John Jacob Astor founds the Pacific Fur Company. In 1811, this company establishes a trading post at Astoria at the mouth of the Oregon River. Astor loses this post during the War of 1812.
1811
7 November. Battle of Tippecanoe at which William Henry Harrison and his troops engage Shawnee and Creek forces led by The Prophet. Tecumseh has earlier sought allies among the Creek Indian tribes.
Noah Webster issues his Compendious Dictionary of the English Language
Lewis and Clark expedition winters at Fort Clatsop in Oregon and ends its journey by returning to St. Louis in September.
The Cumberland Road is built to facilitate western settlement.
1807
Embargo Act bans all trade with foreign countries and forbids American ships to set sail for foreign ports. This act has a lasting negative effect on New England seaports.
The Clermont, first reliable steamboat, travels from New York City to Albany, N.Y.
The Chesapeake-Leopard incident in which three Americans are seized or "impressed" as seamen from the American ship Chesapeake stirs anti-British feeling.
1808
The Osage, a Sioux tribe, sign the Osage Treaty ceding their lands in what is now Missouri and Arkansas to the U. S.
Thomas Jefferson refuses to run for a third term as president, naming James Madison as his successor.
1809
Shawnee leader Tecumseh begins to establish a defensive confederacy to resist the westward movement of white settlers.
New England governors refuse to supply militia to enforce the Embargo Acts (of 1807 and 1808)
Phoenix completes the first sea voyage by a steamboat by traveling around the shores of New Jersey.
Thomas Jefferson is chosen as president over incumbent John Adams in a contested election that is decided in the House of Representatives; Aaron Burr becomes vice-president. With this election, the Federalist party loses control of the presidency and of Congress.
