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The American Revolution
Freedom is no longer free, it is a constant struggle... "Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it." ...John Adams -
William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence
This celebrated collection of poetry and illustrations by Blake himself is notable for shaping many romantic notions of innocence and its corruption by experience. -
Charles and Mary Lamb publish Tales from Shakespeare
Brother-and-sister writing team Charles and Mary Lamb interweave the words of Shakespeare with their own (some 200 years later in 1807) to bring 20 of his best plays to the young reader. -
English Artisans
English artisans called Luddites riot and destroy textile machines, fearing that industrialism threatens their livelihoods -
Brother's Grimm begin to publish Grimm's Fairytales
The first volume of the first edition was published, containing 86 stories; the second volume of 70 stories followed in 1814. For the second edition, two volumes were issued in 1819 and a third in 1822, totalling 170 tales. -
United States declares war on Great Britian
Also known as the war of 1812.
The British continuously engaged in impressment and forced US citizens to serve in the Royal Navy. The British also attacked the USS Chesapeake and this nearly caused a war two year earlier. -
Jane Austen publishes Pride and Prejudice
It portrays life in the genteel rural society of the day, and tells of the initial misunderstandings and later mutual enlightenment between Elizabeth Bennet (whose liveliness and quick wit have often attracted readers) and the haughty Darcy. -
Mary Shelley, daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, publishes Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published in 1818, when Mary was 21, and became a huge success. The first edition of the book had an unsigned preface by Percy Shelley. Many, disbelieving that a 19-year-old woman could have written such a horror story, thought that it was his novel. -
Noah Webster publishes An American Dictionary of the English Language
Born in West Hartford, Connecticut in 1758, Noah Webster came of age during the American Revolution and was a strong advocate of the Constitutional Convention -
Victor Hugo publishes The Hunchback of Notre Dame
On this day in 1831, Victor Hugo finishes writing Notre Dame de Paris, also known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Distracted by other projects, Hugo had continually postponed his deadlines for delivering the book to his publishers, but once he sat down to write it, he completed the novel in only four months.
