1809 in the United States
Encyclopedia
Incumbents
- PresidentPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
: Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
(Democratic-Republican) (until March 4), James MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
(Democratic-Republican) (starting March 4) - Vice PresidentVice President of the United StatesThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
: George ClintonGeorge Clinton (vice president)George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...
(Democratic-Republican) - Chief JusticeChief Justice of the United StatesThe Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
: John MarshallJohn MarshallJohn Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches... - Speaker of the House of RepresentativesSpeaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
: Joseph Bradley VarnumJoseph Bradley VarnumJoseph Bradley Varnum was a U.S. politician of the Democratic-Republican Party from Massachusetts.-Biography:...
(Dem.-Rep.-Massachusetts) - CongressUnited States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
: 10th10th United States Congress- House of Representatives :- Senate :*President: George Clinton *President pro tempore: Samuel Smith , elected April 16, 1808** Stephen R. Bradley , elected December 28, 1808** John Milledge , elected January 30, 1809...
(until March 4), 11th11th United States Congress- House of Representatives :-Leadership:- Senate :* President: George Clinton * President pro tempore:** John Milledge ** Andrew Gregg , elected June 26, 1809** John Gaillard , elected February 28, 1810...
(starting March 4)
Events
- February 3 – The Illinois TerritoryIllinois TerritoryThe Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. The area was earlier known as "Illinois Country" while under...
is created. - February 11 – Robert FultonRobert FultonRobert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...
patents the steamboatSteamboatA steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
. - February 17 – Miami UniversityMiami UniversityMiami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
(Ohio) is established on the township of land required to be set aside for it under the conditions of the Miami Purchase in 1794. - February 20 – A decision by the Supreme Court of the United StatesSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
states that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state. - March 4 – James MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
succeedsJames Madison 1809 presidential inaugurationThe first inauguration of James Madison as the fourth President of the United States was held on Saturday, March 4, 1809, at the House chamber in the U.S. Capitol. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of James Madison as President and the second term of George...
Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
as the President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. - May 5 – Mary Dixon KiesMary Dixon KiesMary Dixon Kies was an early 19th-century American who was the first recipient of a patent granted to a woman by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, on May 5, 1809, which was for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.-Biography:Her father was John Dixon born in 1679 in...
becomes the first recipient of a patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
granted to a woman by the United States Patent and Trademark OfficeUnited States Patent and Trademark OfficeThe United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
. She invented a technique of weaving strawStrawStraw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has many uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and...
with silkSilkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
and threadYarnYarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...
. - October 11 – Along the Natchez TraceNatchez TraceThe Natchez Trace, also known as the "Old Natchez Trace", is a historical path that extends roughly from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, linking the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi rivers...
in TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, explorer Meriwether LewisMeriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark...
dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand. - December 30 – Wearing masks at balls is forbidden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Undated
- Following refitting, the ("Old Ironsides") is recommissioned as the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron.
Further reading
- William S. Appleton, Robert C. Winthrop. "Original Bank Circular, 1809". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. 11, (1869 - 1870)
- Thomas H. Shoemaker. A List of the Inhabitants of Germantown and Chestnut Hill in 1809. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Apr., 1892), pp. 42-63
- An Itinerary to Niagara Falls in 1809. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 24, No. 2 (1900), pp. 200-202
- Ellmore Barce. Governor Harrison and the Treaty of Fort Wayne, 1809. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1915), pp. 352-367
- Charles Lyon Chandler. United States Shipping in the La Plata Region, 1809-1810. The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 3, No. 2 (May, 1920), pp. 159-176
- Joshua Gilpin. Journal of a Tour from Philadelphia Thro the Western Counties of Pennsylvania in the Months of September and October, 1809. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 50, No. 1 (1926), pp. 64-78
- A trip from Fort Wayne to Fort Dearborn in 1809. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 36, No. 1 (1940), pp. 45-51
- Edwin J. Hipkiss. A Cabinetmaker's Bill: Boston, 1809. Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Vol. 45, No. 259 (Feb., 1947), pp. 12-14
- Noble E. Cunningham, Jr. The Diary of Frances Few, 1808-1809. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Aug., 1963), pp. 345-361
- William G. McLoughlin. Thomas Jefferson and the Beginning of Cherokee Nationalism, 1806 to 1809. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Oct., 1975), pp. 548-580.
- Jeffrey A. Frankel. The 1807-1809 Embargo Against Great Britain. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 291-308.
- James M. O'Toole. From Advent to Easter: Catholic Preaching in New York City, 1808-1809. Church History, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Sep., 1994), pp. 365-377