What Happened in March?

Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third President of the United States.

The U.S. Military Academy established by Congress at West Point, the site of a Revolutionary-era fort built to protect the Hudson River Valley from British attack.

The Treaty of Amiens is signed on March 25, 1802, by France and Britain and representatives from Spain and the Batavian Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars It temporarily end hostilities between France and the United Kingdom; however the peace ended on May 18, 1803, when Britain declared war again, starting the Napoleonic Wars.

Ohio is admitted to the United States Union as the 17th State.

The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, banning the importation of slaves into the United States.

The importation of slaves into the United States is banned by an act of Congress, taking effect on January 1, 1808, banning the importation of enslaved people into the United States. The law, signed by President Thomas Jefferson, did not end slavery in the U.S. and allowed for the continuation of the domestic slave trade, which increased as the enslaved population grew through natural reproduction.

The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, banning the importation of slaves into the United States.

The British Parliament abolishes the slave trade throughout the British Empire; establishing a penalty of £120 per slave for ship captains violating the law. However, slaves in the colonies (excluding areas ruled by the East India Company) were not freed until 1838 – and only after slave-owners, rather than the slaves themselves, received compensation. More

Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son Ferdinand VII.

The Kingdom of Bavaria becomes the first German state to adopt a constitution.

Percy Bysshe Shelley and a fellow student Thomas Jefferson Hogg are s expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing "The Necessity of Atheism and for their refusal to disavow authorship  and responsibility for distribution led to their expulsion from the university.

A massive 7.7 earthquake on the Richter scale hits Caracas, Venezuela, destroying 90% of Caracas and killing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people.

The New York Stock Exchange is founded.

The Missouri Compromise is enacted, allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free State. so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in its Dred Scott v. Sandford decision that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America.

Maine is admitted to the United States on March 15, 1820, becoming the 23rd State of the Union.

The Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire begins with an uprising in the Peloponnese.

James Monroe is inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States.

Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 4, 1831,representing southeastern Massachusetts for the 22nd Congress. In so doing, he became the only former president to do so. More

The Republic of Texas formally declares independence from Mexico at the convention of Washington-on-the-Brazos which was attended by 45 delegates, representing 21 municipalities. Over the next ten days, delegates prepared a constitution for the Republic of Texas; David G. Burnet was elected president.  Expand +

Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth President of the United States.