Editing 1804 (section)

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January 1]] – [[Haiti]] gains independence from France, and becomes the first black republic.
* [[February 4]] – The [[Sokoto Caliphate]] is founded in West Africa.
* [[February 14]] – The [[First Serbian uprising]] begins the [[Serbian Revolution]]. By 1817, the [[Principality of Serbia]] will have proclaimed self-rule from the [[Ottoman Empire]], the first nation-state in Europe to do so.
* [[February 15]] – [[New Jersey]] becomes the last of the northern United States to abolish [[History of slavery in New Jersey|slavery]].
* [[February 16]] – [[First Barbary War]]: [[Stephen Decatur]] leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate {{USS|Philadelphia|1799|6}} at [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] to deny her further use by the captors.
* [[February 18]] – [[Ohio University]] is chartered by the Ohio General Assembly.
* [[February 20]] – [[Hobart]] is established in its permanent location in [[Van Diemen's Land]] (modern-day Tasmania) as a British [[penal colony]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27194837|title=Queen to Honour David Collins in Historic Unveiling|newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]]|location=Hobart|date=19 February 1954|page=8, ''Royal Visit Souvenir'' supplement|access-date=2012-01-17|archive-date=2019-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107070354/http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27194837%20|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[February 21]] – [[Cornwall|Cornishman]] [[Richard Trevithick]]'s newly built ''Penydarren'' [[steam locomotive]] operates on the [[Merthyr Tramroad]], between [[Penydarren]] in [[Merthyr Tydfil]] and [[Abercynon]] in [[South Wales]], following several trials since February 13, the world's first locomotive to work on rails.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rattenbury|first=Gordon|author2=Lewis, M. J. T.|title=Merthyr Tydfil Tramroads and their Locomotives|year=2004|publisher=[[Railway and Canal Historical Society]]|location=Oxford|isbn=0-901461-52-0}}</ref>
* [[February 22]]–[[April 22]] – [[1804 Haiti massacre]], an ethnic cleansing with the goal of eradicating the white population on Haiti.<ref>{{cite book|first=Julia|last=Gaffield|title=Haitian Connections in the Atlantic World: Recognition after Revolution|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|year=2015|pages=83–84}}</ref>
* [[March 4]]–[[March 5]] – The [[Castle Hill convict rebellion]] breaks out in [[New South Wales]], led by Irish [[convicts in Australia]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804|url=http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/castle_hill_convict_rebellion_1804|first=Anne-Maree|last=Whitaker|work=Dictionary of Sydney|access-date=March 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304231534/https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/castle_hill_convict_rebellion_1804|archive-date=March 4, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[March 7]] – In Britain:
** [[John Wedgwood (horticulturist)|John Wedgwood]] founds the [[Royal Horticultural Society]].<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
** [[Thomas Charles]] is instrumental in founding the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/about-bible-society/history/our-timeline/|title=Our timeline|publisher=Bible Society|access-date=November 26, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228224810/http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/about-bible-society/history/our-timeline/|archive-date=December 28, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[March 10]] – [[Louisiana Purchase]], [[Three Flags Day]]: In [[St. Louis]], a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of [[Louisiana Territory]] from France to the United States.
* [[March 17]] – [[Friedrich Schiller]]'s play ''[[William Tell (play)|Wilhelm Tell]]'' is first performed at [[Weimar]], under the direction of [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]].
* [[March 21]] – The [[Napoleonic Code]] is adopted as French [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]].

=== April–June ===
* [[April 2]] – Forty [[Armed merchantman|merchantmen]] are wrecked when a convoy led by British frigate {{HMS|Apollo|1799|6}} runs aground off Portugal with considerable loss of life.
* [[April 4]] – [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] sets sail on ''The Speedwell'' for the Mediterranean. In [[Malta]], he obtains employment as a public official.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Barry|last1=Hough|first2=Howard|last2=Davis|first3=Lydia|last3=Davis|title=Coleridge's Laws: A Study of Coleridge in Malta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnR7GXkZz3oC&pg=PA28|year=2010|publisher=Open Book Publishers|isbn=978-1-906924-12-6|pages=28–}}</ref>
* [[April 5]] – The High Possil meteorite, the first recorded [[meteorite]] to fall in Scotland in modern times, falls at [[High Possil]].
* [[April 26]] – [[Henry Addington]] resigns as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]].
* [[May 10]] – [[William Pitt the Younger]] begins his second term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
* [[May 14]] – The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] departs from [[Camp Dubois]] and begins its historic journey by traveling up the [[Missouri River]].
* [[May 18]] – [[Napoleon]] Bonaparte is proclaimed [[Emperor of the French]] by the [[French Senate]].
* [[May 21]] – [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] a {{convert|118|acre|km2|adj=on}} cemetery in Paris, France, is opened.
* [[June 9]] – [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's ''Symphony No. 3 in E–flat'']] is premiered in Vienna.
* [[June 15]] – The [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] is ratified by [[New Hampshire]], and arguably becomes effective (subsequently vetoed by the [[Governor of New Hampshire]]).
* [[June 21]] – [[Smithson Tennant]] announces the discovery of the elements [[iridium]] and [[osmium]]; three days later, [[William Hyde Wollaston]] reveals to the Royal Society that he is the formerly anonymous discoverer of [[palladium]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Eighth Group of the Periodic System and Some of its Problems|first=James Lewis|last=Howe|journal=The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science|date=1900-07-20|page=31}}</ref>

=== July–September ===
* [[July 11]] – [[Aaron Burr]], Vice President of the United States, shoots former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury [[Alexander Hamilton]] during a [[Burr–Hamilton duel|duel]]; Hamilton dies the next day.
* [[July 27]] – The [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]], which reforms the way that candidates for [[President of the United States|President]] and [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] are chosen, is ratified by [[Tennessee]], removing doubt surrounding adoption.
* [[August 11]] – In reaction to Napoleon being proclaimed emperor of France, [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]] assumes the title of a hereditary emperor of Austria (as Francis I) in addition to his title as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. This latter title will become obsolete two years later when the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine instigated by Napoleon signals the end of the Holy Roman Empire.
* [[August 20]] – [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]]: The ''[[Corps of Discovery]]'', whose purpose is to explore the [[Louisiana Purchase]], suffers its only death when Sergeant [[Charles Floyd (explorer)|Charles Floyd]] dies, apparently from acute [[appendicitis]].
* [[September 1]] – German astronomer [[Karl Ludwig Harding|K. L. Harding]] discovers the [[asteroid]] [[3 Juno|Juno]].

=== October–December ===
* [[October 5]] – [[Action of 5 October 1804]]: War between Spain and the United Kingdom is triggered by the battle between four British warships (''Indefatigable'', ''Medusa'', ''Amphion'' and ''Lively'') and four Spanish frigates (''Medee'', ''Fama'', ''Clara'' and ''Mercedes''), all carrying treasure and merchandise.  Captain Graham Moore of ''Indefatigable'' informs Spanish Admiral Jose Bustamante of his orders to detain the treasure-laden ships and, "not receiving a satisfactory answer, an Action commenced";<ref>Nicholas Harris Nicolas, ''The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson'' (Cambridge University Press, 1846; reprinted 2011) p266</ref> ''La Mercedes'' is sunk and the other three ships surrender.
* [[October 8]] – [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines]] holds his coronation as Jean-Jacques I, Emperor of [[Haiti]].<ref>John Relly Beard, ''The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Negro Patriot of Hayti'' (James Redpath Co., 1863, reprinted by University of North Carolina Press, 2012) p271</ref>
* [[November 3]] – The [[Treaty of St. Louis (1804)|Treaty of St. Louis]] is signed by [[Quashquame]] and [[William Henry Harrison]]; controversy surrounding the treaty eventually causes the [[Sauk people]] to ally with the British during the [[War of 1812]], and is the main cause of the [[Black Hawk War]] of 1832.
* [[November 20]] – [[Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman]], starts to rule.
* [[November 30]] – The [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican]]-controlled [[United States Senate]] begins [[Impeachment of Samuel Chase|an impeachment trial]] against [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]-partisan [[Supreme Court of the United States]] Justice [[Samuel Chase]], on charges of political bias (he is acquitted by the [[United States Senate]] of all charges on March 1, 1805).
* [[December 2]] – [[Coronation of Napoleon I]]: At the cathedral of [[Notre Dame de Paris]], [[Napoleon]] crowns himself as the first [[Emperor of the French]] in a thousand years. Witnessing this, [[Simón Bolívar]] dedicates himself to liberating [[Venezuela]] from Spanish rule.
* [[December 3]] – [[Thomas Jefferson]] defeats [[Charles C. Pinckney]] in the [[1804 United States presidential election|United States presidential election]].
* [[December 12]] – Spain declares war on the United Kingdom.

=== Date unknown ===
* The [[Nguyễn dynasty]] emperor [[Gia Long]] changes his country's official name from [[Đại Việt]] to [[Việt Nam]].
* [[Morphine]] is first isolated from the [[opium poppy]] by the German pharmacist, [[Friedrich Sertürner]].
* [[Matthew Flinders]] recommends that [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]] be renamed ''Australia'' (from the Latin ''australis'' meaning "of the south").
* ''Shimizu-gumi'', predecessor of [[Shimizu Corporation]], a major construction company in Japan, is founded in [[Kanda, Tokyo|Kanda]] region, [[Edo (Tokyo)|Edo]] (modern-day Tokyo).<ref>{{cite book |first=Hiroshi|last=Shimizu|title=Japanese Firms in Contemporary Singapore|year=2008|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-384-8|page=154}}</ref>
* [[World population]] reaches 1&nbsp;billion people.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duncan |first1=R L |last2=Kizer |first2=N |last3=Barry |first3=E L |last4=Friedman |first4=P A |last5=Hruska |first5=K A |title=Antisense oligodeoxynucleotide inhibition of a swelling-activated cation channel in osteoblast-like osteosarcoma cells. |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=5 March 1996 |volume=93 |issue=5 |pages=1864–1869 |doi=10.1073/pnas.93.5.1864 |pmid=8700850 |pmc=39873 |bibcode=1996PNAS...93.1864D |doi-access=free }}</ref>