• February 25 – Newspapers in
Charleston, South Carolina advertise 2,058 slaves recently trafficked from Africa's
Congo River basin,
Gold Coast (present-day
Ghana), and
Windward Coast (present-day
Sierra Leone,
Liberia, and
Ivory Coast). • March 23 – The
Lewis and Clark Expedition and their
Corps of Discovery, having reached the
Pacific Ocean after traveling through the
Louisiana Purchase, begins its journey home. • March 28 – Washington College (modern-day
Washington & Jefferson College) is chartered by the
Pennsylvania General Assembly. • March 29 – Construction is authorized of the
National Road (the first United States federal highway). • April 18 – The
U.S. Congress passes the
Non-importation Act in an attempt to coerce
Great Britain to suspend its
impressment of American sailors and to respect American
sovereignty and
neutrality on the high seas. • May 30 – Future President
Andrew Jackson fights his second
duel, killing
Charles Dickinson who had accused Jackson's wife of
bigamy; Jackson has a bullet lodged close to his heart. • July 4 – Ship
The Irish Rover sets sail from the
Cove of
Cork, Ireland for New York. • July 7 – Cornerstone laid for America's First Cathedral, now known as the
Baltimore Basilica. Architect:
Benjamin Latrobe. • July 15 –
Pike Expedition: Near
St. Louis, Missouri,
United States Army Lieutenant
Zebulon Pike leads an expedition from
Fort Bellefontaine to explore the
Louisiana Purchase. • August 14 – The
Lewis and Clark Expedition re-visit the
Mandan Indians while making its return trip to
St. Louis. • September 23 – The
Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches St. Louis, Missouri, ending a successful exploration of the
Louisiana Territory and the
Pacific Northwest. • November 15 –
Pike Expedition: During his second exploratory expedition, Lieutenant
Zebulon Pike sees a distant mountain peak while near the
Colorado foothills of the
Rocky Mountains which is later named
Pikes Peak in his honor.
Undated •
Noah Webster publishes
A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, his first
American English dictionary. •
Parson Weems publishes a 2nd edition of his
The Life of George Washington, with curious anecdotes laudable to himself and exemplary to his countrymen, first including the story of the young
Washington and the cherry-tree.
Ongoing •
Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806) ==Births==