1788

Events from the year **1788 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Connecticut: Samuel Huntington (Federalist) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Delaware: Thomas Collins (no political party)
* Governor of Georgia: George Mathews (no political party) (January 2-January 26), George Handley (no political party) (starting January 26)
* Governor of Maryland: William Smallwood (no political party) (April 28-November 24), John E. Howard (starting November 24)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Hancock (no political party) (starting February 6)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John Langdon (Democratic-Republican) (starting June 21)
* Governor of New Jersey: William Livingston (Federalist)
* Governor of New York: George Clinton (Democratic-Republican) (starting July 26)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin (Independent) (until November 5), Thomas Mifflin (no political party) (starting November 5)
* Governor of South Carolina: Thomas Pinckney (Federalist) (starting May 23)
* Governor of Virginia: Edmund Randolph (no political party) (June 25-December 1), Beverley Randolph (no political party) (starting December 1)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Oliver Wolcott (Federalist) (starting January 9)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Benjamin Lincoln (Federalist) (starting February 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Pierre Van Cortlandt (political party unknown) (starting July 26)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Thomas Gadsden (Federalist) (starting May 23)

## Events

* January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 4th U.S. state under the new government.
* January 9 – Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 5th U.S. state.
* January 22 – the Continental Congress, effectively a caretaker government, elects Cyrus Griffin as its last president.
* February 1 – Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat in Georgia.
* February 6 – Massachusetts ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 6th U.S. state.
* 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. At the time New Orleans was a Spanish colony that would be secretly given to France in 1800. Not until 1803 would New Orleans as part of the Louisiana Purchase become part of the United States.
* April 7 – American pioneers establish the town of Marietta (in modern-day Ohio), the first permanent American settlement outside the original Thirteen Colonies.
* April 13 – A 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 23 – South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 8th U.S. state.
* June 21 – New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 9th U.S. state, the Constitution goes into effect.
* June 25 – Virginia ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 10th U.S. state under the new government.
* July 26 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th U.S. state.
* November 15 – Cyrus Griffin resigns as President of the Continental Congress after only two delegates arrived for the final session.
* December 15 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election begins.

## Memoriam

* January 9 – Benedict Swingate Calvert, judge (aged 65; MD, USA)
* February 28 – Thomas Cushing, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (aged 62; Boston, MA, USA)
* March 29 – Charles Wesley (aged 80; London, England, GB)