Historical events in 1787
- Scots born John Paul Jones receives a medal from the the Continental Congress for "valor and brilliant services".
- Shays Rebellion, an uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers, failed.
- Austrian emperor Josef II banned children under 8 from labor.
- George S. Ohm, German scientist, was born. He gave his name to the ohm unit of electrical resistance.
- Arthur Phillip set sail from Portsmouth, Great Britain, with 11 ships of criminals to Australia.
- The Marquis de Sade shouted from Bastille that prisoners were being slaughtered.
- Congress,
under the Articles of Confederation, enacted the Northwest Ordinance,
establishing rules for governing the Northwest Territory, for admitting
new states to the Union and limiting the expansion of slavery.
- The
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began to debate the articles
contained in a draft of the United States Constitution.
- Mozart completed his "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik."
- The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia.
- Louis XVI of France recalled parliament.
- The
Constitution of the United States was completed and signed by a
majority of delegates attending the constitutional convention in
Philadelphia.
- Mozart's opera Don Giovanni opened in Prague.
- Samuel Cunard (d.1865), founder of the 1st regular Atlantic steamship line, was born in Canada.
- Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
- Dec,
William Wilberforce, on the suggestion of PM William Pitt, introduced a
motion in British Parliament for the abolition of the slave trade.
- Quatremiere de Quincy coined the term "Baroque" and defined it as absurdity carried to excess.
- The first left and right shoes were made.
- English ships transported some 38,000 slaves this year.
- British settlers bought land from African tribal leaders in Sierra Leone and used it as a haven for freed African slaves.
- Morocco became the first country to recognize the US as a sovereign nation.
