Year 1806 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read is a mix of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1806. 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: George Clinton (DR-New York)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nathaniel Macon (DR-North Carolina)
5. The 9th U.S. Congress was in session, and both chambers had a Republican majority.
6. Inflation rate: 4.27%
7. $100.00 in 1806 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2,729.67 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 1.51% per year” between 1806 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of 2,629.67%.” In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 3.663% of what it could purchase back in 1806.
8. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost 96% of its value since 1806.
9. $1.00 in 1806 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $27.30 today.
10. $5.00 in 1806 is equivalent in spending power to around $136.48 today.
11. $10.00 in 1806 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $272.97 today.
12. $50.00 in 1806 is equivalent in spending power to around $1,364.84 today.
13. As mentioned above, $100.00 in 1806 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2,729.67 today.
14. $500.00 in 1806 is equivalent in spending power to around $13,648.36 today.
15. Finally, $1,000.00 in 1806 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $27,296.72 today.
16. Consumer price index (CPI): 12.200
17. American companies established in 1806 included Colgate-Palmolive (a consumer products company) and Valspar (a paint and coatings manufacturer).
18. In 1806, 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 1806.)
19. On January 23, William Pitt, the youngest British prime minister in history, passed away at age 46.
20. On February 11, William Grenville became prime minister of the United Kingdom following the death of William Pitt the Younger on January 23.
21. On March 23, the Lewis and Clark expedition “began the journey back to St. Louis from their winter encampment near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon.”
22. On April 5, Isaac Quintard of Connecticut received a U.S. patent for an apple cider mill.
23. On May 6, Chapin Aaron Harris was born. He cofounded the first dental school in the world, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery.
24. On May 13, the word "cocktail" was first defined in print in The Balance and Columbian Repository, a publication from Hudson, New York. It described a cocktail as “a stimulating liquor made up of any type of spirits, along with sugar, water, and bitters.”
25. On May 30, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson murdered a man who accused him of cheating on a horse race bet and then insulting his wife, Rachel. According to History.com, contemporaries described Jackson, who had already served in Tennessee’s Senate and was practicing law at the time of the duel, “as argumentative, physically violent, and fond of dueling to solve conflicts. Estimates of the number of duels in which Jackson participated ranged from five to 100.”
26. On July 15, U.S. Army officer and explorer Zebulon Pike embarked on a new expedition “to explore the American Southwest. Pike was instructed to seek out the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers and to investigate Spanish settlements in New Mexico.”
27. On August 11, Meriwether Lewis (Lewis and Clark Expedition) was shot in the leg, possibly by one of his men, while he was hunting elk along the Missouri River.
28. On August 12, American war hero Davy Crockett married Polly Finley in Tennessee.
29. On September 20, after almost two-and-a-half years of venturing through the western wilderness, the Lewis and Clark Expedition “reached the frontier village of La Charette. This marked the first white settlement they had encountered since departing from the eastern outposts back in 1804.”
30. On September 23, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned to St. Louis, Missouri, “from the first recorded overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast and back. The Lewis and Clark Expedition had set off more than two years before to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.”
31. On October 7, Ralph Wedgwood of England received the world’s first patent for carbon paper.
32. In 1806, Noah Webster published his first English dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.
33. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language,” completed a preliminary version of his dramatic work Faust.
34. Key fiction book published in 1806: Thomas Skinner Surr’s Winter in London
35. Notable nonfiction works for the year included J. C. Adelung’s Mithridates, a History of Language and Dialects.
36. British nurse and author Elizabeth Dawbarn published Young Person's Assistant in Reading the Old Testament, a literary work geared toward children and younger people.
37. Top dramatic works for the year included Thomas Holcroft’s The Vindictive Man.
38. Famous people who were born in 1806 included Elizabeth Barrett Browning (poet), John Roebling (engineer), John Stuart Mill (philosopher), Matthew Fontaine Maury (oceanographer), and William Webb Ellis (inventor).
39. Famous people who died in 1806 were Benjamin Banneker (astronomer), Michael Haydn (composer), and Isaac Backus (religious leader).
40. In 1806, the words “American English,” “au gratin,” “baking sheet,” “bell jar,” “bipolar,” “boo-hoo,” “burn the midnight oil,” “cough drop,” “crouton,” “dementia,” “fact of life,” “gastritis,” “horsepower,” “hydrant,” “newspaperman,” “restaurant,” “sea level,” “shade tree,” “state college,” “stay-at-home,” “stevia,” “trial and error,” “unforgettable,” and “washroom” all appeared in print for the first time.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1806_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1806
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_companies_established_in_1806
4. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1806
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1806_in_literature
6. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1806.html
7. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1806.html
8. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1806
9. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1806
10. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1806
11. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1806-1810.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