Events in History
Constitution of the United States
Jan 2 Georgia is 4th state to ratify US constitution
- Jan 9 Connecticut becomes 5th state to ratify the US constitution
- Jan 18 First elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay to set up a penal colony
- Jan 20 Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah, Georgia
- Jan 26 Captain Arthur Phillip and British colonists hoist the Union Flag at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, now celebrated as Australia Day
- 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 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