1810:
John Jacob Astor forms Pacific Fur Company
July 5: Birth of Phineas T. Barnum
1811:
February 3: birth of American editor Horace Greeley
December 16: Earthquake in Mississippi Valley
1812:
February 7: Birth of British novelist Charles Dickens
March 15: Luddites attack wool factory in England
March 26: Earthquake levels Caracas, Venezuela
June 18: War of 1812 begins
June 24: Napoleon invades Russia
August 19: USS Constitution defeats British ship Guerriere
September 7: Battle of Borodino
October: Napoleon begins retreat from Russia
November 5: James Madison wins US presidential election
1813:
April 23: Birth of Stephen Douglas, US Senator and rival of Abraham Lincoln
June 24: Birth of Henry Ward Beecher
1814:
August 24: British troops march to Washington DC, burn White House and Capitol
September 13: Bombardment of Fort McHenry, in Baltimore. Francis Scott Key writes the Star-Spangled Banner.
1815:
January 8: Battle of New Orleans
April 5-12: Mount Tambora eruption
June 18: Battle of Waterloo
1816:
Known as Year Without a Summer
November: James Monroe wins US presidential election
1817:
March 4: James Monroe sworn in as president
July 4: Construction begins on the Erie Canal
1818:
1819:
January 2: Panic of 1819 begins
March 6: McCulloch v. Maryland decided in US Supreme Court
