Year 1805 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read is a mix of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1805. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, famous births and deaths, U.S. economic news, entertainment trivia, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: Thomas Jefferson (DR-Virginia)
2. Vice President: Aaron Burr (DR-New York) - Until March 4
3. Vice President: George Clinton (DR-New York) - Beginning on March 4
4. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nathaniel Macon (DR-North Carolina)
6. The 8th U.S. Congress was in session until March 4. On that date, the 9th U.S. Congress convened and met until March 4, 1807. Both chambers had a Republican majority.
7. Inflation rate: -0.85%
8. $100.00 in 1805 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2,846.32 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 1.53% per year” between 1805 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of 2,746.32%.” In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 4.805% of what it could purchase back in 1805.
9. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost 96% of its value since 1805. $1.00 in 1805 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $28.46 today. $5.00 in 1805 is equivalent in purchasing power to around $142.32 today. $10.00 in 1805 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $284.63 today. As mentioned above, $100.00 in 1805 is equivalent in purchasing power to around $2,846.32 today. Finally, $1,000.00 in 1805 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $28,463.25 today.
10. Consumer price index (CPI): 11.700
11. American companies established in 1805 included Freeman’s-Hindman (an auction house), the Indiana Canal Company, and R. Hoe & Company (a printing press manufacturer).
12. In 1805, there were 17 U.S. states. In order of admission to the Union, they were Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), and Ohio (1803). (It’s worth noting that no new states were admitted to the Union during 1805.)
13. On January 11, the Michigan Territory was created.
14. On February 11, Sacagawea, “the Shoshone interpreter and guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition,” gave birth to her first child, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.
15. On February 15, 400 people established the American headquarters of The Harmony Society, a religious organization, in Harmony, Pennsylvania. (The Harmony Society “was a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in 1785. Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg, the group moved to the United States, where representatives purchased land in Butler County, Pennsylvania.”)
16. On March 3, the U.S. Congress created the Louisiana Territory, which officially went into effect four months later on July 4.
17. On April 7, after a long winter, the Lewis and Clark expedition departed from Fort Mandan in North Dakota and resumed its journey toward the Pacific Ocean.
18. On April 7, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eroica (Symphony No. 3) premiered in Vienna, Austria.
19. On May 26, Napoleon Bonaparte became the king of Italy.
20. On June 5, a powerful tornado erupted across Southern Illinois and Missouri and became “the first documented tornado” in what is now known as “Tornado Alley.”
21. On October 18, 45 women met at the home of Mrs. Silas Lee in Wiscasset, Maine, and organized the Female Charitable Society, one of America’s earliest women's clubs.
22. On November 13, Johann George Lehner, a German butcher from Frankfurt living in Vienna, Austria, created a beef and pork sausage called “Frankfurter.” It’s worth noting that in America, a “Frankfurter” is called a “hot dog.”
23. On November 19, the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the Pacific Ocean.
24. On November 20, Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, premiered in Vienna, Austria.
25. On December 7, having reached the Pacific Ocean on November 19, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark crossed “to the south shore of the Columbia River”—near modern-day Astoria, Oregon—and began to build the small fort that would become their winter home.
26. On December 26, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) was founded in Philadelphia, making it the oldest art museum in the United States.
27. In 1805, Henri-Louis Pernod founded Maison Pernod Fils in eastern France to manufacture the anise-flavored spirit known as absinthe.
28. The Boston Gleaning Circle, America’s first female literary organization, was created.
29. Key fiction books published in 1805 included Anna Maria Porter’s A Sailor’s Friendship, Catherine Selden’s Villa Nova, Charlotte Dacre’s Confessions of the Nun of St. Omer, Mary Meeke’s The Wonder of the Village, and William Henry Ireland’s Gondez the Monk.
30. Notable nonfiction works for the year were Jane Marcet’s Conversations on Chemistry and Richard Payne Knight’s An Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of Taste.
31. Noteworthy poetic works for 1805: Robert Southey’s Madoc and Walter Scott’s The Lay of the Last Minstrel
32. Top dramatic works for the year included Marianne Chambers’ The School for Friends and Thomas Morton’s The School of Reform.
33. Famous people who were born in 1805 included Angelina Grimké (civil rights leader), Asa Packer (entrepreneur), Fanny Mendelssohn (opera singer), Hans Christian Andersen (children’s author), Joseph Smith (religious leader who founded Mormonism), Sarah Flower Adams (poet), William Harrison Ainsworth (novelist), and William Lloyd Garrison (abolitionist leader).
34. Famous people who died in 1805 were Friedrich Schiller (poet) and Luigi Boccherini (composer).
35. In 1805, the words “baker’s yeast,” “barrier reef,” “biblicism,” “bleaching powder,” “butte,” “calligraphist,” “campground,” “condone,” “deep pocket,” “diaspore,” “French door,” “gingersnap,” “love child,” “notecase,” “overshirt,” “pandowdy,” “running gear,” “self-assertion,” “sketchy,” “sofa bed,” “sponge cake,” “stage manager,” “statehood,” “station house,” “tea cake,” “tumblebug,” and “water supply” all appeared in print for the first time.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1805_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1805
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_companies_established_in_1805
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1805_in_literature
5. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1805.html
6. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1805.html
7. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1805
8. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1805
9. https://www.onthisday.com/date/1805
10. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-7/lewis-and-clark-depart-fort-mandan
11. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-7/lewis-and-clark-temporarily-settle-in-fort-clatsop
12. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/yearonlytimeline1800-1899.html

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor