1803 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) - 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...
: Aaron BurrAaron BurrAaron Burr, Jr. was an important political figure in the early history of the United States of America. After serving as a Continental Army officer in the Revolutionary War, Burr became a successful lawyer and politician...
(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...
: Nathaniel MaconNathaniel MaconNathaniel Macon was a spokesman for the Old Republican faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that wanted to strictly limit the United States federal government. Macon was born near Warrenton, North Carolina, and attended the College of New Jersey and served briefly in the American...
(Dem.-Rep.-North Carolina) - 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....
: 7th7th United States Congress- House of Representatives :-Senate:* President: Aaron Burr * President pro tempore:** Abraham Baldwin , first elected December 7, 1801** Stephen R. Bradley , first elected December 14, 1802-House of Representatives:...
(until March 4), 8th8th United States Congress- Senate :* President: Aaron Burr * President pro tempore: John Brown , October 17, 1803 – February 26, 1804** Jesse Franklin , March 10, 1804 – November 4, 1804** Joseph Anderson , January 15, 1805 – December 1, 1805- House of Representatives :...
(starting March 4)
Events
- January 30 – MonroeJames MonroeJames Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
and Livingston sail for ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to discuss, and possibly buy, New Orleans; they end completing the Louisiana PurchaseLouisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
. - February 24 – Marbury v. MadisonMarbury v. MadisonMarbury v. Madison, is a landmark case in United States law and in the history of law worldwide. It formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. It was also the first time in Western history a court invalidated a law by declaring...
: 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...
establishes the principle of judicial reviewJudicial reviewJudicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
. - March 1 – OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
is admitted as the 17th U.S. stateU.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
, retroactive from August 7, 1953. - April 30 – Louisiana PurchaseLouisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
is made by the United States from FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. - July 4 – The Louisiana PurchaseLouisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
is announced to the American people. - October 20 – The Senate ratifies the Louisiana PurchaseLouisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
Treaty, doubling the size of the United States. - November 30 – At the Cabildo building in New Orleans, SpanishSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
representatives Governor Manuel de Salcedo and the Marqués de Casa Calvo, officially transfer the Louisiana TerritoryLouisiana TerritoryThe Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805 until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed to Missouri Territory...
to FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
representative Prefect Pierre Clément de LaussatPierre Clement de LaussatPierre Clément de Laussat was a French politician, and the last French governor of Louisiana.Laussat was born in the town of Pau. After serving as receveur général des finances in Pau and Bayonne, he was imprisoned during the Terror, but was released and recruited in the armée des Pyrénées. On...
(just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana PurchaseLouisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
).
Further reading
- Max Farrand. The Commercial Privileges of the Treaty of 1803. The American Historical Review, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Apr., 1902), pp. 494–499
- Lewis Leary. Leigh Hunt in Philadelphia. An American Literary Incident of 1803. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Jul., 1946), pp. 270–280
- Robert Mills, Hennig Cohen. An Unpublished Diary by Robert Mills, 1803. The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Oct., 1950), pp. 187–194
- Bennard B. Perlman. Baltimore Mansion, 1801-03. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Mar., 1955), pp. 26–28
- Jerry W. Knudson. The Jeffersonian Assault on the Federalist Judiciary, 1802–1805; Political Forces and Press Reaction. The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan., 1970), pp. 55–75
- John F. Hoadley. The Emergence of Political Parties in Congress, 1789-1803. The American Political Science Review, Vol. 74, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 757–779
- John W. Wagner. New York City Concert Life, 1801-5. American Music, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Summer, 1984), pp. 53–69
- Kevin M. Gannon. Escaping "Mr. Jefferson's Plan of Destruction": New England Federalists and the Idea of a Northern Confederacy, 1803-1804. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 413–443
- Peter S. Onuf. The Revolution of 1803. The Wilson Quarterly (1976-), Vol. 27, No. 1 (Winter, 2003), pp. 22–29.