- Feb 7 Austria & Prussia sign anti-French covenant
- Feb 20 US postal service created, postage 6-12 cents depending on distance
- Feb 21 US Congress passes Presidential Succession Act
- Feb 23 Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving stations for distressed mariners)
- Mar 1 US Presidential Succession Act passed
- Mar 4 Oranges introduced to Hawaii
Assassination of King Gustav III
Mar 16 King Gustav III of Sweden is shot by Count Jacob Johan Anckarström at a masked ball at the Opera; he dies on March 29
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- Mar 24 Benjamin West (US) becomes president of Royal Academy of London
Event of Interest
Mar 29 King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera just 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
Gustav III
Event of Interest
Apr 5 George Washington casts 1st presidential veto
George Washington
Declaration of War
Apr 14 France declares war on Austria, starting French Revolutionary Wars
Georges Danton
- Apr 20 Amidst the French Revolution, France declares war on Austria and Prussia, beginning the French Revolutionary Wars
- Apr 21 Brazilian revolutionary Tiradentes, is hanged, drawn and quartered in Rio de Janeiro
- Apr 25 Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas Pelletier
- May 7 Captain Robert Gray discovers Grays Harbor (Washington)
- May 8 British Captain George Vancouver sights and names Mt Rainier, Washington
- May 8 US establishes the military draft
- May 11 Columbia River discovered & named by US Captain Robert Gray
- May 12 Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented
- May 16 Denmark abolishes slave trade
- May 17 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street
- May 19 Russian army enters Poland
- May 21 Mount Unzen on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000; Japan's deadliest volcanic eruption
- Jun 1 Kentucky admitted as 15th US state
- Jun 4 Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain
- Jun 12 Captain George Vancouver discovers site of Vancouver, British Columbia
- Jun 21 Vancouver meets Spanish ships Sutil & Mexicana off Vancouver, British Columbia
- Jul 8 France declares war on Prussia
- Jul 11 Prussia army moves into French territory
- Jul 25 Dutch patriots exiles found "Bataafs Legion"
- Jul 25 The Brunswick Manifesto issued to population of Paris promising vengeance if French Royal Family harmed
- Jul 31 Cornerstone laid for 1st US government building: US Mint in Philadelphia
- Aug 10 A large scale insurrection against the French monarchy occurs in Paris
Event of Interest
Aug 10 Papers from the Tuileries Palace, proving the Comte de Mirabeau had secret dealings with the court are revealed
Comte de Mirabeau
Event of Interest
Aug 13 Revolutionaries imprison French royals, including Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
- Aug 29 British man o'war HMS Royal George capsizes at Spithead; more than 800 killed
- Sep 2 September Massacres of the French Revolution: In Paris rampaging mobs slaughter 3 Roman Catholic bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.
- Sep 11 The French Blue gem (later the Hope Diamond) is stolen with other French crown jewels from Royal storehouse in Paris during Reign of Terror
- Sep 20 French defeat Prussians at Valmy
- Sep 21 French Revolution: The National Convention passes a proclamation announcing the formal abolition of the French monarchy
- Sep 22 French First Republic formed by the National Convention, stripping French king of his powers
Event of Interest
Sep 26 Marc-David Lasource begins accusing Maximilien Robespierre of wanting a dictatorship for France
Maximilien Robespierre
- Oct 2 Baptist Missionary Society forms in London
Christopher Columbus
- Oct 13 "Old Farmer's Almanac" is 1st published and edited by Robert Thomas
- Oct 13 Cornerstone laid for the Executive Mansion (White House) in Washington
- Oct 29 Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
- Nov 6 Battle of Jemappes: French army beats Holy Roman Empire
- Nov 14 Captain George Vancouver is first Englishman to enter San Francisco Bay
Historic Publication
Nov 25 Benjamin Banneker first publishes his Farmer's Almanac
Benjamin Banneker
- Dec 5 George Washington re-elected as US President
- Dec 8 1st cremation in US: Henry Laurens
- Dec 11 France's King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason and crimes against the state
- Dec 15 1st life insurance policy issued in US (Philadelphia)
- Dec 17 Opening of 1st legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Quebec city
- Dec 26 Trial of French King Louis XVI, court hears the kings defense brought by Raymond Desèze