Eighteenth-Century Chronology: 1789

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, Songs of Innocence
William Blake, Tiriel (written and illustrated 1788-1789, but never illuminated or published)
William Lisle Bowles, Sonnets
Charlotte Brooke, Reliques of Irish Poetry
Erasmus Darwin, "The Loves of the Plants," from The Botanic Garden
Ann Radcliffe, The Castles of Athlyn and Dunbane
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions (publication finished)
Susanna Rowson, Mary, or The Test of Honour
Charlotte Smith, Ethelinda, or The Recluse of the Lake

Erasmus Darwin, "The Loves of the Plants," from The Botanic Garden
Antoine Lavoisier, Traité élémentaire de chimi, the first textbook on modern chemistry
Marquis Pierre Simon de Laplace, Laws of the Planetary System

The French Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man
20 June: The oath of the Jeu de Paume (the Tennis Court where the National Assembly is now meeting); they resolve not to adjourn until they have established a constitution for the kingdom
22 June: The clergy joins the Third Estate
14 July: The storming of the Bastille begins the French Revolution
Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, argues that "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" is the goal of all legislation
Edmund Burke criticizes the French Revolution; Thomas Paine responds with "The Rights of Man"
December: America ratifies the Bill of Rights
Wilberforce introduces resolutions on the slave trade in Parliament, and Commons agrees to hear evidence
4 August: Most feudal rights are abolished by the National Assembly
5-6 October: "October days": Parisian women, unable to get bread, march to Versailles and bring the royal family back to Paris
4 November: Richard Price gives his sermon "A Discourse on the Love of Our Country" at a meeting of the London Revolution Society
After agreeing to the first twelve amendments, North Carolina ratifies the U.S. Constitution, becoming the twelfth state to do so
Austrian Netherlands declare independence and become Belgium