Year 1788 (MDCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Saturday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). [edit] Events of 1788 - March 21 – Great New Orleans Fire (1788) kills 25% of the population and destroys 856 buildings, including St. Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo, leaving most of the town in ruins.
- April 13 – America's first recorded riot, the Doctors' Mob, begins. Residents of Manhattan are angry about grave robbers stealing bodies for doctors to dissect. The rioting is suppressed on the 15th.
- April 28 – Maryland ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 7th U.S. state.
- May 10 – The Royal Dramatic Theatre, Sweden's national stage, is founded.
- May 23 – South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 8th U.S. state.
- June 7 – France: Day of the Tiles, which some consider the beginning of the French Revolution.
- June 9 – England: The African Association, a exploration group dedicated to plotting the Niger River and finding Timbuktu, is founded.
- June 21 – New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 9th U.S. state; the Constitution goes into effect.
- June 25 – The Virginia Ratifying Convention ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 10th U.S. state under the new government.
- June 26 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his antepenultimate symphony, now called the Symphony No. 39 (Mozart) in E-flat. He completes the 40th and 41st in July and August.
- July – Louis XVI of France calls for a spring session of the Estates General.
- July 24 – Governor General Lord Dorchester, by proclamation issued from Castle of St. Louis in the City of Quebec, divides the Canadas into five Districts, namely: Gaspe, Lunenburg, Meckleburg, Nassau and Hesse.
- July 26 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th U.S. state.
- July 28- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his penultimate symphony, now called the Symphony No. 40 (Mozart) in G Minor.
- August 8 – French King Louis XVI agrees to convene the Estates-General meeting in May 1789, the first time since 1614.
- August 10 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his final symphony, now called the Symphony No. 41 (Mozart) in C Major, and nicknamed (after Mozart's death) The Jupiter.
- August 27 – The trial of William Brodie begins in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is sentenced to death by hanging.
[edit] Undated - Annual British iron production reaches 68,000 tons.
[edit] Births - January 22 – George Byron, 6th Baron Byron, English poet (d. 1824)
- February 5 – Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
- February 10 – Johann Peter Pixis, German pianist and composer (d. 1874)
- February 22 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
- March 10 – Joseph von Eichendorff, German poet (d. 1857)
- April 2 – Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (d. 1862)
- April 14 – David G. Burnet, President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1870)
- May 16 – Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages (d. 1866)
- May 22 – William Grant Broughton, first Anglican bishop in Australia (d. 1853)
- June 21 – Princess Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg (d. 1851)
- August 16 – Luigi Ciacchi, Italian cardinal (d. 1865)
- September 12 – Alexander Campbell, Irish-born founder of the Disciples of Christ (d. 1866)
- September 15 – Gerard C. Brandon, American politician (d. 1850)
- September 21 – Geert Adriaans Boomgaard, first validated supercentenarian (d. 1899)
- September 22 – Theodore Edward Hook, English author (d. 1841)
- October 9 – József Kossics, Catholic priest, writer, ethnologist (d. 1867)
- October 11 – Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher
- October 24 – Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (d. 1879)
- Juan Facundo Quiroga, Argentine federationalist (d. 1835)
- Jakob Walter, stonemason and common draftee (d. 1864)
[edit] Deaths - January 14 – François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasetilly, comte de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
- January 31 – Charles Edward Stuart, claimant to the British throne (b. 1720)
- February 18 – John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist (b. 1713)
- February 21 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- February 28 – Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)
- March 29 – Charles Wesley, co-founder (with brother, John Wesley) of the religious movement now known as Methodism (b. 1707)
- April 12 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b. 1719)
- April 15 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
- April 16 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
- May 8 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
- June 18 – Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (b. 1714)
- August 2 – Thomas Gainsborough, British painter (b. 1727)
- October 13 – Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, Irish politician and poet (b. 1702)
- October 15 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian Admiral (b. 1735)
- December 6 – Jonathan Shipley, English bishop and politician (b. 1714)
- December 14 – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (b. 1714)
- December 14 – King Charles III of Spain (b. 1716)
- December 22 – Percivall Pott, English surgeon (b. 1714)
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