Governor of South Carolina: John Drayton (Democratic-Republican) (until December 8), James Burchill Richardson (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 8)
Governor of Tennessee: Archibald Roane (Democratic-Republican)
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Alexander Scott Bullitt (political party unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Samuel Phillips, Jr. (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Edward Robbins (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of New York: Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (political party unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Richard Winn (Democratic-Republican) (until December 8), Ezekiel Pickens (Democratic-Republican) (starting December 8)
March 16 – Congress authorizes the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
April 19 – The Judiciary Act of 1802 is enacted, reorganizing the federal court system.
April 30 – The Enabling Act of 1802 authorizes the creation of Ohio from the Northwest Territory and sets a precedent for the creation of future states from the western territories.
June 1 – William Thornton is appointed the first superintendent of the United States Patent Office.[1]
July 4 – At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens.
October 2 – First Barbary War: Fighting ends between Sweden and Tripoli. The United States also negotiates peace, but war continues over the size of compensation.
October 12 – Joseph Gardner Swift and Simeon Magruder Levy become the first graduates of the United States Military Academy.
Undated[]
U.S. House of Representatives elections: 142 representatives are elected, 36 more than the 7th Congress, following reapportionment from the 1800 United States Census.
Ongoing[]
First Barbary War (1801–1805)
Births[]
January 22 – Richard Upjohn, Gothic architect (died 1878)
February 4 – Mark Hopkins, educator and president of Williams College (died 1887)
February 11 – Lydia Maria Child, abolitionist, women's rights activist, novelist and journalist (died 1880)
A Register of Marriages and Deaths, 1802. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 24, No. 2 (1900), pp. 207–211
W. L. McAtee. Journal of Benjamin Smith Barton on a Visit to Virginia, 1802. Castanea, Vol. 3, No. 7/8 (November – December, 1938), pp. 85–117
McPherson, Elizabeth G. (1946). "The Southern States and the Reporting of Senate Debates, 1789-1802". The Journal of Southern History. 12 (2): 223–246. doi:10.2307/2198151. JSTOR2198151.
Perlman, Bennard B. (1955). "Baltimore Mansion, 1801-03". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 14 (1): 26–28. doi:10.2307/987719. JSTOR987719.
C. Richard Arena. Philadelphia-Mississippi Valley trade and deposit closure of 1802. Pennsylvania History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (January 1963), pp. 28–45
Forman, Sidney (1965). "Why the United States Military Academy was Established in 1802". Military Affairs. 29 (1): 16–28. doi:10.2307/1985024. JSTOR1985024.
Brown, Elizabeth Gaspar; Woodward, Augustus B.; Kearney, J. H. (1969). "A Jeffersonian's Recommendations for a Lawyer's Education: 1802". The American Journal of Legal History. 13 (2): 139. doi:10.2307/844207. JSTOR844207.
Knudson, Jerry W. (1970). "The Jeffersonian Assault on the Federalist Judiciary, 1802-1805; Political Forces and Press Reaction". The American Journal of Legal History. 14 (1): 55–75. doi:10.2307/844519. JSTOR844519.
Howard A. Ohline. Georgetown, South Carolina: Racial Anxieties and Militant Behavior, 1802. The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 73, No. 3 (July, 1972), pp. 130–140
Crackel, Theodore J. (1982). "Jefferson, Politics, and the Army: An Examination of the Military Peace Establishment Act of 1802". Journal of the Early Republic. 2 (1): 21–38. doi:10.2307/3122533. JSTOR3122533.
Wagner, John W. (1984). "New York City Concert Life, 1801-5". American Music. 2 (2): 53–69. doi:10.2307/3051658. JSTOR3051658.