1789

Events from the year **1789 in the United States**. The Articles of Confederation, the agreement under which the nation's government had been operating since 1781, was superseded by the Constitution in March of this year.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* Articles of Confederation (through March 3):
	+ 10th Confederation Congress
* United States Constitution (beginning from March 4):
	+ President: George Washington (F-VA)
	+ Vice President: John Adams (F-MA)
	+ Chief Justice: John Jay (NY) (starting October 19)
	+ Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick Muhlenberg (starting April 1)
	+ Congress: 1st United States Congress (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Connecticut: Samuel Huntington (Federalist)
* Governor of Delaware:
	+ until March 29: Thomas Collins (no political party)
	+ March 29-June 2: Jehu Davis (no political party)
	+ starting June 2: Joshua Clayton (Federalist)
* Governor of Georgia: George Handley (no political party) (until January 7), George Walton (Democratic-Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Maryland: John E. Howard (Federalist)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Hancock (no political party)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John Langdon (Democratic-Republican) (until January 22), John Sullivan (Federalist) (starting January 22)
* Governor of New Jersey: William Livingston (Federalist)
* Governor of New York: George Clinton (Democratic-Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Samuel Johnston (Federalist) (November 21-December 17), Alexander Martin (Anti-Federalist) (starting December 17)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Thomas Mifflin (no political party)
* Governor of South Carolina: Thomas Pinckney (Federalist) (until January 26), Charles Pinckney (Federalist) (starting January 26)
* Governor of Virginia: Beverley Randolph (no political party)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Oliver Wolcott (Federalist)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Benjamin Lincoln (Federalist) (until month and day unknown), Samuel Adams (Democratic-Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Pierre Van Cortlandt (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Thomas Gadsden (Federalist) (until January 26), Alexander Gillon (Federalist) (starting January 26)

## Events

### January - March

* January 7 – The 1789 United States presidential elections and House of Representatives elections are held.
* January 10 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election ends.
* January 21 – William Hill Brown's anonymous sentimental epistolary novel *The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature*, usually considered the first American novel, is published in Boston.
* January 23 – Georgetown University is founded in what would become Washington, D.C., becoming the first Catholic college in the United States.
* February 4 – George Washington is unanimously elected the 1st President of the United States by the United States Electoral College.
* March 2 – Philip Pell, only member in attendance, adjourns the Congress of the Confederation sine die.
* March 4 – At Federal Hall in New York City, the 1st United States Congress meets and declares the new United States Constitution to be in effect.
* March 29 – Thomas Collins, President of Delaware, dies in office.

### April - June

* April 1 – At Federal Hall, the United States House of Representatives attains its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker of the House.
* April 6 – At Federal Hall, the United States Senate attains its first quorum and elects Senator John Langdon as its first President pro tempore; the first joint session of Congress is held on that same date, and the electoral votes of the first presidential election are formally counted. General George Washington is declared President-elect, and John Adams is declared Vice President-elect.
* April 21
	+ John Adams takes office as Vice-President of the United States and begins to preside the sessions of the United States Senate.
	+ George Washington's reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.
* April 30 – George Washington is sworn in at Federal Hall in New York City, beginning his term as the 1st President of the United States.

### July - September

* July 1 – Charles Thomson resigned as secretary of Congress and hands over the Great Seal, bringing an end to the Articles of Confederation.
* July 4 – Tariff Act of 1789. Congress passes its first tax on 30 different items at 8.5% with discount to American ships over foreign ones.
* July 27 – The first U.S. federal government agency under the new Constitution, the Department of Foreign Affairs (later renamed the Department of State), is established following the month-long Decision of 1789, the first significant construction on the meaning of the U.S. Constitution in Congress.
* August 7 – The United States Department of War is established.
* September 2 – The United States Department of the Treasury is established.
* September 15 – The Department of Foreign Affairs is officially renamed the Department of State.
* September 24 – The Judiciary Act of 1789 establishes the federal judiciary and the United States Marshals Service.
* September 25 – The United States Congress proposes a set of 12 amendments for ratification by the states. Ratification for 10 of these proposals is completed on December 15, 1791, creating the United States Bill of Rights.
* September 29 – The U.S. Department of War establishes the nation's first regular army, with a strength of several hundred men.

### October - December

* November 6 – Pope Pius VI appoints John Carroll the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.
* November 20 – New Jersey ratifies the United States Bill of Rights, the first state to do so.
* November 21 – North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 12th U.S. state.
* November 26 – A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as recommended by President George Washington and approved by Congress.
* December 11 – The University of North Carolina, the oldest public university in the United States, is founded.

## Memoriam

* January 4 – Thomas Nelson Jr., signatory of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of Virginia in 1781 (aged 50; Hanover County, VA, USA)
* January 10 – James Mitchell Varnum, brigadier general of the Revolutionary War, Continental Congressman for Rhode Island (aged 40; Marietta, NW Territory (Now OH), USA)
* January 13 – Joseph Spencer, major general of the Revolutionary War, Continental Congressman for Connecticut (aged 74; East Haddam, CT, USA)
* January 25 – James Randolph Reid, Continental Congressman for Connecticut (aged 38; Middlesex, PA, USA)
* February 12 – Ethan Allen, Revolutionary War patriot (aged 52; Burlington, VT Republic)
* February 19 – Nicholas Van Dyke, lawyer and President of Delaware (aged 50; New Castle County, DE, USA)
* March 29 – Thomas Collins, planter and President of Delaware (aged 57; Smyrna, DE, USA)
* April 13 – Joseph Spencer, colonel of the Revolutionary War, Continental Congressman for New Hampshire (aged 50; NH, USA)
* July 21 – Joseph Spencer, Continental Congressman for Maryland (aged 39; MD, USA)
* September 4 – Paul Spooner, lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1782 to 1787 (aged 43; North Hartland, VT Republic)
* September 23
	+ Silas Deane, American Continental Congressman for Connecticut (aged 51; Kent, England, GB)
	+ John Rogers, American Continental Congressman for Maryland (aged 66; Annapolis, MD, USA)
* October 27 – John Cook, farmer, President of Delaware (aged 59; Smyrna, DE, USA)
* November 10 – Richard Caswell, major general of the Revolutionary War, Continental Congressman and Governor of North Carolina from 1776 to 1780 & 1785 to 1787 (aged 60; Fayetteville, NC, USA)
* November 17 – Samuel Holden Parsons, major general of the Revolutionary War, member of the Connecticut House of Representatives (aged 52; Beaver River, PA, USA)
* December 10 – William Pierce, member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Continental Congressman for Georgia (aged 36; Savannah, GA, USA)