1802 in the United States
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Events from the year 1802 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
- President: Thomas Jefferson (DR-Virginia)
- Vice President: Aaron Burr (DR-New York)
- Chief Justice: John Marshall (Virginia)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nathaniel Macon (DR-North Carolina)
- Congress: 7th
State governments
Events
- March 16 â Congress authorizes the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
- April 19 â The Judiciary Act of 1802 is enacted, reorganizing the federal court system.
- April 30 â The Enabling Act of 1802 authorizes the creation of Ohio from the Northwest Territory and sets a precedent for the creation of future states from the western territories.
- June 1 â William Thornton is appointed the first superintendent of the United States Patent Office.[1]
- July 4 â At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opens.
- October 2 â First Barbary War: Fighting ends between Sweden and Tripoli. The United States also negotiates peace, but war continues over the size of compensation.
- October 12 â Joseph Gardner Swift and Simeon Magruder Levy become the first graduates of the United States Military Academy.
Undated
- U.S. House of Representatives elections: 142 representatives are elected, 36 more than the 7th Congress, following reapportionment from the 1800 United States census.
Ongoing
- First Barbary War (1801â1805)
Births
- January 22 â Richard Upjohn, Gothic architect (died 1878)
- February 4 â Mark Hopkins, educator and president of Williams College (died 1887)
- February 11 â Lydia Maria Child, abolitionist, women's rights activist, novelist and journalist (died 1880)
- February 21 â George D. Ramsay, 6th Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army (died 1882)
- March 16 â George A. McCall, Union Army brigadier general (died 1868)
- April 2 â Archibald Dixon, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1852 to 1855 (died 1876)
- April 4 â Dorothea Dix, mental health reformer (died 1887)[2]
- May 10 â James Westcott, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1845 to 1849 (died 1880)
- June 10 â James W. Bradbury, U.S. Senator from Maine from 1847 to 1853 (died 1901)
- June 30 â Benjamin Fitzpatrick, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1848 to 1849 and from 1853 to 1861 (died 1869)
- July 1 â Gideon Welles, 24th United States Secretary of the Navy (died 1878)
- July 9 â Thomas Davenport, inventor and blacksmith (died 1851)
- July 21 â David Hunter, Union Army major general (died 1886)
- August 10 â Dixon Hall Lewis, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1844 to 1848 (died 1848)
- September 4 â Marcus Whitman, physician and missionary (died 1847)
- October 1 â Oliver Blake, American-born Canadian businessman and political figure (died 1873)
- November 5 â James F. Trotter, U.S. Senator from Mississippi in 1838 (died 1866)
- November 9 â Elijah Parish Lovejoy, newspaper publisher and abolitionist (died 1837)
- November 19 â Solomon Foot, Vermont politician (died 1866)
- December 2 â Melancthon S. Wade, Union Army general (died 1868)
Deaths
- February 26 â Esek Hopkins, Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the Revolution (born 1718)
- May 22 â Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States (born 1731)[3]
- July 6 â Daniel Morgan, soldier and United States Representative from Virginia (born 1736)
- December 31 â Francis Lewis, signer of the Declaration of Independence from New York (born 1713)
