1804
1804 was a
leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).
Morphine is first isolated from
opium by the German pharmacist,
Friedrich SertürnerJanuary
*
January 1 - End of
French rule in
Haiti. Haiti gains independence from
France and becomes the first black
republic and have the only successful
slave revolt ever.
February
*
February 14 -
First Serbian Uprising began.
*
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.
*
February 21 - The first self-propelling
steam engine or
steam locomotive makes its outing at the
Pen-y-Darren ironworks in
Wales. Designed by
Richard Trevithick, a
Cornishman.
March
*
March 7 -
John Wedgwood founds The
Royal Horticultural Society.
*
March 10 -
Louisiana Purchase: In
St. Louis, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of
Louisiana Territory from
France to the
United States.
*
March 20 - Execution of the
Duc d'Enghien for plotting against
Napoleon.
*
March 21 -
Code Napoleon adopted as
French civil law.
April
*
April 5 - The first recorded meteorite falls in
Possil,
Scotland (
High Possil Meteorite).
*
April 26 -
Henry Addington resigns as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
May
*
May 10 -
William Pitt the younger begins his second term as a
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
*
May 14 - The
Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from
Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the
Missouri River.
*
May 18 -
Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed
Emperor of
France by the
French Senate.
June
*
June 15 - The
Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified by
New Hampshire, and arguably becomes effective (subsequently vetoed by the
Governor of
New Hampshire).
July
*
July 11 -
Duel between
Alexander Hamilton and
Aaron Burr results in the death of
Alexander Hamilton.
*
July 27 - The
Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified by
Tennessee, removing doubt surrounding adoption.
August
*
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.
September
*
September 1 -
German astronomer K. L. Harding discovers the
asteroid Juno.
*
Thomas Jefferson defeats
Charles C. Pinckney in
U.S. presidential election.
November
*
November 30 - The
Jeffersonian 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
Senate of all charges on
March 1,
1805).
December
*
December 2 - At
Notre Dame Cathedral in
Paris,
Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself as the first
Emperor of the French in a thousand years (the
Napoleonic Code is adopted).
*
December 12 -
Spain declares war on
Britain.
*
Père Lachaise Cemetery a 118 acre (0.5 km²) cemetery in
Paris, France is founded.
*
Nicolas-François Appert (
1750-
1841) develops a method to preserve food by means of canning.
*
Napoleonic Wars (
1799-
1815).
*
January 1 -
James Fannin, Texas revolutionary (d.
1836)
*
January 10 -
Elie Frédéric Forey, Marshal of France (d.
1872)
*
January 20 -
Eugène Sue, French novelist (d.
1857)
*
January 21 -
Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (d.
1887)
*
February 7 -
John Deere, American industrialist (d.
1886)
*
March 14 -
Johann Strauss Senior, Austrian composer (d.
1849)
*
March 17 -
Jim Bridger, American trapper and explorer (d.
1881)
*
June 1 -
Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (d.
1857)
*June 1 -
George Sand, French writer (d.
1876)
*
June 24 -
Willard Richards, American religious leader (d.
1854)
*
July 4 -
Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (d.
1864)
*
July 28 -
Ludwig Feuerbach, German philosopher (d.
1872)
*
September 8 -
Eduard Mörike, German poet (d.
1875)
*
October 18 -
Mongkut, Rama IV,
King of Thailand (d.
1868)
*
November 18 -
Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora, Italian general and statesman (d.
1878)
*
November 23 -
Franklin Pierce, 14th
President of the United States (d.
1869)
*
December 10 -
Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (d.
1851)
*
December 13 -
Joseph Howe, Canadian politician (d.
1873)
*
December 21 -
Benjamin Disraeli,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d.
1881)
*
December 23 -
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic (d.
1869)
Unknown dates
*
Andrew Nicholl, Northern Irish painter (d.
1886)
*
James Mackay (New Zealand politician)*
January 4 -
Charlotte Ramsey Lennox, English author and poet (b.
1727)
*
January 15 -
Dru Drury, English entomologist (b.
1725)
*
February 6 -
Joseph Priestley, English chemist (b.
1733)
*
February 12 -
Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (b.
1724)
*
March 21 -
Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duc d'Enghien (executed) (b.
1772)
*
March 30 -
Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (b.
1718)
*
April 9 -
Jacques Necker, French statesman (b.
1732)
*
April 15 -
Charles Pichegru, French general (strangled in prison) (b.
1761)
*
July 12 -
Alexander Hamilton, American statesman (killed in a duel)
*
September 4 -
Richard Somers, American naval officer (killed in battle)
*
October 2 -
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French automobile pioneer (b.
1725)
*
November 23 -
Richard Graves, English writer (b.
1715)
