1791 in the United States

1791 in the United States was a pivotal year for the young republic, marked by the formal adoption of the Bill of Rights and the expansion of the union with two new states. The year saw significant political developments under the administration of President George Washington and the 1st United States Congress, as well as ongoing frontier conflicts and the establishment of a permanent national capital. Cultural and intellectual life continued to evolve, with notable publications and the founding of enduring institutions.

Events

* **March 4**: Vermont is admitted to the Union as the 14th state, having previously existed as the independent Vermont Republic. * **August 22**: A massive slave rebellion begins in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, led by Dutty Boukman; news of the Haitian Revolution profoundly impacts attitudes toward slavery in the southern United States. * **September 9**: The federal territory southwest of the Ohio River is organized and named the Southwest Territory, with its capital at Rocky Mount. * **October 7**: The Ohio frontier witnesses escalating violence as a confederation of Native American tribes, including the Shawnee and Miami, defeats a force of Kentucky militia at the Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair's Defeat. * **November 4**: The Western Confederacy, led by chiefs like Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, inflicts a catastrophic defeat on the army of Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, near present-day Fort Recovery, Ohio. * **December 15**: The United States Bill of Rights, comprising the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, is formally ratified after approval by the state of Virginia.

Births

* **January 1**: John W. Taylor, future Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from New York. * **February 21**: John Mercer, future United States Secretary of War and Governor of Michigan Territory. * **April 27**: Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the Morse code and a prominent painter. * **September 5**: John James Audubon, famed ornithologist, naturalist, and painter, known for *The Birds of America*. * **September 22**: Michael Faraday, influential English scientist whose work in electromagnetism would have a lasting global impact. * **December 26**: Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor, often considered a pioneer of the computer.

Deaths

* **April 17**: Benjamin Franklin, renowned Founding Father, inventor, diplomat, and former President of Pennsylvania. * **May 9**: Francis Hopkinson, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and designer of early American flags and currency. * **October 16**: Grigory Potemkin, Russian statesman and military leader, whose death ended the Potemkin village era of influence in Catherine the Great's court. * **December 16**: William Hooper, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence from North Carolina.

Government and politics

The First Bank of the United States received its charter from Congress in February, establishing a central financial institution championed by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. In March, Congress passed the Whiskey Act, imposing the first federal tax on a domestic product, which would later spark the Whiskey Rebellion. The location for the permanent national capital along the Potomac River was being actively surveyed under the direction of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant. The State of Kentucky was admitted as the 15th state on June 1, following the Kentucky County enabling act. Political divisions deepened between the Federalist Party, led by Hamilton and John Adams, and the Democratic-Republican Party, emerging under the leadership of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Congressman James Madison.

Culture and society

The first volume of Thomas Paine's *Rights of Man*, a vigorous defense of the French Revolution, was published in America, further inflaming political debates. In Boston, the first American novel, *The Power of Sympathy* by William Hill Brown, was published anonymously. The University of Vermont was founded in Burlington, and Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia received its present name following a gift from George Washington. In Philadelphia, the daily newspaper the *National Gazette* began publication, quickly becoming a vocal organ for Jeffersonian opposition to the Washington administration. Religious life saw the formal establishment of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America as an independent entity from the Church of England.

Category:1791 in the United States Category:1790s in the United States Category:Years of the 18th century in the United States