| January 1 | Dutch East Indies Company dissolves |
| January 2 | Free black community of Philadelphia petitions Congress to abolish slave |
| January 5 | 1st Swedenborgian temple in U.S. holds 1st service, Baltimore |
| January 8 | Austrians defeat French in 2nd battle of Novi |
| January 8 | Wild Boy of Aveyron discovered in southern France |
| January 20 | Napoleon I's sister Carolina marries King Joachim Murat of Naples |
| January 30 | U.S. population: 5,308,483; Black population 1,002,037 (18.9%) |
| March 14 | Luigi Chiaramonti crowned Pope Pius VII |
| March 17 | English warship Queen Charlotte catches fire; 700 die |
| March 20 | French army defeats Turks at Helipolis Turkey, and advance to Cairo |
| April 2 | 1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 1st Symphony in C |
| April 15 | James Ross discovers North Magnetic pole |
| April 24 | Library of Congress establishes with $5,000 allocation |
| May 7 | Indiana Territory organized |
| May 14 | Friedrich von Schiller's "Macbeth," premieres in Weimar |
| May 15 | King George III survives a 2nd assassination attempt |
| May 15 | Pope Pius VII calls on French bishops to return to Gospel principles |
| June 4 | White House completed and President and Mrs. John Adams move in |
| June 14 | Battle of Marengo (Alessandria): Bonaparte vs Austria |
| June 29 | Free mason lodge establishes in Alkmaar |
| July 8 | Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse gives 1st cowpox vaccination to his son to prevent smallpox |
| July 9 | Mount Vernon Gardens becomes site of 1st summer theater in U.S. |
| September 5 | Malta surrenders to British after they blockade French troops |
| September 7 | Zion AME Church dedicated (New York City) |
| September 13 | Curacao in English hands (until Jan 1803) |
| October 1 | Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty |
| October 17 | Dutch colony Curacao transfered to England |
| November 1 | 1st president to live in white house (John Adams) |
| November 17 | Congress held 1st session in Washington D.C. in incompleted Capitol building |
| November 17 | John Adams is 1st President to move into the White House |
| November 24 | Weber's opera "Das Waldmadchen," premieres in Freiburg |
| December 12 | Washington D.C. established as capital of US |
