1791 CE

Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state (see History of Vermont). May 8 – The first American ships reach Japan, brigantine Lady Washington captained by John Kendrick of Boston, and the brig Grace. The Northern Whig Club, a group of nine Belfast Presbyterians, meets with Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell and forms the Society of United Irishmen to press for liberal non-denominational parliamentary reform.

In the 1790s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 25 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act 1791, splitting the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.source
February 21 – The United States opens diplomatic relations with Portugal.source
March 2 – The abolition of guilds is enacted.source
March 4 – Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state.source
March 4 – Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state (see History of Vermont).United States source
March – French Revolution: In France, the National Constituent Assembly accepts the recommendation of its Commission of Weights and Measures that the nation should adopt the metric system.source
April 21 – The first of forty boundary markers of the original District of Columbia, delineating the borders of the new District in the United States is laid at Jones Point Light in Alexandria, Virginia.source
May 3 – The Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth proclaims the Constitution of May 3, 1791, the first modern codified constitution in Europe.source
16–18 May – Elections begin; Robespierre proposes and carries the motion that no deputy who sat in the Constituent assembly can sit in the succeeding Legislative assembly.France source
10 June – Constitutional Act, splitting the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.United Kingdom source
June - William Jones distributes copies of an address at the Llanrwst eisteddfod, titled To all Indigenous Cambro-Britons, calling on poor Welsh farmers to set up a colony in the United States.Wales source
August 4 – The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman–Habsburg wars.source
August 7 – George Hammond is appointed as Great Britain's first minister to the United States.source
August 27 – Declaration of Pillnitz: A proclamation by Frederick William II of Prussia and the Habsburg Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, affirms their wish to "put the King of France in a state to strengthen the bases of monarchic government."source
September 9 – The capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., is named after the incumbent 1st President George Washington.source
September 13 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI accepts the final version of the completed constitution.source
September 28 – French Revolution: The law on Jewish emancipation is promulgated in France, the first such legislation in modern Europe.source
29 September – The West Coast of Australia is claimed by British Commander George Vancouver when he sailed into King George Sound, previously only the east coast had been claimed for the Crown.Australia source
October 1 – French Revolution: The Legislative Assembly (France) convenes.source
October 19 – The Treaty of Drottningholm is signed between the Russian Empire and Sweden establishing an alliance between the two.source
December 15 – Ratification by the states of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution is completed, creating the United States Bill of Rights. Two additional amendments remain pending, and one of these is finally ratified in 1992, becoming the Twenty-seventh Amendment.source
22 December - Spain offers to negotiate an American treaty on Mississippi River navigation and port use.Spain source
December 23 – The Pale of Settlement is established by ukase of Catherine the Great, specifying those areas of the Russian Empire in which Jews are permitted permanent residency.source
Edmund Burke supports the proposed constitution for Canada, saying that: "To attempt to amalgamate two populations, composed of races of men diverse in language, laws and habitudes, is a complete absurdity. Let the proposed constitution be founded on man's nature, the only solid basis for an enduring government."Canada source
Creation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)Sweden source

Conflict & Security

January 2 – Northwest Indian War: Big Bottom Massacre – The war begins in the Ohio Country, with this massacre.source
3 May – 1st Lt. Ralph Clark records in his diary that he has ordered three female convicts flogged. Catherine White faints after the first 15 lashes, Mary Teut after 22. When Mary Higgins has received 26 lashes, Lieutenant Clark "forgave her the remainder (he has ordered 50) because she was an old woman".Australia source
June 20 – French Revolution: Flight to Varennes – The French Royal Family is captured when they try to flee in disguise.source
July 14–17 – Priestley Riots against Dissenters in Birmingham, England.source
July 17 – French Revolution: The Champ de Mars massacre occurs in Paris.source
17 July – The Champ de Mars massacre occurs in Paris. Jean Sylvain Bailly and Marquis de LaFayette declare a ban on gathering followed by martial law.France source
15 August - Spanish-Moroccan War resumes after failed peace talks.Spain source
August 21 – Haitian Revolution: A slave rebellion breaks out in the French colony of Saint-Domingue.source
24 August - Spain bombards Tangier in a response to Moroccan Sultan Moulay Yazid’s declaration of war and siege of Ceuta.Spain source
August 27 – Third Anglo-Mysore War: Battle of Tellicherry – Off the south-west coast of India, a British Royal Navy patrol forces a French convoy bound for Mysore to surrender.source
27 August – Battle of Tellicherry (Third Anglo-Mysore War) off the south-west coast of India: a Royal Navy patrol forces a French convoy bound for Mysore to surrender.United Kingdom source
November 4 – St. Clair's Defeat, the worst loss suffered by the United States Army in fighting against American Indians, takes place in modern-day Mercer County, Ohio. Miami fighters led by Chief Mihsihkinaahkwa (Little Turtle) and by Shawnee warriors commanded by War Chief Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket) rout the forces of General Arthur St. Clair and kill 630 U.S. soldiers, along with hundreds of civilians.source
5 December – Ross returns to Port Jackson from Norfolk Island. His marines, having been displaced by the newly arrived New South Wales Corps, are frequently drunk and rowdy. On 17 December, Ross and most of the marines returned to England on HMS Gorgon.Australia source
Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) continuesRussia source
Northwest Indian War (1785–1795)United States source

Exploration & Expansion

March 2 – A mechanical semaphore line for rapid long-distance communication is demonstrated by Claude Chappe in Paris.source
March – Philip Gidley King returns to Norfolk Island from Britain and resumes command from Robert Ross.Australia source
April 29–May 8 – The first American ships reach Japan, brigantine Lady Washington captained by John Kendrick of Boston, and the brig Grace.source
21 June – foundation of the Ordnance Survey to undertake official mapping.United Kingdom source
18 August – Richard Bowen enters and names Jervis Bay aboard the Atlantic.Australia source
1791–95 – British Captain George Vancouver explores Northwest Coast exhaustively with two ships, but finds no Northwest Passage.Canada source
George Vancouver leaves England to explore the west coast; Alejandro Malaspina also explores the northwest coast for Spain.Canada source
Jens Holmboe starts organized settling to the uninhabited Målselvdalen, from the Gudbrand Valley and Østerdalen.Norway source
Pale of Settlement establishedRussia source
Agriculturalist Sir John Sinclair imports ewes of Cheviot sheep from the Northumberland/Scottish Borders to Caithness and Sutherland where they will form the basis of the North Country Cheviot breed.Scotland source

Religion & Belief

January 12 – Holy Roman troops reenter Liège, heralding the end of the Liège Revolution, and the restoration of its Prince-Bishops.source
10 June – Roman Catholic Relief Act, relieving Catholics of certain political, educational and economic disabilities.United Kingdom source
July 11 – The ashes of Voltaire are transferred to the Panthéon in Paris.source
11 July – The ashes of Voltaire are transferred to the Panthéon. An estimated million people attend the procession.France source
September 5 – Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen is written by activist Olympe de Gouges in response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.source
September 14 – French Revolution: The Papal States lose Avignon to Revolutionary France.source
September 25 – Mission Santa Cruz is founded by Basque Franciscan Father Fermín Lasuén, becoming the 12th mission in the California mission chain.source
October 9 – Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad is founded by Father Fermín Lasuén, becoming the 13th mission in the California mission chain.source
October 9 – Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad is founded by Father Fermin Lasuen, becoming the 13th mission in the California mission chain.United States source
14 October – the Northern Whig Club, a group of nine Belfast Presbyterians, meets with Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell and forms the Society of United Irishmen to press for liberal non-denominational parliamentary reform.Ireland source
Lord Grenville, denying that Canadian attachment to French jurisprudence is due to prejudice, says it is founded "on the noblest sentiments of the human breast."Canada source
In response to Loyalist demands, the Constitutional Act 1791 divides Quebec into Lower Canada (mostly French) and Upper Canada (mostly English who recently migrated from America). In so doing, the Crown hopes to create a stable society that is distinctly non-American. Although French-Canadians retain the privileges granted by the Quebec Act, the Anglican church receives preferred status, including the clergy reserves.Canada source
Fredmans sånger by Carl Michael Bellman.Sweden source
Peter Williams is excommunicated by the Methodists for publishing Sabellian heresy.Wales source

Economy & Finance

February 8 – The Bank of the United States, based in Philadelphia, is incorporated by the federal government with a 20-year charter and started with $10,000,000 capital.source
April – William Wilberforce introduces a bill to Parliament to abolish the slave trade but it is defeated.United Kingdom source
Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island – Philip Gidley KingAustralia source

Technology & Infrastructure

February 24 – First Bank of the United States chartered for 20 years, with headquarters in Philadelphia.United States source
2 March – Claude Chappe and his brothers first demonstrate the optical telegraph.France source
August 6 – The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (Prussia) is finished.source
August 26 – John Fitch is granted a patent for the steamboat in the United States.source
7 November – The Custom House in Dublin opens for business, having been completed under the supervision of James Gandon.Ireland source
Camembert cheese reputedly first made by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy.source
Governor of New South Wales – Captain Arthur Phillip, RNAustralia source
The first bridge across the River Foyle at Derry, built by the American Lemuel Cox in wood, is opened to vehicular traffic.Ireland source
Inauguration of the Bergianska trädgårdenSweden source
Architect John Soane begins reconstruction of the Bank of England in London.United Kingdom source
Richard Phillips builds Clyne Castle.Wales source

Science & Discovery

John Williams - An enquiry into the truth of the tradition concerning the discovery of America by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd, about the year 1170Wales source

Health & Medicine

Population of Lower Canada is 160,000. Population of Upper Canada is 14,000.Canada source

Crime & Justice

30 May – Robespierre delivers a speech on the abolition of the death penalty but without success.France source
6 October – The French Penal Code of 1791 is adopted.France source
Jens Juel paints The Artist and his Wife Rosine, née DørschelDenmark source
Creation of the court-martial of appeal in Stockholm.Sweden source
Dumboms lefverne by Johan Henric Kellgren.Sweden source
En critik öfver critiker by Thomas Thorild.Sweden source
Thomas Jones becomes High Sheriff of Radnorshire.Wales source
Peter Williams - Llythyr at Hen GydymaithWales source

Culture & Society

January 1 – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England, to perform a series of concerts.source
1 January – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England where his concerts are huge successes. On 8 July he is awarded an honorary doctorate of music at the University of Oxford.United Kingdom source
March 13 – Thomas Paine's chief work Rights of Man (first part) is published in London.source
Early March – Provincial militias are abolished and the Département de Paris is placed above the Paris Commune (1789-1795) in all matters of general order and security.France source
June 21 – The Ordnance Survey is founded in Great Britain for the production of maps.source
July 8 – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, on his visit to England, is awarded an honorary doctorate of music at the University of Oxford.source
22 August – Galloway Association of Glasgow founded as the Glasgow Galloway Brotherly Society.Scotland source
September 5 – An ordinance is written barring the game of baseball within 80 yards of the Meeting House in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the first known reference to the game of baseball in North America.source
September 6 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera seria, La clemenza di Tito, premières at the Estates Theatre in Prague with Mozart conducting to mark the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia.source
September 12 – The first serious secondary education school open to girls in Denmark, the Døtreskolen af 1791, is founded in Copenhagen.source
29 September – the King's son Prince Frederick, Duke of York, marries Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia at Charlottenburg.United Kingdom source
September 30 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's singspiel opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) premières at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna with Mozart conducting.source
October 28 – French Revolution: The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen is published in France.source
December 4 – The first issue of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published in London.source
December 31 – Schoolboys from Hólavallarskóli celebrate the first known New Year's Eve bonfire in Iceland.Iceland source
The Dar Hassan Pacha (palace) in the Casbah of Algiers is completed.source
The School for the Indigent Blind, the oldest continuously operating specialist school of its kind in the world, is founded in Liverpool, England, by blind ex-merchant seaman, writer and abolitionist Edward Rushton.source
The first printed manuscript of Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin, one of the Classic Chinese Novels, begins publication posthumously.source
Døtreskolen af 1791 is founded.Denmark source
Zoological Museum of Moscow University foundedRussia source
Poet Robert Burns gives up farming for a full-time post as an exciseman in Dumfries, writes "Ae Fond Kiss", "The Banks O' Doon" and "Sweet Afton", and publishes his last major poem, the narrative "Tam o' Shanter" (written 1790 and first published on 18 March 1791 in the Edinburgh Herald).Scotland source

Births

January 15 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (died 1872)source
January 28 – Ferdinand Hérold, French composer (died 1833)source
February 12 – Peter Cooper, American industrialist, inventor and philanthropist (died 1883)source
February 16 - Infanta María TeresaSpain source
February 21 – Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (died 1857)source
April 3 – Anne Lister, English landowner, diarist, mountaineer and traveller, "the first modern lesbian" (died 1840)source
April 23 – James Buchanan, American lawyer, politician, and 15th President of the United States. (died 1868)source
23 April – José Jorge Loureiro, soldier and politician (died 1860)Portugal source
April 27 – Samuel Morse, American inventor (died 1872)source
13 July – Allan Cunningham, botanist and explorer, best known for discovering the Darling Downs is born in Wimbledon, London.Australia source
September 5 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (died 1864)source
September 21 – István Széchenyi, Hungarian politician, writer (died 1860)source
September 22 – Michael Faraday, English scientist (died 1867)source
September 23 – Theodor Körner, German author, soldier (died 1813)source
September 26 – Théodore Géricault, French painter (died 1824)source
October 29 – John Elliotson, British physician (died 1868)source
December 26 – Charles Babbage, British mathematician, inventor (died 1871)source
Marie louise of Austria she was Duchess of Parma and Napoleon's second wife.Austria source

Deaths

January 11 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh hymnist (born 1717)source
March 2 – John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (born 1703)source
April 2 – Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, French revolutionary leader (born 1749)source
April 19 – Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (born 1723)source
April 24 – Benjamin Harrison V, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (born 1726)source
April 24 – Benjamin Harrison V, signer of Declaration of Independence, father of President William Henry Harrison, great-grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison (born 1726)United States source
May 9 – Francis Hopkinson, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (born 1737)source
June 5 – Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-born British colonial governor (born 1718)source
June 10 – Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte, French admiral (born 1720)source
June 17 – Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, English Methodist leader (born 1707)source
25 August - José Iglesias de la Casa (born 1748)Spain source
October 16 – Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman and favourite of Catherine the Great (born 1739)source
18 October – João de Loureiro, Jesuit missionary and botanist (born 1710/1717).Portugal source
November 4 – Richard Butler, American soldier (born 1743)source
December 5 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, German composer (born in Salzburg, then part of the kingdom of Germany 1756)source
December 5 – Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies early this morning aged 35 at his home in Vienna, having been bedridden since November 20 with a serious illness, perhaps acute rheumatic fever. On a mild and misty December 7, following a funeral service in St. Stephen's Cathedral, he is buried in a common unmarked grave (as customary at this time) in St. Marx Cemetery in the presence of Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten (his patron) and two other musicians.source
December 19 – Jean-François de Neufforge, Flemish architect and engraver (born 1714)source
Prince Alexander of Kartli (1726–1791), Georgian princeRussia source