Year 1818 Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historical Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1818. 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: James Monroe (DR-Virginia)
2. Vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins (DR-New York)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Marshall (Virginia)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Henry Clay (DR-Kentucky)
5. In 1818, the 15th U.S. Congress was in session. Both chambers—the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives—had a Democratic-Republican majority.
6. Unemployment rate: A precise unemployment rate for 1818 does not exist.
7. Inflation rate: -4.51%
8. Consumer price index (CPI): 12.700
9. $100.00 in 1818 “is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2,552.14 today, which represents an increase of $2,452.14 over the past 208 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.57% per year between 1818 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 2,452.14%. This means that today's prices are 25.52 times as high as average prices since 1818, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index. A dollar today only buys 3.918% of what it could buy back then.”
10. American companies and brands established in 1818 included Breck’s (a gardening company) and Brooks Brothers (a luxury clothing brand).
11. In 1818, the average life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 40 to 45 years because of a high infant mortality rate. Americans who survived childhood often lived into their 50s, 60s, and even 70s.
12. In 1818, there were 21 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), and Illinois (1818).
13. On January 1, 20-year-old Mary Shelley published her famous Gothic novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, in London. According to History.com, Frankenstein “is frequently called the world’s first science fiction novel. In Shelley’s tale, a scientist animates a creature constructed from dismembered corpses. The gentle, intellectually gifted creature is enormous and physically hideous. Cruelly rejected by its creator, it wanders, seeking companionship and becoming increasingly brutal as it fails to find a mate.”
14. On January 2, English Romantic poet Lord Byron completed his long narrative poem, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
15. On January 18, George Palmer, a biscuit manufacturer, was born in the UK. Along with his business partner, Thomas Huntley, he introduced decorative biscuit tins to the marketplace.
16. On January 21, the English Romantic poet John Keats finished his poem, On a Lock of Milton’s Hair, which was a “heartfelt tribute” to the English poet John Milton (1608-74).
17. In March, Congress approved the first pensions for U.S. government service.
18. On April 4, the U.S. Congress passed the Flag Act of 1818, which mandated that the United States flag be “restored” to 13 horizontal stripes, which represented the original 13 colonies, and also feature 20 stars, which represented the 20 states in the Union at the time.
19. On April 7, Brooks Brothers, the oldest men’s clothier in the United States, opened its first store “on the northeast corner of Catherine and Cherry Streets in New York City.”
20. On April 14, the United States Coast Survey, the first scientific agency of the U.S. government, suspended operations until August 9, 1832.
21. On May 4, Thomas Adams, an American scientist and entrepreneur, was born. He is regarded as the founder of the chewing gum industry.
22. On May 10, Paul Revere, the celebrated American Revolutionary War patriot, passed away. He was also a silversmith and a pioneering dentist.
23. On July 16, the Daniel Webster Debate Society was established at the Phillips Exeter Academy, a private college preparatory school in New Hampshire.
24. On July 11, the Second Bank of the United States reversed its policy of “expanding credit” and sent notices to its borrowers that demanded “immediate repayment of balances due.” This action triggered the nationwide Panic of 1819. (During the Panic of 1819, the growth in commerce that followed the War of 1812 “came to an abrupt halt.” Agricultural prices dropped by half, banks failed, mortgages were foreclosed, and unemployment rose nationwide.)
25. On July 31, Andrew Logan published Cleveland’s first newspaper, The Cleaveland Gazette & Commercial Register.
26. On September 29, American inventor Samuel Morse married Lucretia Walker in Concord, New Hampshire.
27. On October 6, Shadrach Bond was sworn in as the first governor of Illinois.
28. On October 19, the United States and the Chickasaw Nation signed the Treaty of Old Town, in which the Chickasaw Indians “ceded all land claims north of the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. In exchange for this land, often referred to as the Jackson Purchase, the U.S. government agreed to pay the Chickasaw $20,000 annually for 15 years.”
29. On October 20, the Treaty of 1818 (aka the Convention of 1818) resolved several border issues between the United States and the UK. It “established the boundary between the U.S. and British North America (Canada) at the 49th parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains,” and “also established joint control of the Oregon Country for ten years.”
30. On December 3, Illinois became the 21st U.S. state.
31. On December 24, the famous Christmas carol Silent Night was first performed at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria.
32. On December 25, Handel's Messiah was first performed in the U.S. by the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston.
33. What was the typical American diet like in 1818? In 1818, “the United States was vastly agricultural, and many families lived off the land, cultivating their vegetable and herb gardens and raising their livestock and poultry. Hunting and fishing provided wild game and other meat alternatives.”
34. Key fiction works published during 1818: Ann Hatton’s Secrets of Every Mansion, Mary Meeke’s The Veiled Protectress, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Patrick Brontë’s The Maid of Killarney, Selina Davenport’s An Angel's Form and a Devil's Heart, and Thomas Love Peacock’s Nightmare Abbey
35. Key poems published during 1818: John Keats’ Endymion and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias
36. Key dramatic works for the year: James Kenney’s A Word to the Ladies, John Dillon’s Retribution, and William Dimond’ The Bride of Abydos
37. Famous people born during 1818 included Emily Brontë (novelist), Frederick Douglass (autobiographer), Karl Marx (philosopher), Maria Mitchell (astronomer), and Richard Gatling (inventor).
38. Notable people who died in 1818 included Abigail Adams (First Lady), Nancy Lincoln (President Abraham Lincoln’s mother), and Paul Revere (Revolutionary War hero).
39. In 1818 as well, the words “biological,” “city editor,” “daddy longlegs,” “elementary school,” “Frankenstein,” “ginger ale,” “hospice,” “laughing gas,” “lickety-split,” “limited edition,” “personal effects,” “policyholder,” “romantic comedy,” “silent partner,” and “waitress” all appeared in print for the first time.
40. 12 pounds of veal: 96 cents
41. 15 pounds and 10 ounces of honey @ 20 cents per pound: $3.12
42. Eighteen pounds of rye flour: 81 cents
43. Four bushels of buckwheat: $2.40
44. One and a half bushels of rye: $1.50
45. One bee hive: $4.00
46. One dozen tacks: Six cents
47. One nutmeg: 12 cents
48. One ton of plaster: $17.00
49. Two bushels of potatoes: $1.25
50. Wages for one day of chopping: 50 cents

References:

1. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1811.html
2. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1818.html
3. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1818.html
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1818_in_literature
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1818_in_the_United_States
6. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1818
7. https://www.infoplease.com/history/world/1800-1899-ad-world-history
8. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1818
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union
10. https://www.in2013dollars.com/inflation-rate-in-1818
11. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1818?amount=1

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