-
Petition to Abolish Slavery
Philadelphia petitions US Congress to abolish the slave trade -
Macbeth Premier
Friedrich von Schiller's "Macbeth" premieres in Weimar -
Cowpox Vaccine
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse gives 1st cowpox vaccination in the US to his son to prevent smallpox -
First Comet
French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons discovers his 1st comet -
New York Post
First issue of The Evening Post was delivered to 600 lucky subscribers in New York City. -
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic -
The WASP
1st comic book "The Wasp" is published in Hudson, New York criticizing Republican politicians. Known for concealing political allegory and rhetoric, this small sheet publication was a biting commentary about President Thomas Jefferson -
Voice of Nature
William Dunlap adapts French melodrama "Voice of Nature". The Voice of Nature, is generally considered the first melodrama to be performed in America, and the earliest surviving complete work composed for American professional theatre. -
First Public Library
First US public library opens in Connecticut. Scoville Memorial Library is the public library of Salisbury, Connecticut. Established in 1803, it was the first in the United States open to the public free of charge. -
First Steam Boat(Attempt)
Robert Fulton tests his steam paddle-boat on the River Seine, France, but it sinks -
Free the blacks movement
Ohio legislature passes 1st laws restricting free blacks movement. Though slavery was not permitted, Ohio blacks/mullatos could not vote, testify in court against whites, hold office, or serve in the state militia. Further legislation required blacks to file a $500 bond before settling in the state and to register their certificates of freedom in the county clerk's office before getting a job Blacks were not permitted in the public school system until 1848 -
Female Jockey
Alicia Thornton becomes first female jockey in England riding at Knavesmire in Yorkshire -
Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea
Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves Fort Mandan (on the Missouri River near what is now Washburn, North Dakota), beginning their journey to the Pacific Ocean -
Female Society
30 women meet at Mrs Silas Lee's home in Wiscasset, Maine, organizes Female Charitable Society, first woman's club in America. The women were said to be of modest amount of wealth, and together pledged a combined $76 (about $1200 today) for the purpose of helping other women in the community. Their first deed was loaning a dress to a woman who had nothing to wear to church. -
College Magazine
First US college magazine, Yale Literary Government, publishes its first issue. -
Gas lit streets
London's Pall Mall is first street lit by gaslight -
Banning of slave trade
US Congress bans the slave trade within the US, effective January 1, 1808 -
First Typewriter
1st practical typewriter finished by Italian Pellegrini Turri -
Transportation
First practical US railroad track (wooden, for horse-drawn cars), Philadelphia -
Women's fashion changes
Skirts were much straighter, and the fullness that was left in the skirt was concentrated at the back, while the front was flat, falling straight to the floor. In the early years, long trains were common on fashionable gowns, for both day and evening wear, but these began to gradually disappear around 1807. Textiles were later added -
Not cinco de mayo
Mexico issues Grito de Dolores, calling for the end of Spanish rule
(Mexican Independence Day) -
Selling copies
First known purchase of Jane Austen's novel "Sense and Sensibility" by the Prince Regent -
CAN-IT
World's first cannery (Donkin, Hall and Gamble) opens in London. Peter Durand creates the "tin canister" 1810. Durand filed a patent for tin cans. The earliest tin plated cans looked a lot like today's — a flat sheet of metal wrapped to form a cylinder, with circular cutouts fastened onto each end. Cans were originally made by hand. The process of making the can and sterilizing the food was expensive and as a result canned food was consumed mostly by the military -
Grimms Fairy Tales
"Grimm's Fairy Tales" or "Children's and Household Tales" by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm is first published -
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is published by Thomas Egerton in the United Kingdom -
Cotton to clothes
The Waltham mill was the first mill in the United States that could process raw cotton into finished cloth in one process and all under one roof with the help of its water-driven power loom, which is an apparatus used to weave yarn or thread into finished cloth. -
Steam Locomotive
English engineer George Stephenson introduces his first steam locomotive, a travelling engine designed for hauling coal on the Killingworth wagonway named Blücher -
Star Spangled Banner
"Star Spangled Banner" published as a song, lyrics by Francis Scott Key, tune by John Stafford Smith -
Death of Fulton
Robert Fulton, American inventor and engineer (first commercial steamboat), dies of tuberculosis at 49 -
Barber of Seville
Gioachino Rossini's comic opera "Barber of Seville" premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome, Italy -
Gothic reads
Lady Caroline Lamb publishes the Gothic novel "Glenarvon", a thinly disguised account of her affair with Lord Byron which also depicts her husband William Lamb -
It's LIT
Baltimore becomes the first American city lit by gas street lamps with the first turned on at Market and Lemon Streets (currently Baltimore and Holliday Streets) -
Schools widening
First American school for the deaf opens in Hartford, Connecticut. The American Asylum [now American School for the Deaf (ASD)], 1st permanent US school for deaf founded by Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, Dr. Mason Cogswell, and teacher Laurent Clercn -
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is published anonymously by the small London publishing house of Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones -
Engineering institution
The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded. The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), founded in 1818, served (and still serves) as a research center, a London club, and a professional society for British engineers around the world. Since its foundation almost 200 years ago, it has attracted some of the most famous and influential civil engineers in history -
Lets go shopping!
London’s famous Burlington Arcade opens, becoming the worlds first shopping arcade. It was designed by architect Samuel Ware.[ Burlington Arcade was built "for the sale of jewelry and fancy articles of fashionable demand, for the gratification of the public". However, it was also said to have been built so that the Lord's wife could shop safely amongst other genteel ladies and gentleman away from the busy, dirty, and crime-ridden open streets of London -
American Farmer
First successful agricultural journal ("American Farmer") first publishes -
Raft of Medusa
Paris Salon opens with Théodore Géricault’s painting "Raft of the Medusa" causing a sensation. It is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft, and those who survived endured starvation and dehydration and practiced cannibalism (the custom of the sea). -
Greek Art
The famous ancient Greek statue, Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos -
First Eye Dr's
Drs. Edward Delafield and John Kearny Rodgers open the New York Eye Infirmary, the first specialty eye hospital in the Western Hemisphere. Infirmary surgeons perform the first successful congenital cataract surgeries in the United States restoring vision to three pediatric patients.
