Directory

1780 CE

The first Epsom Derby horse race is run on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England. The victor is Diomed. An Anti-Catholic mob led by Lord George Gordon marches on the Parliament of Great Britain, leading to the outbreak of the Gordon Riots in London. Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II: In the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, Túpac Amaru II leads an uprising of Aymara and Quechua peoples and mestizo peasants as a protest against the Bourbon Reforms.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 19 – The legislature of New York votes to allow its delegates to cede a portion of its western territory to the Continental Congress for the common benefit of the war.source
  • March 1 – The legislature of Pennsylvania votes, 34 to 21, to approve An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.source
  • March 11 – The First League of Armed Neutrality is formed by Russia with Denmark and Sweden to try to prevent the British Royal Navy from searching neutral vessels for contraband (February 28 O.S.).source
  • May 13 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by American settlers, in the Cumberland Valley of Tennessee.source
  • December 16 – Emperor Kōkaku accedes to the throne of Japan.source
  • The Duke of Richmond calls, in the House of Lords of Great Britain, for manhood suffrage and annual parliaments, which are rejected.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet.source
  • March 11 – General Lafayette embarks on at Rochefort, arriving in Boston on April 28, carrying the news that he has secured French men and ships to reinforce the American side in the American Revolutionary War.source
  • April 29 – American Revolutionary War: The Spanish commander of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception on the San Juan River in modern-day Nicaragua surrenders it to the British San Juan Expedition.source
  • May 12 – American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces after 44 days of siege.source
  • May 29 – American Revolutionary War – Waxhaw Massacre: Loyalist forces under Colonel Banastre Tarleton kill surrendering American soldiers.source
  • June 7 – The Gordon Riots in London are ended by the intervention of troops. About 285 people are shot dead, with another 200 wounded and around 450 arrested.source
  • June 23 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Springfield: The Continental Army defeats the British in New Jersey.source
  • August 9 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova captures a British convoy totalling 55 vessels amongst Indiamen, frigates and other cargo ships off Cape St. Vincent.source
  • August 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Camden: British troops inflict heavy losses on a Patriot army at Camden, South Carolina.source
  • September 21 – Benedict Arnold gives detailed plans of West Point to Major John André. Three days later, André is captured, with papers revealing that Arnold was planning to surrender West Point to the British.source
  • September 25 – Benedict Arnold flees to British-held New York.source
  • October 2 – American Revolutionary War: In Tappan, New York, British spy John André is hanged by American forces.source
  • October 7 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Kings Mountain: Patriot militia forces annihilate Loyalists under British Major Patrick Ferguson, at Kings Mountain, South Carolina.source
  • November 4 – Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II: In the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, Túpac Amaru II leads an uprising of Aymara and Quechua peoples and mestizo peasants as a protest against the Bourbon Reforms.source
  • December 20 – The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War begins.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 17 – American Revolutionary War: The British San Juan Expedition sails from Jamaica under the command of Captains John Polson and Horatio Nelson to attack the Captaincy General of Guatemala (modern-day Nicaragua) in New Spain.source
  • July 11 – French soldiers arrive in Newport, Rhode Island to reinforce the colonists, in the American Revolutionary War.source
  • November 30 – American Revolutionary War: The British San Juan Expedition is forced to withdraw.source
  • Jose Gabriel Kunturkanki, businessman and landowner, proclaims himself Inca Túpac Amaru II.source
  • Western countries pay 16,000,000 ounces of silver for Chinese goods.source

Religion & Belief

  • Nikephoros Theotokis starts introducing Edinoverie, an attempt to integrate the Old Believers into Russia's established church.source

Economy & Finance

  • The Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery is founded in Dublin, Ireland.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • July 17 – The first bank created in the United States, the Bank of Pennsylvania, is chartered.source
  • The Woodford Reserve bourbon whiskey distillery begins operation in Kentucky.source
  • The original Craven Cottage is built by William Craven, 6th Baron Craven, in London, on what will become the centre circle of Fulham F.C.'s pitch.source

Science & Discovery

  • Jeremy Bentham's Introduction to Principles of Morals and Legislation, presenting his formulation of utilitarian ethics, is printed (but not published) in London.source

Health & Medicine

  • June 2 – An Anti-Catholic mob led by Lord George Gordon marches on the Parliament of Great Britain, leading to the outbreak of the Gordon Riots in London.source
  • The Kingdom of Great Britain reaches c.9 million population.source

Crime & Justice

  • August 24 – King Louis XVI abolishes the use of torture in extracting confessions in French law courts.source
  • In Ireland, Lady Berry, who is sentenced to death for the murder of her son, is released when she agrees to become an executioner (she retires in 1810).source

Disasters & Accidents

  • September 29 – The Danish ship-of-the-line Printz Friderich runs aground on the Kobbergrund shoal and is a total losssource
  • November 28 – A lightning strike in Saint Petersburg begins a fire that burns 11,000 homes.source

Climate & Environment

  • May 19 – New England's Dark Day: An unaccountable darkness spreads over New England, regarded by some observers as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.source
  • October 10–16 – The Great Hurricane flattens the islands of Barbados, Martinique and Sint Eustatius; 22,000 are killed.source

Culture & Society

  • March 26 – The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor, the first Sunday newspaper in Britain, begins publication.source
  • April 16 – The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded.source
  • May 4 – The first Epsom Derby horse race is run on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England. The victor is Diomed.source
  • December 14 – Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamiltonsource
  • The amateur dramatic group Det Dramatiske Selskab is founded in Christiania, Norway.source

Births

  • January 14 – Henry Baldwin, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1844)source
  • February 2 – Johannes van den Bosch, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1844)source
  • February 25 – John Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1862)source
  • February 28 – Leonard du Bus de Gisignies, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1849)source
  • April 7 – William Ellery Channing, influential American Unitarian theologian and minister (d. 1842)source
  • April 29 – Charles Nodier, French author (d. 1844)source
  • May 1 – John McKinley, American politician, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1852)source
  • May 21 – Elizabeth Fry, British humanitarian (d. 1845)source
  • June 1 – Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian military strategist (d. 1831)source
  • July 27 – Anastasio Bustamante, 4th President of Mexico (d. 1853)source
  • August 29 – Richard Rush, United States Attorney General under James Madison, United States Secretary of the Treasury under President John Quincy Adams (d. 1859)source
  • August 29 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter (d. 1867)source
  • November 13 – Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of The Punjab (Sikh Empire), (d. 1839)source
  • December 26 – Mary Fairfax Somerville, British mathematician (d. 1872)source

Deaths

  • January 13 – Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Prussian princess (b. 1722)source
  • February 14 – William Blackstone, English jurist (b. 1723)source
  • June 3 – Thomas Hutchinson, American colonial governor of Massachusetts (b. 1711)source
  • July 4 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (b. 1712)source
  • August 3 – Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French philosopher (b. 1715)source
  • August 19 – Johann de Kalb, Bavarian-French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (b. 1721)source
  • September 4 – John Fielding, English magistrate, social reformer (b. 1721)source
  • September 8 – Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, French writer (b. 1711)source
  • September 8 – Enoch Poor, American Revolutionary general (b. 1736)source
  • September 15 – Jacob Rodrigues Pereira, academic, first teacher of deaf-mutes in France (b. 1715)source
  • September 23 – Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand, French salon holder (b. 1697)source
  • October 2 – John André, British Army officer of the American Revolutionary War (executed) (b. 1750)source
  • November 26 – Sir James Steuart, Scottish economist (b. 1712)source
  • December 26 – John Fothergill, English physician (b. 1712)source