The United States Congress authorized construction of the brig, originally named USS Merrimack, the second U.S. Navy ship of that name, on 23 February 1803, and on 29 April 1803 the U.S. Navy contracted with the shipyard of Edmund Hartt at Boston, Massachusetts, to construct the ship.
Smith found that U.S. Navy officers disliked the name Merrimack for the new brig, and he directed that she be renamed Argus, the first U.S. Navy ship of that name, on 4 June 1803.