Library of Congress

On April 24, 1800 the Library of Congress was established with a grant of $5000.00. Originally it was established as a legislative library.

"The Library of Congress was established as the fledgling legislature of the new Republic prepared to move from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington. On April 24, 1800, Pres. John Adams approved legislation that appropriated $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress." The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in the U.S. Capitol, the Library's first home. The collection consisted of 740 volumes and three maps.

"On January 26, 1802, Pres. Thomas Jefferson approved the first law defining the role and functions of the new institution. This measure created the post of Librarian of Congress and gave Congress, through a Joint Committee on the Library, the authority to establish the Library's budget and its rules and regulations. From the beginning, however, the institution was more than just a legislative library, for the 1802 law made the appointment of the Librarian of Congress a presidential responsibility. It also permitted the president and vice president to borrow books, a privilege that, in the next three decades, was extended to most government agencies and to the judiciary. A separate law department was approved in 1832, along with an appropriation to purchase law books under the guidance of the chief justice of the United States." taken from the library of Congress. Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress.

The First Gold Rush

There's several "First Gold Rushes" in America but I believe this one is the first.

In 1799 a 12 year old boy named Conrad Reed found a 17lb gold nugget on his family farm in North Carolina. This nugget was used as a doorstop for years. In 1802, John Reed took the nugget to a jeweler and discovered that it was gold. He wasn't paid well for this nugget but John quickly learned the true value of the gold and a lot more gold was found on the family farm.

Gold mining quickly became a major industry in North Carolina. during the first half of the 19th century gold mining became the number one occupation in North Carolina, surpassing that of farmers.

Gold mining back then was little more than picking the nuggets off the land, then by the middle of the century shafts were dug when they discovered that gold came in veins.

The Charlotte house a mint. It was the first mint to mint gold from America in the U.S.

NY Canals 1860

According to the History of Railroads & Canals ©1860, the state of NY reported this list of Canals.

NEW YORK STATE CANALS

Erie Canal. Opened in 1825
Champlain Canal. Completed in 1819
Black River Canal. (was a feeder canal to Erie)
Oneida Lake Canal. Completed in 1802
Oswego Canal. Opened in 1828
Seneca River Towing Path. completed in 1839

Baldwinsville Side-cut. purchased by the state in 1853
Cayuga And Seneca Canal. completed in 1839
Crooked Lake Canal. completed in 1833
Chemung Canal. completed in 1833
Chenango Canal. commencement of work 30th Sept. 1859
Genesee Valley Canal. completed in 1859

Events from 1802

Hi all,

Over the years I've gathered info on events in various years of the 19th century. Most of these can be found on various websites. Here's my list of events for the year 1802.

Jan 05 John Murray names Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia.
January 25 Napoleon elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic
January 26 Congress passes an act calling for a U.S. Capitol library that later becomes the Library of Congress.
January 29 John Beckley of Virginia appointed 1st Librarian of Congress
February 2 1st leopard exhibited in U.S., Boston (admission 25 cents )
February 8 Simon Willard patents banjo clock
Feb 10 In London England Alexander Mackenzie 1764-1820 knighted for achievements in the North West, and for being first to cross the North American continent by land.
March 16 Law signed to establish U.S. Miltary Academy (West Point, New York)
3/16 The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., was established on
this date in 1802 by an act of Congress.
March 16 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
March 25 France, Netherlands, Spain and England signs Peace of Amiens
March 27 Treaty of Amiens-French Revolutionary War ends
Mar 28th - Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man.
April 8/9 French Protestant church becomes state-supported and -controlled
Apr 15th - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy see a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
April 26 – A general amnesty signed by Napoleon Bonaparte allows all but about 1,000 of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, as part of a reconciliary gesture to make peace with the various factions of the Ancien Regime that ultimately consolidates his own rule.
May 3 Washington D.C. incorporates as a city
May 19 French Order of Legion d'Honneur forms
May 20 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
June 2 – Indigenous Australian Pemulwuy, a leader of the resistance to European settlement of Australia, is shot dead by Henry Hacking.
Jun 4th - Grieving over the death of his wife, Marie Clotilde of France, King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
June 8 – Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture is seized by French troops and sent to Fort de Joux for prison.
Jun 9th - US Academy at West Point founded
June 15 Toussaint L'Ouverture leaves Haiti, prisoner on French ship Heros
July – Eleuthère Irénée du Pont founds E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, the modern DuPont Company.
July 4 U.S. Military Academy officially opens at West Point, New York
5 July to 28 August – A general election in the United Kingdom brings victory for the Tories, led by Henry Addington.
July 7 1st comic book "The Wasp," is published
August 2 Napoleon declared "Counsel for Life"
August 7 Napoleon orders re-instatement of slavery on St. Domingue (Haiti)
August 25 Toussaint L'Ouverture imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France
September 3 – William Wordsworth publishes the poem Westminster Bridge.
Sep 11th - France annexes the Italian region of Piedmont a part of the French First Republic.
October – The French army enters Switzerland.
October 2 – War ends between Sweden and Tripoli. The United States also negotiates peace, but war continues over the size of compensation.
October 10 1st non indian settlement in Oklahoma
December 2 English sell Suriname to Dutch