1803
1803 was a
common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).
*
January 4 -
William Symington demostrates his
Charlotte Dundas, the "first practical steamboat".
*
January 30 -
Monroe and Livingston sail for
Paris to discuss, and possibly buy,
New Orleans. They end completing the
Louisiana Purchase.
*
February 21 -
Edward Despard and six others are hanged, drawn and quartered for plotting to
assassinate king
George III and to destroy the
Bank of England*
February 24 - The
Supreme Court of the United States, in
Marbury v. Madison, establishes the principle of
judicial review.
*
March 1 -
Ohio is admitted as the 17th
U.S. state, retroactive from
August 7,
1953.
*
March 12 -
Port Gibson, MS is chartered
*
April 30 -
Louisiana Purchase made by the
United States from
France.
*
May 18 - The
United Kingdom redeclares war on
France after France refused to withdraw from
Dutch territory.
*
July 4 - The
Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
*
July 5 - The
convention of Artlenburg leads to the
French occupation of
Hanover (which had been ruled by the British king).
*
July 23 -
Robert Emmet's uprising in
Ireland begins
*
July 26 - The
wagonway between
Wandsworth and
Croydon is opened, being the first public railway line of the world.
*
August 3 – British begin
Second Anglo-Maratha War against
Sindhia of
Gwalior*
September 20 - Irish rebel
Robert Emmet is executed
*
September 23 - The
Battle of Assaye in
India – British-lead troops defeat
Maratha forces
*
October 20 - Senate ratifies the
Louisiana Purchase Treaty, doubling the size of the United States.
*
November 30 - At the Cabildo building in
New Orleans,
Spanish representatives Governor
Manuel de Salcedo and the
Marqués de Casa Calvo, officially transfer
Louisiana Territory to
French representative Prefect
Pierre Clément de Laussat (just 20 days later, France had transferred the same land to the
United States as the
Louisiana Purchase).
*
Aargau,
Graubünden,
St. Gallen,
Thurgau, the
Ticino,
Vaud become Swiss cantons.
*
France - the
Livre Tournois (Tours Pound) is replaced by the
Franc.
*
William Osgoode, Chief Justice of
Lower Canada, rules that
slavery is inconsistent with British Law.
Ongoing events
*
Napoleonic Wars (
1799-
1815)
*
February 2 -
Albert Sidney Johnston, American Confederate general (d.
1862)
*
February 15 -
John Sutter, American pioneer (d.
1880)
*
April 7 -
Flora Tristan, French feminist (d.
1844)
*
April 30 -
Albrecht Graf von Roon,
Prime Minister of Prussia (d.
1879)
*
May 12 -
Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d.
1873)
*
May 24 -
Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French naturalist and ornithologist (d.
1857)
*
May 25 -
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English novelist and playwright (d.
1873)
*
May 25 -
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer (d.
1882)
*
June 24 -
George James Webb, English-born composer (d.
1887)
*
July 24 -
Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer (d.
1856)
*
July 31 -
John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (d.
1889)
*
September 4 -
Sarah Childress Polk,
First Lady of the United States (d.
1891)
*
September 27 -
Samuel Francis du Pont, American admiral (d.
1865)
*
September 28 -
Prosper Mérimée, French writer (d.
1870)
*
November 14 -
Jacob Abbott, American writer (d.
1879)
*
November 29 -
Christian Doppler, Austrian mathematician (d.
1853)
*
December 6 -
Susanna Moddie, English writer (d.
1885)
*
December 11 -
Hector Berlioz, French composer (d.
1869)
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January 18 -
Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet (b.
1743)
*
January 23 -
Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (b.
1725)
*
February 9 -
Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (b.
1716)
*
February 18 -
Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (b.
1719)
*
February 20 -
Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b.
1713)
*
March 14 -
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (b.
1724)
*
April 2 -
Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet, Scottish politician and judge (b.
1721)
*
April 7 -
Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haitian revolutionary (b.
1743)
*
June 24 -
Matthew Thornton, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b.
1714)
*
September 5 -
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French general and author (b.
1741)
*
September 15 -
Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (b.
1719)
*
October 2 -
Samuel Adams, American revolutionary leader (b.
1722)
*
October 26 -
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (b.
1721)
*
November 23 -
Roger Newdigate, English politician (b.
1719)
*
December 18 -
Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher and writer (b.
1744)
*
December 30 -
Francis Lewis, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b.
1713)
*
Jacques-Donatien Le Ray, French "Father of the American Revolution" (b.
1726)
