- Aug 8 US Congress unanimously chooses the dollar as the monetary unit for the United States of America
- Aug 8 Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard are 1st to climb to top of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe
- Aug 11 Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia
- Aug 29 Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising in Springfield and Worcester, Massachusetts, by citizens in opposition to the government's increased efforts to collect taxes on both individuals and their businesses