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 24 French La Pérouse expedition arrives in Botany Bay, Australia, meeting the newly arrived "First Fleet" penal colony
Australia Day
Jan 26 Captain Arthur Phillip and British colonists hoist the Union Flag at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, now celebrated as Australia Day. Referred to as Invasion Day by some First Nations people.
- 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 British First Fleet arrives at Australian territory of Norfolk Island to found a convict settlement
- Mar 21 Fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana
Olaudah Equiano Petitions the King
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
Adams Returns to Boston
Jun 17 After a lengthy stay in Europe, future US President John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams return to Boston
- Aug 13 Prussia joins Anglo-Dutch alliance to form Triple Alliance to prevent spread of Russo-Swedish War of 1788-90
- Aug 22 Sierra Leone settled by British as a haven for former slaves
- Aug 27 Jacques Neeker named as French minister of Finance
- Sep 22 Losantville, Ohio (now Cincinnati) founded by land speculators Mathias Denman and Colonel Robert Patterson, and surveyor John Filson; the first settlers arrive in December
- Dec 17 Russian army of Grigory Potemkin assaults and captures the fortress of Ocharov in modern day Ukraine after a 5 month long siege in one of the major events of the Russo-Turkish War
- 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
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists