1807

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File:Decade.png ( 1800s: )     1807 link
Former US Vice President Aaron Burr is indicted, but later acquitted, of treason.

Events

• January 7 – The United Kingdom issues an Order in Council prohibiting British ships from trading with France or its allies.
• January 20 – The Sierra Leone Company, faced with bankruptcy because of the outlawing of the slave trade in British colonies, petitions the British government for purchase and transfer of its property to the Crown; Parliament approves the transfer on July 29, and it takes effect on January 1, 1808.
• February 17 – Henry Christopher is elected first President of the State of Haiti, ruling the northern part of the country.
• February 19 – In Alabama, former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is tried for conspiracy, but acquitted.
• February 23 – The Slave Trade Act is passed in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by an overwhelming majority.
• March 25 - The United Kingdom Slave Trade Act becomes law abolishing the slave trade in most of the British Empire with effect from 1 May (slavery itself is abolished in British colonies in 1833).
• March 25 - The Swansea and Mumbles Railway in South Wales, at this time known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger-carrying railway in the world.
• April 14 – African Institution holds its first meeting in London; it is intended to improve social conditions in Sierra Leone.
• May 22 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr for treason.
• May 24 – Siege of Danzig ends after 6 weeks with Prussian and Russian defenders capitulating to French forces.
• May 29 – Selim III, Ottoman Emperor since 1789, is deposed in favour of his nephew Mustafa IV.
• June 9 – The Duke of Portland wins the United Kingdom general election.
• July 5 – A disastrous British attack is mounted against Buenos Aires, during the second failed invasion of the Río de la Plata.
• July 7–9 – The Treaties of Tilsit are signed between France, Prussia and Russia. Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander I ally together against the British. The Prussians are forced to cede more than half their territory, which is formed into the Duchy of Warsaw in their former Polish lands, and the Kingdom of Westphalia in western Germany. The Free City of Danzig is also formed (established September 9 by Napoleon).
• July 13 – With the death of Henry Benedict Stuart, the last Stuart claimant to the throne of the United Kingdom, Jacobitism comes to an effective end.
• August 17 – The North River Steamboat, Robert Fulton's first American steamboat, leaves New York City for Albany on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
• September 1 – Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr is acquitted of treason. He had been accused of plotting to annex parts of Louisiana and Mexico, to become part of an independent republic.
• September 2–7 – Battle of Copenhagen: The British Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets, to prevent the Dano-Norwegian navy from surrendering to Napoleon; 30% of the city is destroyed, and 2,000 citizens are killed.
• September 7 – Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China, arrives in Guangzhou (Canton).
• October 9 – Prussian Reform Movement: Serfdom is abolished by the October edict.
• October 13 – The Geological Society of London is founded.
• October 30 – El Escorial conspiracy: Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias is arrested for conspiring against his father Charles IV of Spain.
• November 24 – Battle of Abrantes, Portugal: The French under Jean-Andoche Junot take the town.
• November 29 – Portuguese Queen Maria I and the Court embark at Lisbon, bound for Brazil. Rio de Janeiro becomes the Portuguese capital.
• December 17 – Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree which confirms the Continental System (i.e. no European country is to trade with the United Kingdom).