Editing 1791

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{Year dab|1791}}
{{Year nav|1791}}
[[File:Incendie de la Plaine du Cap. Massacre des Blancs par les esclaves noirs révoltés. France militaire. Martinet et Masson.jpg|thumb|250px|[[August 21]]: Black slaves begin uprising against white slave masters in [[Haitian Revolution]].]]
{{C18 year in topic}}
[[File:BigBottomMassacreIllustration.jpg|thumb|right|[[January 2]]: [[Big Bottom massacre]]]]
{{Year article header|1791}}

== Events ==
<onlyinclude>

=== January&ndash;March ===

* [[January 1]] &ndash; Austrian composer [[Joseph Haydn]] arrives in England, to perform a series of concerts.
* [[January 2]] &ndash; [[Northwest Indian War]]: [[Big Bottom Massacre]] &ndash; The war begins in the Ohio Country, with this massacre.
* [[January 12]] &ndash; [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman]] troops reenter [[Liège]], heralding the end of the [[Liège Revolution]], and the restoration of its [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège|Prince-Bishops]].
* [[January 25]] &ndash; The [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] passes the [[Constitutional Act 1791]], splitting the old [[Province of Quebec (1763–91)|province of Quebec]] into [[Upper Canada|Upper]] and [[Lower Canada]].
* [[February 8]] &ndash; The [[First Bank of the United States|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.<ref name="Harper1791">''Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909'', ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p169</ref>
* [[February 21]] &ndash; The United States opens [[Portugal–United States relations|diplomatic relations]] with [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]].
* [[March 2]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]:
** The abolition of [[guild]]s is enacted.
** A mechanical [[semaphore line]] for rapid long-distance communication is demonstrated by [[Claude Chappe]] in Paris.
* [[March 4]] &ndash; [[Vermont]] is [[admission to the Union|admitted]] as the 14th [[U.S. state]].
* [[March 13]] &ndash; [[Thomas Paine]]'s chief work ''[[Rights of Man]]'' (first part) is published in London.<ref name=HF>{{cite book|title=The Hutchinson Factfinder|publisher=Helicon|year=1999|isbn=1-85986-000-1}}</ref>
* [[March]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: In France, the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]] accepts the recommendation of its Commission of Weights and Measures that the nation should adopt the [[metric system]].

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 21]] &ndash; 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]].
* [[April 29]]–[[May 8]] &ndash; The first American ships reach [[Japan]], [[brigantine]] ''[[Lady Washington]]'' captained by [[John Kendrick (American sea captain)|John Kendrick]] of [[Boston]], and the [[brig]] ''Grace''.<ref>{{cite web|title=First Encounters Between the U.S. and Japan - John Kendrick...|url=https://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/history/01.html?id=eng|publisher=Consulate General of Japan in New York|accessdate=2022-09-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Logbook for Brig "Grace" (1791)|url=https://duxburyhistory.org/collection-highlights/logbook-for-brig-grace-1791/|publisher=Duxbury Rural & Historical Society|accessdate=2022-09-03}}</ref>
* [[May 3]] &ndash; The [[Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] proclaims the [[Constitution of May 3, 1791]], the first modern codified [[constitution]] in Europe.
* [[June 20]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: [[Flight to Varennes]] &ndash; The French Royal Family is captured when they try to flee in disguise.
* [[June 21]] &ndash; The [[Ordnance Survey]] is founded in Great Britain for the production of maps.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.charlesclosesociety.org/files/HistoryOSGB.pdf|title=A short history of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain}}</ref>

=== July&ndash;September ===
<gallery>
File:Malapeau_Claude-Nicolas_Translation_de_Voltaire_au_Panthéon.jpg|Translation of [[Voltaire]]
File:PriestleyRiotsOldMeeting.jpg|[[Priestley Riots]]
File:Fusillade du Champ de Mars (1791, 17 juillet).jpg|[[Champ de Mars massacre]]
File:Pillnitzer Deklaration.jpg|[[Declaration of Pillnitz]]
</gallery>
* [[July 8]] &ndash; Austrian composer [[Joseph Haydn]], on a visit to England, is awarded an honorary doctorate of music at the [[University of Oxford]].
* [[July 11]] &ndash; The ashes of [[Voltaire]] are transferred to the ''[[Panthéon]]'' in Paris.
* [[July 14]]&ndash;[[July 17|17]] &ndash; [[Priestley Riots]] against [[Dissenter]]s in [[Birmingham]], England.
* [[July 17]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: The [[Champ de Mars massacre]] occurs in Paris.
* [[August 4]] &ndash; The [[Treaty of Sistova]] is signed, ending the [[Ottoman–Habsburg wars]].
* [[August 6]] &ndash; The [[Brandenburg Gate]] in Berlin (Prussia) is finished.
* [[August 7]] &ndash; [[George Hammond (diplomat)|George Hammond]] is appointed as Great Britain's first minister to the United States.<ref name=Harper1791/>
* [[August 21]] &ndash; [[Haitian Revolution]]: A [[slave rebellion]] breaks out in the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]].
* [[August 26]] &ndash; [[John Fitch (inventor)|John Fitch]] is granted a patent for the [[steamboat]] in the United States.
* [[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." 
** [[Third Anglo-Mysore War]]: [[Battle of Tellicherry]] &ndash; Off the south-west coast of India, a British [[Royal Navy]] patrol forces a French convoy bound for [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]] to surrender.
* [[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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-pittsfield-baseball-bylaw-of-1791-what-it-means-940a3ccf08db|first=John|last=Thorn|title=The Pittsfield "Baseball" Bylaw of 1791: What It Means|date=2011-08-03|work=Our Game|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref>
** [[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.<ref>[https://www.iep.utm.edu/gouges/ Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]</ref>
* [[September 6]] &ndash; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]'s ''[[opera seria]]'', ''[[La clemenza di Tito]]'', premières at the [[Estates Theatre]] in [[Prague]] to mark the coronation of [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold II]] as King of [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]].  
* [[September 9]] &ndash; The capital of the United States, [[Washington, D.C.]], is named after the incumbent 1st President [[George Washington]]. 
* [[September 12]] &ndash; The first serious secondary education school open to girls in Denmark, the ''[[Døtreskolen af 1791]]'', is founded in Copenhagen. 
* [[September 13]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: [[Louis XVI of France]] accepts the final version of the completed constitution.
* [[September 14]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: The Papal States lose Avignon to Revolutionary France.
* [[September 25]] &ndash; [[Mission Santa Cruz]] is founded by Basque Franciscan Father [[Fermín Lasuén]], becoming the 12th mission in the [[California mission]] chain.
* [[September 28]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: The law on [[Jewish emancipation]] is promulgated in France, the first such legislation in modern Europe.
* [[September 30]] &ndash; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]'s [[singspiel]] opera ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' (''Die Zauberflöte'') premières at the [[Theater auf der Wieden|Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden]] in [[Vienna]].

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 1]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: The [[Legislative Assembly (France)]] convenes.
* [[October 9]] &ndash; [[Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad]] is founded by Father [[Fermín Lasuén]], becoming the 13th mission in the [[California mission]] chain.
* [[October 19]] – The [[Treaty of Drottningholm]] is signed between the [[Russian Empire]] and [[Gustavian era|Sweden]] establishing an alliance between the two.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7A8AAAAIAAJ&dq=19+october+russo+swedish+treaty+1791&pg=PA37 |title=The Cambridge Modern History |publisher=CUP Archive |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anusik |first1=Zbigniew |title=The Commonwealth of Poland towards Russia in the final stage of the Great Diet (1791–1792) |journal=Przegląd Nauk Historycznych |date=5 November 2017 |volume=16 |issue=3 |page=104 |doi=10.18778/1644-857X.16.03.03 |access-date=21 November 2023|url=https://journals.indexcopernicus.com/api/file/viewByFileId/300952.pdf}}</ref>
* [[October 28]] &ndash; [[French Revolution]]: The [[Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen]] is published in France.
* [[November 4]] &ndash; [[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 people|Miami]] fighters led by Chief [[Little Turtle|Mihsihkinaahkwa]] (Little Turtle) and by [[Shawnee]] warriors commanded by War Chief [[Blue Jacket|Weyapiersenwah]] (Blue Jacket) rout the forces of General [[Arthur St. Clair]] and kill 630 U.S. soldiers, along with hundreds of civilians.<ref>Robert M. Owens, ''Red Dreams, White Nightmares: Pan-Indian Alliances in the Anglo-American Mind, 1763–1815'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015)</ref>
* [[November 20]] In Vienna (Austria), the Austrian composer [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] becomes bedridden on his deathbed as a result of a serious illness that would end his life in fifteen days.
* [[December 4]] &ndash; The first issue of ''[[The Observer]]'', the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published in London.
* [[December 5]] &ndash; Austrian composer [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] dies aged 35 at his home in Vienna, perhaps of acute [[rheumatic fever]], and is buried two days later.
* [[December 15]] &ndash; 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 to the United States Constitution|Twenty-seventh Amendment]].
* [[December 23]] &ndash; 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.

=== Date unknown ===
* The [[Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool|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 [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolitionist]] [[Edward Rushton]].
* [[Camembert]] cheese reputedly first made by [[Marie Harel]], a farmer from [[Normandy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.camembert-aoc.org/unil-uk/htm/historique-uk.htm|title=The Invention of Marie Harel|work=Camembert de Normandie|access-date=2020-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104104135/http://www.camembert-aoc.org/unil-uk/htm/historique-uk.htm|archive-date=2010-01-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The [[Dar Hassan Pacha]] (palace) in the [[Casbah of Algiers]] is completed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8768/|title=Interior of Governors Palace, Algiers, Algeria|website=[[World Digital Library]]|year=1899|access-date=2013-09-25}}</ref>
* The first printed manuscript of ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]'' by [[Cao Xueqin]], one of the [[Classic Chinese Novels]], begins publication posthumously.</onlyinclude>

== Births ==
[[File:Samuel Morse with his Recorder by Brady, 1857.png|thumb|right|100px|[[Samuel Morse]]]]
[[File:Michael Faraday (1791-1867).jpg|thumb|right|100px|[[Michael Faraday]]]]
[[File:Charles Babbage - 1860.jpg|thumb|right|100px|[[Charles Babbage]]]]
[[File:James Buchanan.jpg|thumb|right|100px|[[James Buchanan]]]]
* [[January 15]] &ndash; [[Franz Grillparzer]], Austrian writer (d. [[1872]])
* [[January 28]] &ndash; [[Ferdinand Hérold]], French composer (d. [[1833]])
* [[February 12]] &ndash; [[Peter Cooper]], American industrialist, inventor and philanthropist (d. [[1883]])
* [[February 21]]
** [[Carl Czerny]], Austrian composer (d. [[1857]])
** [[John Mercer (scientist)|John Mercer]], English chemist, industrialist (d. [[1866]])
* [[March 20]] &ndash; [[Marie Ellenrieder]], German [[Painting|painter]]  (d. [[1863]])
* [[March 31]] &ndash; [[Franciszek Mirecki]], Polish composer, conductor and teacher (d. [[1862]])
* [[April 3]] &ndash; [[Anne Lister]], English landowner, diarist, mountaineer and traveller, "the first modern lesbian" (d. [[1840]])
* [[April 23]] &ndash; [[James Buchanan]], American lawyer, politician, and 15th [[President of the United States]]. (d. [[1868]])
* [[April 27]] &ndash; [[Samuel Morse]], American inventor (d. [[1872]])
* [[June 1]] &ndash; [[John Nelson (lawyer)|John Nelson]], American lawyer (d. [[1860]])
* [[June 30 ]]&ndash; [[Félix Savart]], French physicist (d. [[1841]]) 
* [[July 26]] &ndash; [[Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart]], Austrian composer, pianist (d. [[1844]])
* [[September 5]] &ndash; [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]], German composer (d. [[1864]])
* [[September 21]] &ndash; [[István Széchenyi]], Hungarian politician, writer (d. [[1860]])
* [[September 22]] &ndash; [[Michael Faraday]], English scientist (d. [[1867]])
* [[September 23]] 
** [[Johann Franz Encke]], German astronomer (d. [[1865]])
** [[Theodor Körner (author)|Theodor Körner]], German author, soldier (d. [[1813]])
* [[September 26]] &ndash; [[Théodore Géricault]], French painter (d. [[1824]])
* [[October 29]] &ndash; [[John Elliotson]], British physician (d. [[1868]])
* [[November 11]] &ndash; [[Josef Munzinger]], [[member of the Swiss Federal Council]] (d. [[1855]])
* [[December 7]] &ndash; [[Ferenc Novák (writer)|Ferenc Novák]], [[Hungarian Slovenes|Hungarian Slovene]] song collector and priest (d. [[1836]])
* [[December 26]] &ndash; [[Charles Babbage]], British mathematician, inventor (d. [[1871]])
* ''approximate date'' &ndash; [[Enriqueta Favez]], Swiss-born physician, surgeon (d. [[1856]])

== Deaths ==
[[File:Boze - Honoré de Mirabeau.jpg|thumb|right|100px|[[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau]]]]
[[File:Croce-Mozart-Detail.jpg|thumb|100px|right|[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]]]
* [[January 11]] &ndash; [[William Williams Pantycelyn]], Welsh hymnist (b. [[1717]])
* [[January 23]] &ndash; [[Johann Phillip Fabricius]], German missionary (b. [[1711]])
* [[March 2]] &ndash; [[John Wesley]], English founder of Methodism (b. [[1703]])
* [[March 10]] &ndash; [[William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (1722–1791)]], England (b. [[1722]])
* [[March 14]] &ndash; [[Johann Salomo Semler]], German historian, Bible commentator (b. [[1725]])
* [[March 31]] &ndash; [[Ralph Verney, 2nd Earl Verney]] of Ireland (b. [[1714]])
* [[April 2]] &ndash; [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau]], French revolutionary leader (b. [[1749]])
* [[April 19]] &ndash; [[Richard Price]], Welsh philosopher (b. [[1723]])
* [[April 24]] &ndash; [[Benjamin Harrison V]], signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. [[1726]])
* [[May 9]] &ndash;  [[Francis Hopkinson]], signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. [[1737]])
* [[June 5]] &ndash; [[Frederick Haldimand]], Swiss-born British colonial governor (b. [[1718]])
* [[June 10]] &ndash; [[Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte]], French admiral (b. [[1720]])
* [[June 17]] &ndash; [[Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon]], English Methodist leader (b. [[1707]])
* [[June 30]] &ndash; [[Jean-Baptiste Descamps]], Flemish painter and art historian (b. [[1714]])
* [[July 9]] &ndash; [[Jacques-Nicolas Tardieu]], French engraver (b. [[1716]])
* [[July 17]] &ndash; [[Martin Dobrizhoffer]], Austrian Jesuit missionary (b. [[1717]])
* [[July 25]] &ndash; [[Isaac Low]], American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. [[1735]])
* [[August 22]] &ndash; [[Johann David Michaelis]], German biblical scholar and teacher (b. [[1717]])
* [[September 25]] &ndash; [[William Bradford (American Revolutionary printer)|William Bradford]], American printer (b. [[1719]])
* [[October 7]] &ndash; [[Mary Frances of the Five Wounds]], Italian Franciscan saint (b. [[1715]])
* [[October 12]]
** [[Anna Louisa Karsch]], German poet (b. [[1722]])
** [[Peter Oliver (loyalist)|Peter Oliver]], Massachusetts colonial judge (b. [[1713]])
* [[October 16]] &ndash; [[Grigory Potemkin]], Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman and favourite of Catherine the Great (b. [[1739]])
* [[November 4]] &ndash; [[Richard Butler (general)|Richard Butler]], American soldier (b. [[1743]])
* [[November 16]] &ndash; [[Edward Penny]], British painter (b. [[1714]])
* [[December 5]] &ndash; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], German composer (b. in Salzburg, then part of the kingdom of Germany [[1756]])
* [[December 12]] 
** [[Etteilla]], French occult cartomancer (b. [[1738]])
** [[Catharina Freymann]], Norwegian pietist leader (b. [[1708]]) 
* [[December 13]] &ndash; [[Mathieu Tillet]], French botanist (b. [[1714]])
* [[December 19]] &ndash; [[Jean-François de Neufforge]], Flemish architect and engraver (b. [[1714]])
* [[December 27]] &ndash; [[John Monro (physician)|John Monro]], British physician of Bethlem Hospital (b. [[1716]])
* ''date unknown'' &ndash; [[Maria Petraccini]], Italian anatomist, physician (b. [[1759]])

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Historical Reference Book |author=Louis Heilprin |author-link=Louis Heilprin |location=New York |publisher= D. Appleton and Company |year=1885 |chapter= Chronological Table of Universal History |hdl=2027/wu.89097349187?urlappend=%3Bseq=131 |chapter-url= http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89097349187?urlappend=%3Bseq=131 |quote=1791 |via=Hathi Trust }}

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