1808 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...
: 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...
Events
- January 1 – The importation of slaves into the United States is banned; this is also the earliest day under the United States ConstitutionUnited States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
that an amendment can be made restricting slavery. - February 6 – The ship Topaz (from Boston April 5, 1807 hunting seals) rediscovers the Pitcairn IslandsPitcairn IslandsThe Pitcairn Islands , officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Pacific...
; only one HMS BountyHMS BountyHMS Bounty , famous as the scene of the Mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April 1789, was originally a three-masted cargo ship, the Bethia, purchased by the British Admiralty, then modified and commissioned as His Majesty's Armed Vessel the...
mutineer is still alive, Alexander Smith (John AdamsJohn Adams (mutineer)John Adams was the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers who settled on Pitcairn Island in January 1790, the year after the mutiny. His real name was John Adams; He used the name Alexander Smith until he was discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the ship Topaz...
). - February 11 – Anthracite coal is first burned as fuel by Jesse FellJesse FellJesse Fell was an early political leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was the first to successfully burn anthracite coal on an open air grate. His method and 'discovery' in 1808 led to the widespread use of coal as the fuel source that helped to foster America's industrial revolution. He lived...
in Wilkes-Barre, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; the discovery leads to the use of coal as the key fuel source of America's industrial revolutionIndustrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. - April 6 – John Jacob AstorJohn Jacob AstorJohn Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...
founds the American Fur CompanyAmerican Fur CompanyThe American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country. The company was one the first great trusts in American business...
. - November – 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...
defeats Charles C. Pinckney in the U.S. presidential election.
Further reading
- S. Godon. Mineralogical Observations, Made in the Environs of Boston, in the Years 1807 and 1808. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1809), pp. 127-154
- Recall of J. Q. Adams, 1808. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 45, (Oct., 1911 - Jun., 1912).
- Secrets Reports of John Howe, 1808. The American Historical Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jan., 1912), pp. 332-354
- Samuel E. Morison. The First National Nominating Convention, 1808. The American Historical Review, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Jul., 1912), pp. 744-763
- Victor O'Daniel. Concanen's Election to the See of New York (1808-10). The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Apr., 1916), pp. 19-46
- Amherst Petition on the Embargo, 1808; David Robinson to William Preston. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 52, (Oct., 1918 - Jun., 1919)
- Louis Martin Sears. Philadelphia and the Embargo of 1808. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Feb., 1921), pp. 354-359
- William D. Hoyt, Jr. Self-Portrait: Eliza Custis, 1808. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Apr., 1945), pp. 89-100
- Richard R. Borneman. Franzoni and Andrei: Italian Sculptors in Baltimore, 1808. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Jan., 1953), pp. 108-111
- Charles Pelham Curtis. A Strange Story about Marbury versus Madison in Salem, 1808. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 71, (Oct., 1953 - May, 1957), pp. 133-146
- 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
- Harry Ammon. James Monroe and the Election of 1808 in Virginia. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan., 1963), pp. 33-56
- George L. Bilbe. A Digest of the Civil Laws Now in Force in the Territory of Orleans (1808). Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Winter, 1973), pp. 104-108
- 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
- Richard R. Beeman. Trade and Travel in Post-Revolutionary Virginia: A Diary of an Itinerant Peddler, 1807-1808. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Apr., 1976), pp. 174-188
- Jeffrey A. Frankel. The 1807-1809 Embargo Against Great Britain. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 291-308
- John M. Bryan. Robert Mills, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Thomas Jefferson, and the South Carolina Penitentiary Project, 1806-1808. The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 85, No. 1 (Jan., 1984), pp. 1-21
- Christopher McKee. Foreign Seamen in the United States Navy: A Census of 1808. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Jul., 1985), pp. 383-393
- Alan Taylor. "Stopping the Progres of Rogues and Deceivers": A White Indian Recruiting Notice of 1808. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1985), pp. 90-103
- John Taylor, Wilson Cary Nicholas, David N. Mayer. Of Principles and Men: The Correspondence of John Taylor of Caroline with Wilson Cary Nicholas 1806-1808. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 96, No. 3, "The Example of Virginia Is a Powerful Thing": The Old Dominion and the Constitution, 1788-1988 (Jul., 1988), pp. 345-388
- 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