E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was organized in Paris in 1801 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). The next year E.I. du Pont purchased a mill site on the banks of the Brandywine River just north of Wilmington, Delaware, and began making preparations to establish a black powder manufactory. During the winter of 1802 to 1803 E.I. du Pont recruited a small workforce and began building the company's mills. By the spring of 1804 powder was being produced and the company had secured a commitment from President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) to purchase DuPont gunpowder for the Army and Navy. With this contract in place the company started to recruit immigrant Irish workers for the mills and hired its first independent sales agents.

Peter Bauduy (1769?-1833) and du Pont were partners in several business ventures together, including Du Pont, Bauduy, & Co., a textile manufacturing firm and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. In December 1814, Bauduy resigned from the partnership of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in a dispute with du Pont. On March 16, 1816, Bauduy brought suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery to dissolve the firm and distribute its assets. Du Pont was finally sustained on appeal on June 9, 1829.