Events in History
Constitution of the United States
Event of Interest
Jan 26 Captain Arthur Phillip and British colonists hoist the Union Flag at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, now celebrated as Australia Day
Arthur Phillip
- Jan 28 Lord Gordon found guilty of libel of Queen of France
- Feb 1 1st US steamboat patent issued, by Georgia to Briggs & Longstreet
- Feb 6 Massachusetts becomes 6th state to ratify constitution
- Feb 9 Austria declares war on Russia
- Mar 6 The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island to found a convict settlement
- Mar 21 Fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana
- Mar 21 Olaudah Equiano (aka Gustavus Vassa), a freed slave, petitions King George III and Queen Charlotte, to free enslaved Africans
- Apr 7 1st settlement in Ohio, at Marietta
- Apr 15 Britain, Netherlands & Prussia sign peace treaty
- Apr 28 Maryland becomes 7th state to ratify US constitution
- May 9 British parliament accepts abolition of slave trade
- May 23 South Carolina becomes 8th state to ratify US constitution
- Jun 7 French peasants stone the Army in Grenbole, an event known as the Day of the Tiles
- Jun 11 1st British ship built on Pacific coast begun at Nootka Sound, BC
- Jun 11 Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska
Event of Interest
Jun 17 After a lengthy stay in Europe, future US President John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams return to Boston
John Adams
Abigail Adams
- Aug 13 Prussia joins Anglo-Dutch alliance to form Triple Alliance to prevent spread of Russo-Swedish War of 1788-90
- Aug 17 Losantville, Ohio (now Cincinnati) founded
- Aug 22 Sierra Leone settled by British as a haven for former slaves
- Aug 27 Jacques Neeker named as French minister of Finance
- Sep 13 NY City becomes 1st capital of US
- Dec 17 Russian army of Grigory Potemkin occupies Ocharov
- Dec 19 Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam
- Dec 21 Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam
- Dec 23 Maryland votes to cede a 10 square mile area for District of Columbia
Birthdays in History
Lord Byron
Jan 22 Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron], English romantic poet (Don Juan), born in London (d. 1824)
Lord Byron
- Feb 5 Karoly Kisfaludy, Hungarian literary (A Tat rok Magyarorsz gon)
Robert Peel
Feb 5 Robert "Bobbie" Peel, British Prime Minister (Tory/Conservative/Peelite: 1834-35; 1841-46), founder of the British Conservative Party and founder of the modern police force (Bobbies), born in Ramsbottom, England (d. 1850)
Robert Peel
- Feb 16 Juan van Halen, Dutch/Spanish officer/adventurer
- Feb 22 Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (Great Pessimist)
- Mar 1 Gheorghe Asachi, Romania, writer/humanist/politician
- Mar 7 Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist who pioneered the study of electric and luminescent phenomena, born in Châtillon-Coligny, France (d. 1878)
- Mar 10 Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German poet (Das Marmorbild)
- Mar 12 Pierre J David, [David d'Angers], French sculptor
- Apr 2 Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (Florante at Laura), born in Barrio Panginay, Balagtas, Bulacan (d. 1862)
- Apr 5 Franz Pforr, German painter and cartoonist (Lukasbund), born in Frankfurt, Germany (d. 1812)
- Apr 14 David G. Burnet, interim president of the Republic of Texas (d. 1870)
- Apr 17 Joseph Gilbert Totten, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1864)
- May 10 Augustin-Jean Fresnel, optics pioneer/physicist
- May 10 Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, German queen (d. 1819)
- May 16 Friedrich Rückert, German Poet, Translator and Orientalist (d. 1866)
- May 18 Hugh Clapperton, Annan Scotland, African explorer
- Jun 21 Princess Augusta of Bavaria, born in Strasbourg (d. 1851)
- Jul 1 Jean-Victor Poncelet, mathematician, founded projective geometry
- Aug 2 Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1853)
- Aug 15 Carel SW van Hogendorp, Dutch colonial director
- Aug 22 Thomas Tredgold, English railway engineer and carpenter,born in Brandon, Durham, England (d. 1829)
- Aug 25 Cornelis J van Assen, Dutch jurist (Language of the Constitution), born in Harlingen, Friesland (d. 1859)
- Sep 6 Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow, German painter (Modern Vasari), born in Berlin (d. 1862)
- Sep 10 Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes, French archaeologist (d. 1868)
- Sep 12 Alexander Campbell, Irish-American clergyman and Founder of Disciples of Christ, born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland (d. 1866)
- Sep 21 Margaret Smith Taylor, 1st lady (1849-50)
- Sep 22 Theodore Edward Hook, English author (d. 1841)
- Sep 30 FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, British Army officer (commander of the British forces during the Crimean War), born in Badminton, England (d. 1855)
- Oct 23 Sarah Hale, founder (Seaman's Aid Society of Boston)
- Oct 24 Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (Mary Had a Little Lamb), born in Newport, New Hampshire (d. 1879)
- Dec 29 Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Danish antiquarian (named the stone/iron/bronze ages), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1865)
Deaths in History
- Jan 11 François Joseph Paul de Grasse, French admiral (commanded the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake), dies at 64
- Jan 14 François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasetilly, comte de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
- Jan 31 [Bonnie Prince] Charles Edward Stuart, English pretender to throne (Jacobite rebellion), dies at 67
- Feb 18 John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist, dies at 75
- Feb 20 Gijsbert John van Hardenbroeck, Dutch regent (Utrecht), dies at 68
- Feb 21 Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- Feb 21 Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer, 1st saw Halley's comet on return, dies at 64
- Feb 28 Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)
- Mar 29 Charles Wesley, hymn writer, dies
- Apr 16 George-Louis Leclerc, count de Buffon, French naturalist and writer on natural history (Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière), dies at 80
- Apr 22 Zacharias H Alewijn, Dutch poet, dies 46
- May 8 Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
- May 29 Jacques Aliamet, French etcher/engraver, dies at 61
- Jun 12 Johann A Cramer, prime minister/poet, dies at 65
- Jun 18 Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (b. 1714)
- Jun 21 Johann Georg Hamann, German counter-enlightenment philosopher ("Reason is language"), dies at 57
- Jul 8 Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, French marshal and statesman, 3rd Duke of Richilieu, dies at 92
- Aug 2 Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (Blue Boy), dies at 61
- Aug 8 Louis FAD Duke the Richelieu, French marshal, dies at 92
- Sep 14 John Penn, US attorney, signed (Declaration of Independence), dies at 47
- Oct 13 Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, Irish politician and poet (b. 1702)
- Oct 15 Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (b. 1735)
- Nov 28 Charles C of Nassau-Weilburg, governor of Maastricht, dies at about 53
- Dec 6 Jonathan Shipley, British bishop and politician (b. 1714)
- Dec 14 Carlos III, King of Naples/Spain (1759-88), dies at 72
- Dec 22 Percivall Pott, English physician and surgeon (b. 1714)
- Dec 30 Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian rococo painter and etcher, dies at 86