January–March •
January 9 – The
Treaty of Jassy ends the
Russian Empire's war with the
Ottoman Empire over
Crimea. •
January 25 – The
London Corresponding Society is founded. •
February 18 –
Thomas Holcroft produces the comedy
The Road to Ruin in London. •
February 20 • The
Postal Service Act, establishing the
United States Post Office Department, is signed by President
George Washington. •
Parliament House, Dublin catches fire during a legislative session. "Although in imminent danger of the roof falling in," it is noted later, "the House did not adjourn until a proper motion had been put and carried in the affirmative." •
March 1 –
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, the last emperor, takes office. •
March 7 – A settlement is formed in
Sierra Leone in West Africa as a home for freed slaves. •
March 16 –
Assassination of Gustav III: King
Gustav III of Sweden is shot in the back by
Jacob Johan Anckarström, at a midnight
masquerade at the Royal Opera in Stockholm; he lives until
March 29, and is then succeeded by his 14-year-old son,
Gustav IV Adolf. •
March 20 – A new capital of
North Carolina, and seat of the newly formed
Wake County, is established after North Carolina
State senator and surveyor William Christmas submits his design for the city. A few months later, the capital is officially named
Raleigh, in honor of Sir
Walter Raleigh. •
March 22 –
Haitian Revolution:
Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets – Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the revolution. •
March 25 – The
National Legislative Assembly (France) agrees that the
guillotine should be used for judicial executions.
April–June •
April 2 – The
Coinage Act is passed, establishing the
United States Mint. •
August 21 – Royalist Louis Collenot d'Angremont becomes the first person executed by
guillotine for political reasons, in Paris. •
September –
Macartney Embassy:
George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, sails from
Portsmouth in
HMS Lion as the first official envoy from Great Britain to China. •
September 2–
7 –
French Revolution:
September Massacres – Rampaging mobs slaughter three
Roman Catholic bishops and more than 200
priests, together with at least 1,000 other criminals. •
September 11 – Six men steal some of the former
French Crown Jewels from a warehouse where the revolutionary government has stored them. •
September 12 – The town of
Fort Borbon is founded by Governor Joaquín Alós y Bru. Nowadays it is called
Fuerte Olimpo. •
September 14 – Radical antimonarchist
Thomas Paine flees from England to France after being indicted for treason. He is
tried in absentia during December and
outlawed. :
Battle of Valmy. •
September 20 –
French Revolutionary Wars:
Battle of Valmy – The French revolutionary army defeats the Prussians under the
Duke of Brunswick after a 7-hour artillery duel. •
September 21 –
French Revolution: A
Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy by the French Convention goes into effect, and the
French First Republic is established, effective the following day. •
September 22 –
French Revolution: The
Era of the historical
French Republican Calendar begins. •
September 30 –
Chickamauga Cherokee launch an attack on
Middle Tennessee to exterminate the White settlers; they are stopped at the opening battle at
Buchanan's Station outside
Nashboro.
October–December •
October 2 – The
Baptist Missionary Society is founded in
Kettering, England. •
October 3 – A militia departs from the Spanish
stronghold of
Valdivia to quell a
Huilliche uprising in southern Chile. •
October 12 – The first
Columbus Day celebration in the United States is held in New York City, 300 years after his arrival in the New World. •
October 13 – Foundation of
Washington, D.C.: The cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the
White House after
1818) is laid. :
Mount Hood is named. •
October 29 –
Mount Hood (
Oregon) is named after British Admiral
Lord Hood by
Lt. William Broughton of the
Vancouver Expedition, who spots the mountain near the mouth of the
Willamette River. •
November 6 •
War of the First Coalition:
Battle of Jemappes – Austrian armies under the command of
Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen are defeated in Belgium (at this time part of the Austrian Netherlands) by the French Army led by General
Charles François Dumouriez. • The
second United States presidential election is held. Incumbent President
George Washington receives all 132 electoral votes for president, and incumbent Vice President
John Adams is re-elected with 77 of 132 votes, with
George Clinton receiving 50. •
November 29 –
War of the First Coalition: The Siege of
Antwerp ends with the surrender of the Austrian garrison •
December 3 –
George Washington is re-elected president of the United States. •
December 26 – The
trial of Louis XVI of France begins.
Date unknown •
Tipu Sultan invades
Kerala, India, but is repulsed. • Hungarian astronomer
Franz Xaver von Zach publishes
The Tables of the Sun, an essential early work for navigation. •
Claude Chappe successfully demonstrates the first
semaphore line, between Paris and Lille. • Scottish engineer
William Murdoch begins experimenting with
gas lighting. • George Anschutz constructs the first
blast furnace in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. •
Mary Wollstonecraft's
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, one of the earliest works of feminist literature, is published in London. •
Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, future French general, becomes sub-lieutenant. •
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger becomes
Kapellmeister in
Vienna. • The
State Street Corporation is founded, in
Boston,
Massachusetts. • The
Insurance Company of North America (later
Chubb) is founded in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. • Shiloh Meeting House, predecessor of Shiloh United Methodist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, is founded. • The first
written examinations in Europe are held at the
University of Cambridge in England. • The composer
Ludwig van Beethoven moves to
Vienna from Bonn to study with
Haydn. He would live in Vienna for the rest of his life. •
James Johnstone establishes that
Vancouver Island is an
island. == Births ==