Year 1826 Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historical Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1826. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, famous birthdays, retail prices, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: John Quincy Adams (DR/NR-Massachusetts)
2. Vice President: John C. Calhoun (D-South Carolina)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: John W. Taylor (DR-New York)
5. In 1826, the 19th U.S. Congress was in session.
6. Unemployment rate: During the 1820s, no state or federal agencies compiled “accurate tallies” of America’s unemployment rate. Only “rough estimates” of the U.S. jobless rate were available.
7. Inflation rate: 0.00%
8. Consumer price index (CPI): 9.900
9. $100.00 in 1826 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,273.96 today, an increase of $3,173.96 over 200 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.76% per year between 1826 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 3,173.96%.” In other words, today's average prices are 32.74 times higher than they were in 1826, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index. A dollar today only buys 3.054% of what it could buy back in 1826.
10. American companies and brands established in 1826 included the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, C. Brewer & Co., Cincinnati Type Foundry, Lord & Taylor, and the Union Oyster House.
11. In 1826, there were 24 U.S. states. In order of admission to the Union, they were Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803), Louisiana (1812), Indiana (1816), Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), and Missouri (1821).
12. On January 13, composer Stephen Foster, often referred to as the “father of American music,” was born in Pittsburgh. He composed over 200 songs, including Beautiful Dreamer, Camptown Races, Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, My Old Kentucky Home, Nelly Bly, and Oh! Susanna.
13. On January 24, in compliance with the Treaty of Washington, the Muscogee Native Americans ceded much of their land to the state of Georgia.
14. On February 2, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer and celebrated food critic, passed away. He published La Physiologie Du Goût (The Physiology of Taste) in 1825, which was “a collection of essays, anecdotes, and aphorisms exploring taste, digestion, cooking, and the cultural significance of eating.”
15. On February 5, future U.S. president Millard Fillmore married Abigail Powers.
16. On February 6, James Fenimore Cooper published his most popular novel, The Last of the Mohicans, in Philadelphia.
17. On February 13, the American Temperance Society was established in Boston, which advocated total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. Ten years later, the organization had over 1,500,000 members across 8,000 local groups.
18. On April 1, Samuel Morey, an American inventor, received a U.S. patent for an internal combustion engine.
19. On April 20, Peter Barr, a Scottish horticulturist, was born. He is remembered for popularizing the daffodil, a beloved spring flower.
20. On July 4, former U.S. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
21. On July 5, Joseph-Louis Proust, a French chemist, passed away. He is best known “for his discovery of the law of definite proportions,” which states that “chemical compounds always combine in constant proportions.”
22. On August 18, after crossing the Sahara Desert from Tripoli, Scottish explorer Alexander Gordon Laing became the first European to reach the fabled city of Timbuktu.
23. August 22 to November 7: Jedediah Strong Smith pioneered the first successful “overland journey” to California when he “led a 15-man fur trapping expedition from the Bear Lake/Cache Valley area of northern Utah.” This mission established the first overland route from the American interior to California.
24. On September 1, Alfred Ely Beach, an American entrepreneur, inventor, and publisher, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is best known for publishing Scientific American magazine.
25. On September 3, the USS Vincennes, a United States warship, left New York City and became the first war vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
26. On October 7, the Granite Railway—the first “chartered commercial railroad” in the United States—began operating in Massachusetts.
27. On October 17, Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish essayist and historian, married Jane Welsh.
28. On November 27, John Walker, a British chemist, invented the friction match.
29. On December 25, the Eggnog Riot unfolded at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. According to FoodReference.com, cadets in North Barrack No. 5 made their own eggnog with alcohol for a late-night/early-morning Christmas Eve celebration after learning that their eggnog would not contain alcohol. Naturally, it became raucous, and they were apprehended. At least one shot was fired, some swords were drawn, firewood crashed through windows, and shouting and general chaos broke out. To put an end to the disruption, the artillery battalion at West Point had to be called in. Following this, 19 cadets were court-martialed, six resigned, and numerous others—including a youthful Jefferson Davis—were placed in quarters for over a month.
30. In 1826, the Sing Sing Correctional Facility opened on the Hudson River in the town of Ossining, New York. A&E tells us that Sing Sing’s “fortress-like walls and narrow cells reflected the 19th-century belief that discipline, isolation, and hard labor could cleanse the criminal spirit. Visitors came by the thousands to see the ‘House of Fear,’ drawn by equal parts curiosity and dread. For generations, Sing Sing’s name evoked fear and finality.” (Just so you know, the slang phrase “being sent up the river” specifically refers to “transporting prisoners from New York City up the Hudson River to the Sing Sing Correctional Facility. ”)
31. Key fiction works published during 1826 included Ann Hatton’s Deeds of the Olden Time, Catherine Gore’s The Broken Heart, Horace Smith’s Brambletye House, James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, and Mary Shelley’s The Last Man.
32. Top dramatic works in 1826: Eugène Scribe’s The Marriage of Reason and John Howard Payne’s The French Libertine
33. Famous people born in 1826 included Charles Henry Nimitz (German-American entrepreneur), Daniel Freeman (American doctor and Civil War soldier), and Henry Watts (British diver and hero).
34. Notable people who died in 1826 included Alexander Gordon Laing (explorer), John Adams (former U.S. president), and Thomas Jefferson (former U.S. president).
35. In 1826 as well, the words “central nervous system,” “chef,” “Christmas tree,” “combative,” “dew point,” “dreamland,” “funny bone,” “gold digger,” “green vegetable,” “hand-me-down,” “homeopathy,” “obstetrician,” “pothole,” “scoreboard,” “standoffish,” and “surfboard” all appeared in print for the first time.
36. One bushel of apples: About 50 cents
37. One bushel of potatoes: 40 cents
38. One bushel of rye: About 50 cents
39. One bushel of white beans: About $1.00
40. One fur hat: About $3.00
41. One gallon of cider: 15 cents
42. One gallon of metheglin: 30 cents
43. One pair of shoes: About $1.75
44. One pound of butter: 11 cents
45. One pound of fresh beef: Five cents
46. One pound of fresh pork: Five cents
47. One pound of honey: Seven cents
48. One pound of veal: About five cents
49. One quart of soap: About eight cents
50. One ton of hay: About $6.00
51. One yard of linen: 32½ cents
52. One yard of tow cloth: 25 cents
53. Wages for one day of butchering: 50 cents
54. Wages for one day of mowing: 50 cents
55. Wages for three days of breaking flax: $1.20

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1826_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1826
3. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1826.html
4. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1826.html
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1826_in_literature
6. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1826
7. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1826
8. https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1826
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union
10. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1820.html
11. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035798035&seq=21
12. https://www.aetv.com/articles/the-real-sing-sing-prison

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor