Alexander Mackenzie's Voyages to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans published in London.Canada source
A Census was held in Iceland, along with other parts of the Denmark-Norway.Iceland source
Carl Gustaf af Leopold publishes the Afhandling om svenska stafsättetSweden source
Thomas Young discovers the interference of light.United Kingdom source
Dalton's law: John Dalton observes that the total pressure exerted by a gaseous mixture is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of each individual component in a gas mixture.United Kingdom source
Cyhoeddiadau Cymdeithas y GwyneddigionWales source

Health & Medicine

1 February – The first complete and reliable census was held in Norway: 883,603 inhabitants in Norway.Norway source
March 10 – The first census is held in Great Britain. The population of England and Wales is determined to be 8.9 million, with London revealed to have 860,035 residents. 1.5 million people live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales, accounting for 17% of the total English population.source
10 March – the first British census is carried out (under terms of the Census Act 1800), with the Scottish counts undertaken by schoolmasters. The population of Scotland is determined to be 1,608,420.Scotland source
10 March – The first British census is carried out. The count is conducted by clergy, overseers of the poor and schoolmasters. The population of England and Wales is determined to be 8.9 million, with London revealed to have 860,035 residents.United Kingdom source
6 July – The first vaccination against smallpox in Denmark is made, using the method invented by Edward Jenner.Denmark source
September – Metric system obligatory throughout France.France source
Philippe Pinel publishes Traité médico-philosophique sur l'aliénation mentale; ou la manie, presenting his enlightened humane psychological approach to the management of psychiatric hospitals. Translated into English by D. D. Davis as Treatise on Insanity in 1806, it is influential on both sides of the Atlantic during the nineteenth century.source
Edinburgh town council resolves to drain The Meadows.Scotland source

Crime & Justice

14 September – John Macarthur takes part in a duel with his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel William Paterson. Paterson is severely wounded in the shoulder, and Macarthur is arrested the next day. Governor King offers to release him on Norfolk Island but Macarthur refuses and is sent to England to be court martialed.Australia source
September 24 – Joseph Marie Jacquard exhibits his new invention, a loom where the pattern being woven is controlled by punched cards, at the National Exposition in Paris.source
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, begins removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens.source
Joseph Marie Jacquard develops a loom where the pattern being woven is controlled by punched cards.France source
John Crabbie of Leith begins to deal in ginger.Scotland source
219 people are hanged this year in England and Wales, a record for any year after 1785.United Kingdom source
John Rice Jones becomes first attorney-general of Indiana.Wales source
The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, vol. 1Wales source

Climate & Environment

January 1 – a large earthquake strongly affected the city of La Serena and surrounding areas, causing considerable structural damage.Chile source

Culture & Society

1 January – First one-inch-to-the-mile (1:63,360 scale) map based on the work of the Ordnance Survey is published, covering the county of Kent.United Kingdom source
April 21 – Ranjit Singh is invested as Maharaja of Punjab.source
10 August: With the Althing being disbanded by royal decree in the year prior, a new High Court in Reykjavík took over the functions of Lögrétta. The three appointed judges convened in Hólavallarskóli.Iceland source
December 19 – South Carolina College, a precursor to The University of South Carolina, is established in Columbia, South Carolina.source
The magnum opus Disquisitiones Arithmeticae of Carl Friedrich Gauss is published.source
Exercise is for the first time introduced in the curriculum of a state school in Denmark.Denmark source
Det Dramatiske Selskab in Drammen was founded.Norway source
Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Science, and the Arts foundedRussia source
First complete Bible translation into Scottish Gaelic, Am Bìoball Gàidhlig, is published.Scotland source
Foundation of the Djurgårdsteatern in Stockholm, the only theater except the Royal Dramatic Theater allowed to function in the capital during the 1798–1842 royal theater monopoly.Sweden source
Azariah Shadrach - Allwedd MyfyrdodWales source

Births

January 11 – Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, Brazilian politician (died 1856)source
February 1 – Thomas Cole, American artist (died 1848)source
February 21 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal (died 1890)source
March 15 – George Perkins Marsh, American diplomat, philologist and pioneer environmentalist (died 1882)source
May 5 – Pío Pico, last Governor of Alta California (died 1894)source
May 16 – William H. Seward, 24th United States Secretary of State (died 1872)source
June 1 – Brigham Young, American Mormon leader, colonizer (died 1877)source
June 14 – Heber C. Kimball, American religious leader (died 1868)source
June 30 – Frédéric Bastiat, French philosopher (died 1850)source
July 5 – David Farragut, American admiral (died 1870)source
14 July – Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist, comparative anatomist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist (died 1858)Germany source
July 27 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician, astronomer (died 1892)source
October 18 - Justo José de Urquiza – general and politician (died 1870)Argentina source
November 3 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (died 1835)source
November 3 – Karl Baedeker, German author, publisher (died 1859)source
December 14 – Joseph Lane, American politician and general, 1st Governor of Oregon (died 1881)source
? – Anoushirvan Khan Eyn ol-Molk, Iranian courtier.Iran source
William Hutt – British MP and chairman of the New Zealand Company.New Zealand source

Deaths

January 11 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (born 1749)source
February 17 – Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia (born 1716)source
14 March – Christian Friedrich Penzel, German musician and composer (born 1737)Germany source
March 16 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia, daughter of Paul I of Russia (b.1783)source
March 19 – Ambrosio O'Higgins, 1st Marquis of Osorno, Spanish viceroy of Peru and Governor of the Captaincy General of Chile, father of Bernardo O'Higgins, (born c. 1720)source
March 21 – Battle of Alexandria in Egypt: British troops defeat the French, but the British commander, Sir Ralph Abercromby, dies later of a wound received in the action.source
March 23 – Tsar Paul I of Russia (born 1754)source
March 25 – Novalis, German poet (born 1772)source
March 28 – Ralph Abercromby, British general (born 1734)source
April 14 – Hajji Ebrahim Shirazi, Iranian politician.Iran source
June 4 – Frederick Muhlenberg, first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (born 1750)source
8 June – Thomas Vasse, French sailorAustralia source
June 14 – Benedict Arnold, American Revolution hero, then traitor (born 1741)source
June 14 – Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary hero and traitor (born 1741)United States source
November 5 – Motoori Norinaga, Japanese philologist and scholar (born 1730)source
November 24 – Franz Moritz von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (born 1725)source
November 24 – Philip Hamilton, son of American soldier and statesman, Alexander Hamilton (born 1782)source
December 15 – Hadži Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman commander and politician, is assassinated in Belgrade, Sanjak of Smederevo, by Kučuk-Alija.source