Eighteenth-Century Chronology: 1788
This page in the Eighteenth-Century Chronology is
maintained by Jack
Lynch. Please send suggestions and corrections to jlynch@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
Literature
- William Blake, Annotations to Lavater's Aphorisms
- Edward Gibbon, the third instalment of The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire
- Susanna Rowson, A Trip to Parnassus
- Susanna Rowson, The Inquisitor
- Susanna Rowson, Poems on Various Subjects
- Charlotte Smith, Emmeline
- Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary, a Fiction and Original Stories
from Real Life
- Ann Yearsley, A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-Trade
Theatre
Art
- William Blake invents "relief etching" in All Religions Are One
and There is No Natural Religion
Music
Science, Technology, & Medicine
- James Hutton of England, New Theory of the Earth
Politics & Law
- The U.S. Constitution is ratified by Georgia (the fourth
state to do so), Connecticut (fifth), Massachussets (sixth),
Maryland (seventh), South Carolina (eighth), New Hampshire
(ninth), Virginia (tenth), New York (eleventh). On New
Hampshire's ratification, the Constitution was officially
adopted.
- Russia at war with Sweden (through 1790)
Philosophy & Theology
Milestones
- Birth of Lord Byron
- Death of James "Athenian" Stuart, architect
Miscellaneous
British penal colony opened in Botany Bay, Australia.
February: George III recovers, protecting Pitt's ministry
April: New Yorkers riot for three days, accusing physicians of
grave-robbing.
November: The Regency Crisis arises from George III's mental illness
A (never enforced) law requires that chimney sweepers be at least eight
years old
The Dolben Act, the first act to regulate the slave trade
Sugar prices begin to rise
Warren Hastings impeached in a seven-year trial, leading ultimately to
Hastings's acquittal
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