January 7
January 7
First U.S. presidential election
Congress sets January 7, 1789 as the date by which states are required to choose electors for the country’s first‑ever presidential election. A month later, on February 4, George Washington was…
A Year In History: 1789
Also Within This Year in History:
1789
George Washington became the first president of the United States in 1789, the same year the new U.S. Constitution went into effect and Congress drafted the Bill of Rights. In Paris, rioters stormed the Bastille prison, a key moment in the French Revolution. Things were stormy even at sea, as rebellious British sailors set their tyrannical captain William Bligh adrift in a rowboat—the famous mutiny on the Bounty.
February 4
February 4
George Washington unanimously elected first U.S. president
George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their…
February 12
February 12
Ethan Allen dies
On February 12, 1789, Vermont Patriot Ethan Allen dies of a stroke at age 52 on his Winooski River homestead. Allen is best remembered as the patriotic leader of the…
March 4
March 4
Government under the U.S. Constitution begins
The first session of the U.S. Congress is held in New York City as the U.S. Constitution takes effect. However, of the 22 senators and 59 representatives called to represent…
April 1
April 1
First U.S. House of Representatives elects speaker
On April 1, 1789, the first U.S. House of Representatives, meeting in New York City, reaches quorum and elects Pennsylvania Representative Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg as its first speaker. Muhlenberg,…
April 28
April 28
Mutiny on the HMS Bounty
Three weeks into a journey from Tahiti to the West Indies, the HMS Bounty is seized in a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, the master’s mate. Captain William Bligh and…
April 30
April 30
George Washington gives first presidential inaugural address
On April 30, 1789, George Washington is sworn in as the first American president and delivers the first inaugural speech at Federal Hall in New York City. Elements of the…
June 14
June 14
Bounty mutiny survivors reach Timor
English Captain William Bligh and 18 others, cast adrift from the HMS Bounty seven weeks before, reach Timor in the East Indies after traveling nearly 4,000 miles in a small,…
June 20
June 20
Third Estate makes Tennis Court Oath
In Versailles, France, the deputies of the Third Estate, which represent commoners and the lower clergy, meet on the Jeu de Paume, an indoor tennis court, in defiance of King…
July 14
July 14
French revolutionaries storm the Bastille
Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs, on July 14, 1789.…
July 15
July 15
Lafayette selected colonel‑general of the National Guard of Paris
On July 15, 1789, only one day after the fall of the Bastille marked the beginning of a new revolutionary regime in France, the French aristocrat and hero of the…
September 2
September 2
Congress founds U.S. Treasury
The United States Treasury Department is founded on September 2, 1789. The institution’s roots can be traced to 1775, when America’s leaders were looking for ways to fund the Revolutionary…
September 24
September 24
The first Supreme Court is established
The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington, establishing the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six…
September 25
September 25
Bill of Rights passes Congress
The first Congress of the United States approves 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and sends them to the states for ratification. The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights,…
