Events of 1801

January–March

• January 1
  • The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland is completed under the Act of Union 1800, bringing about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the dwarf planet Ceres.
• January 21 – John Marshall is appointed Chief Justice of the United States.
• February 4 – William Pitt the Younger resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• February 16 – The Treaty of Lunéville ends the war (Second Coalition) between France and Austria.
• February 19 – An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved, when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
• February 27 – Washington, DC is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
• March 4 – Thomas Jefferson succeeds John Adams as the President of the United States of America.
• March 14 – Henry Addington becomes First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer effectively Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• March 21 – Second Battle of Abukir: a British army under Ralph Abercromby defeats the French troops.
• March 23 – The Russian Tsar Paul I is murdered. He is succeeded by his son Alexander I of Russia.

April–June

• April 2 – First Battle of Copenhagen: The British fleet under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, along with Admiral Horatio Nelson, attack Copenhagen; the Armed Neutrality of the North is dissolved.
• May 10 – The pascha of Tripoli declares war on the United States by having the flagpole on the consulate chopped down.
• June 7 – Portugal and Spain sign the Treaty of Badajoz; Portugal loses the city of Olivenza.
• June 27 – Cairo falls to British troops.

July–September

• July 6 – Battle of Algeciras: The French fleet defeats the British fleet.
• July 18 – Napoleon signs the Concordat of 1801 with the Pope.

October–December

• October 17 – A coup d'état is staged in the Netherlands (Batavian Republic).
• November 16 – The first edition of New York Evening Post is printed.

Undated

• Aachen is officially annexed by France.
• The first census is held in Great Britain. London is revealed to have 860,035 residents.
• The first census is held in France.
• Joseph-Marie Jacquard develops a loom where the pattern being woven is controlled by punch cards.
• Ultraviolet radiation is discovered by Johann Wilhelm Ritter.
• 1.5 million people live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales. Cities of 20,000 or more account for 17% of the total English population.
• Toussaint Louverture conquers Santo Domingo, declares himself emperor of the entire island of Hispaniola, abolishes slavery and institutes reforms.

Ongoing events

• French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802)–Second Coalition/Egyptian Campaign
• Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815)
• The Indian March of Paul (January–March)

Births

January–June

• January 3 – Gijsbert Haan, Dutch-American religious leader (d. 1874)
• February 1 – Thomas Cole, American artist (d. 1848)
• February 13 – János Kardos, Hungarian Slovenes evangelical priest, teacher and writer (d. 1875)
• February 21 – John Henry Newman, English Roman Catholic Cardinal (d. 1890)
• May 11 – Henri Labrouste, French architect (d. 1875)
• June 1 – Brigham Young, American religious leader and colonizer (d. 1877)
• June 4 – James Pennethorne, English architect (d. 1871)
• June 14 – Heber C. Kimball, American religious leader (d. 1868)
• June 30 – Frederic Bastiat, French philosopher (d. 1850)

July–December

• July 5 – David Farragut, American naval commander (d.1870)
• July 29 – George Bradshaw, English publisher (d. 1853)
• October 12 – Friedrich Frey-Herosé, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1873)
• November 3 – Karl Baedeker, German author and publisher (d. 1859)
• November 3 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (d. 1835)
• November 10 – Vladimir Dal, Russian lexicographer (d. 1872)
• November 13 – Queen Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, queen of Prussia (d. 1873)
• December 11 – Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German writer (d. 1836)
• date unknown
  • Dai Xi, Chinese painter (d. 1860)
  • Franciszek Ksawery Godebski, Polish writer

Deaths

January–June

• February 7 – Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish painter (b. 1726)
• March 19 Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno, Spanish viceroy of Peru and Governor of Chile, father of Bernardo O'Higgins
• March 21 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (b. 1741)
• March 23 – Tsar Paul of Russia (b. 1754)
• March 25 – Novalis, German poet (b. 1772)
• March 28 – Ralph Abercromby, British general (b. 1734)
• April 2 – Thomas Dadford Junior, British engineer
• April 7 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer (b. 1724)
• May 17 – William Heberden, English physician (b. 1710)
• June 4 – Frederick Muhlenberg, first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (b. 1750)
• June 14 – Benedict Arnold, American Revolution hero and traitor (b. 1741)

July–December

• September 19 – Johann Gottfried Koehler, German astronomer (b. 1745)
• October 3 – Philippe Henri, marquis de Ségur, Marshal of France (b. 1724)
• November 4 – William Shippen, American physician and Continental Congressman (b. 1536)
• November 5 – Motoori Norinaga, Japanese philologist and scholar (b. 1730)
• November 24 – Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (b. 1725)

Notes

1. "Calendar in year 1801 (Russia)" (Julian calendar, starting Tuesday), webpage: Julian-1801 (Russia used the Julian calendar until 1919).