- Jan 1 Russia appoints 1st Jewish censor to censor Hebrew books
- Jan 8 11th Amendment ratified, judicial powers construed
- Jan 22 Coup d'état in Batavian Republic
- Jan 30 Rep Matthew Lyon (Vt) spits in face of Rep Roger Griswold (Ct) in US House of Representatives, after an argument
- Feb 2 Federal St Theater, Boston, becomes 1st in US destroyed by fire
- Feb 10 French army led by Louis Alexandre Berthier captures Rome
- Feb 15 Louis Alexandre Berthier proclaim a Roman Republic after conquering Rome
- Mar 4 Catholic women force to do penance for kindling sabbath fire for Jews
- Mar 7 The French army enters Rome: the birth of the Roman Republic
- Mar 9 Dr George Balfour becomes 1st naval surgeon in the US Navy
- Mar 29 Republic of Switzerland forms
- Apr 7 Mississippi Territory organized
- Apr 23 Dutch emperor accepts new Constitution
- Apr 30 US Department of the Navy forms
- May 24 Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins
- May 26 British kill about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara
- May 27 The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland, large rebel force kills local militia
- Jun 5 The Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated
- Jun 7 Jews of Pesaro Italy fast commemorating murder of Jews
Historic Publication
Jun 7 Thomas Malthus publishes the first edition of his influential 'Essay on the Principle of Population' (date of the unsigned preface)
- Jul 2 Marine Police established by The West India Committee to guard merchant vessels on the river Thames, London, beginnings of the world's oldest continuously serving police force [1]
- Jul 6 US law makes aliens "liable to be apprehended, restrained, ... & removed as alien enemies"
- Jul 7 Quasi-War: the U.S. Congress rescinds treaties with France sparking the 'war'
- Jul 11 US Marine Corps established by an act of Congress
- Jul 14 1st direct US federal tax on states enacted to finance military build-up; dwellings, land, and slaves are subject to tariff
- Jul 14 US Sedition Act prohibits "false, scandalous & malicious" writing against government
- Jul 16 US Public Health Service forms & US Marine Hospital authorized
- Jul 21 Napoleon Bonaparte wins Battle of Pyramids in Egypt (Battle of Embabeh) against Mamluk rulers, wiping out most of the Egyptian army
- Jul 23 Napoleon Bonaparte captures Alexandria, Egypt
Victory in Battle
Aug 1 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacks and decimates the French fleet at Aboukir Bay off the Nile Delta, Egypt
- Aug 2 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson further decimates the French fleet
- Aug 3 Battle of the Nile: British Admiral Horatio Nelson forces the remnants of the French fleet to surrender, concluding a decisive victory for the British who capture or destroy 11 French ships of the line and 2 frigates
Event of Interest
Aug 22 French troops land in Kilcummin harbour in County Mayo, Ireland, to aid Wolfe Tone's United Irishmen's Irish Rebellion
- Aug 27 Battle of Castlebar, Ireland: French army and Irish rebels rout a larger the British force
- Sep 1 Britain signs treaty with Nizam of Hyderabad, India
- Sep 2 First bank robbery in the US: Bank of Pennsylvania robbed of $162,821 at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia
- Sep 3 Battle of St. George's Caye: Week long battle begins between the Spanish Empire and Great Britain off the coast of Belize
- Sep 5 New conscription law goes into effect in France
- Sep 10 British Honduras beats Spain in battle of St George
- Oct 12 Flemish uprising against French occupied Boerenkrijg
- Oct 12 Friedrich von Schiller's "Wallensteins Lager" premieres in Weimar
- Nov 8 Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone is sentenced to death by hanging for his part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Tone requests to be shot instead so as to die a soldier's death.
- Nov 16 Kentucky becomes first state to nullify an act of Congress
- Nov 17 Beginning of a 5 day New England Blizzard that covers thousands of houses and kills hundreds
- Nov 19 Dutch Rijksmuseum founded in the Hague (moved to Amsterdam 1808)
- Nov 27 Rabbi Shneur Zalman, author (Tanya), released from St Petersburg jail
- Dec 4 Rebellious Flemish farmers occupy Hasselt
- Dec 5 Dutch troops occupy Hasselt
- Dec 14 David Wilkinson of Rhode Island patents a nut & bolt machine
- Dec 17 1st impeachment trial against a US senator (William Blount, Tennessee) begins
- Dec 24 Russia & Britain sign Second anti-French Coalition