1799 in the United States

::Theodore Sedgwick (F-Massachusetts) (starting December 2) - Congress: [5th](5th-united-states-congress) (until March 4), [6th](6th-united-states-congress) (starting March 4) #### State governments ::data[format=table] | Governors and lieutenant governors | |---| | | :: ## Events ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/USSConstellationVsInsurgente.jpg" caption="[[Action of 9 February 1799"] :: - January 30 – Congress passes the Logan Act, forbidding unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments, in response to George Logan's unofficial attempt to negotiate peace between the U.S. and France. - February – Fries's Rebellion, an armed tax revolt among Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, begins as John Fries organizes meetings to discuss a collective response to the taxes imposed to raise funds for the Quasi-War. - February 7 – Marc Isambard Brunel leaves the United States. - February 9 – Quasi-War: In the action of 9 February 1799, the USS *Constellation* captures the French frigate *Insurgente*. - March 1 – Federalist James Ross becomes President pro tempore of the United States Senate. - March 29 – New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state. - April 10 – Ellicott's Stone is placed by a U.S.-Spanish survey party headed by Andrew Ellicott. - July 8 – The Russian-American Company is founded. - December 3 – The Kentucky state legislature passes the second of its resolutions as part of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Although the first of Kentucky's resolutions (in 1798) were authored by Thomas Jefferson, the author of the 1799 Resolutions is not known with certainty. - December 14 – Former President George Washington dies at his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia. ### Undated - Carolina Gold Rush: 12-year-old Conrad John Reed finds what he describes as a "heavy yellow rock" along Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, North Carolina and makes it a doorstop in his home. Conrad's father John Reed learns that the rock is actually gold in 1802, initiating the first gold rush in the U.S. - Eli Whitney, holding a January 1798 U.S. government contract for the manufacture of muskets, is introduced by Oliver Wolcott Jr. to the French concept of interchangeable parts, an origin of the American system of manufacturing. - Reconstruction of The Cabildo in New Orleans is completed. ### Ongoing - Quasi-War (1798–1800) ## Births - January 6 – Jedediah Smith, explorer, hunter, trapper and fur trader (died [1831](1831-in-the-united-states)) - March 8 – Simon Cameron, journalist, editor and 26th United States Secretary of War from 1861 to 1862 (died [1889](1889-in-the-united-states)) - April 3 – John Pendleton King, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1833 to 1837 (died [1888](1888-in-the-united-states)) - April 12 – Samuel McRoberts, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1841 to 1843 (died [1843](1843-in-the-united-states)) - July 6 – Louisa Caroline Huggins Tuthill, writer for children (died [1879](1879-in-the-united-states)) - July 19 – William McSherry, Jesuit priest (died [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) - September 10 – George Willison Adams, abolitionist (died [1879](1879-in-the-united-states)) - October 1 – John Brown Russwurm, Americo-Liberian journalist and governor of the African Republic of Maryland (died [1851](1851-in-the-united-states)) - October 3 – Oliver Bronson, physician and educator (died [1875](1875-in-the-united-states)) - November 1 – Thomas Baldwin Marsh, religious leader (died [1866](1866-in-the-united-states)) - November 15 – James A. Bayard Jr., U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1851 to 1864 (died [1880](1880-in-the-united-states)) - November 29 – Amos Bronson Alcott, philosopher, educator and writer (died 1888) - December 3 – Peggy Eaton, born Margaret O'Neill, wife of U.S. Secretary of State John Eaton and central character of the Petticoat affair (died 1879) - December 27 – Walter T. Colquitt, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1843 to 1848 (died [1855](1855-in-the-united-states)) ## Deaths ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/George_Washington_300x400.png" caption="[[George Washington"] :: - June 6 – Patrick Henry, first & sixth Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786 (born 1736) - June 7 – Increase Sumner, lawyer, justice and fifth Governor of Massachusetts from 1797 (born 1746) - October 13 – William Paca, judge and third Governor of Maryland from 1782 to 1785, signatory to the Declaration of Independence (born 1740) - December 14 – George Washington, first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797 (born 1732) - December – William Cliffton, poet (born 1772) ## References ## References 1. Bagust, Harold. (2006). "The Greater Genius? A biography of Marc Isambard Brunel". *Ian Allan Publishing*. 2. James, Winston. (2010). "The Struggles of John Brown Russwurm". *New York University Press*. ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1799_in_the_United_States) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1799_in_the_United_States?action=history). ::