1804
| Years: 1801 1802 1803 – 1804 – 1805 1806 1807 | |
| Decades: 1770s 1780s 1790s – 1800s – 1810s 1820s 1830s | |
| Centuries: 18th century – 19th century – 20th century 1804 in topic: Lists of leaders: | |
1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).
Table of contents |
Events
- January 1 – End of French rule in Haiti
- 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 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 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 26 – Henry Addington resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 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 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 27 – The Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 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 it first and last death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.
- September 1 – German astronomer K. L. Harding discovers the asteroid Juno
- Thomas Jefferson defeats Charles C. Pinckney in U.S. presidential election
- 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 2 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself as the first Emperor of France in a thousand years (the Napoleonic Code is adopted).
- December 12 – Spain declares war on Britain
Unknown date
- 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.
Ongoing events
Births
- January 1 – James Fannin, Texas revolutionary (d. 1836)
- 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)
- September 27 – Anna McNeill Whistler, Whistler's mother (d. 1881)
- November 23 – Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (d. 1869)
- December 10 – Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (d. 1851)
- December 21 – Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
- December 23 – Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic (d. 1869)
Deaths
- January 4 – Charlotte Ramsey Lennox, English author and poet (b. 1727)
- 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)
- April 9 – Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
- July 12 – Alexander Hamilton, American statesman
- September 4 – Richard Somers, American naval officer