
5/8/1792 , Lord North, British Conservative and Prime Minister from 1770-82, died. His indecision led to Britain’s loss of its North American colonies.
4/8/1792, John Burgoyne, British General who had to surrender at Saratoga in 1777 in the War of American Independence to American General Gates, died.
1/6/1792, Kentucky became the 15th State of the Union.
2/4/1792. The Mint of the United States was established at Philadelphia, then the national capital. The US mint struck its first silver dollars.
1791, The US passed the Fifth Amendment. This protects against self-incrimmination, but during the Cold War anti-Communist investigations ‘taking the fifth’ became virtually an admission of guilt.
15/12/1791, The US Bill of Rights was ratified by all the states, Virginia being the last State to sign. The US passed the First Amendment which protected free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom to petition the Government.
5/7/1791. The first British Ambassador to the US, George Hammonds, was appointed.
4/3/1791. Vermont became the 14th State of the USA.
1790, The Revenue Marine, now the US Coastguard, was established, to curtail smuggling.
21/12/1790, American industrialist Samuel Slater opened the first cotton mill in the USA. The mill had 250 spindles and was powered by water, using a child labour force. Slater had been apprenticed to William Arkwright, from whom he learnt the textiles trade.
1/8/1790. The first census in the USA revealed a population of nearly 4 million.
16/7/1790, Washington DC was established as the seat of US Federal government.
29/5/1790, Rhode Island became the 13th State of the Union; it is the smallest State in the USA.
17/4/1790. Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia, aged 84. He invented the life-saving lightning conductor. He was determined to pursue Puritan aims to the benefit of the common good. He also helped draft the Declaration of Independence.
10/4/1790, The US Congress inaugurated the American patent system.
1/2/1790, The US Supreme Court held its first meeting
8/1/1790, George Washington gave the first State of the Union Address.
26/11/1789. Thanksgiving was celebrated across America for the first time. In 1621 the indigenous Americans had taught early Plymouth settlers how to tap the maple trees for sap and how to plant the Indian corn. The harvest was very successful and the Pilgrims found they had enough food to see them through the winter. The Pilgrim Governor William Bradford proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving to be shared by all colonists and invited the Indians to join them for three days. During the American Revolution of the late 1770s, a Day of National Thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress and was celebrated nationwide in 1789. Since then each President has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday in November as the holiday.
21/11/1789, North Carolina became the 12th State of the Union.
2/9/1789, The US Department of the Treasury was established.
27/7/1789, Thomas Jefferson was made head of the new US Department of Foreign Affairs.
12/3/1789, The United States Post Office was established.
4/3/1789, The Constitution of the United States came into force. The first US Congress was held in New York with 59 members, each representing a district of some 30,000 people.
7/1/1789. The first national elections were held in the USA, and George Washington was elected President.
13/9/1788. New York became the Federal capital of the new United States of America.
26/7/1788. New York became the 11th State of the Union.
25/6/1788, Virginia became the 10th State of the Union.
21/6/1788 (1) The American Constitution legally came into force, after ratification by a ninth State..
(2) New Hampshire became the 9th State of the Union.
23/5/1788, South Carolina became the 8th State of the Union.
28/4/1788, Maryland became the 7th State of the Union.
21/3/1788. A major fire destroyed nearly all of New Orleans, USA.
6/2/1788, Massachusetts became the 6th State of the Union.
9/1/1788, Connecticut became the 5