January 16 » Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
May 1 » In Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time.
June 29 » Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.
August 8 » Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
August 11 » Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
November 30 » The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under Pietro Leopoldo I, becomes the first modern state to abolish the death penalty (later commemorated as Cities for Life Day).
Day of death January 2, 1789
The temperature on January 2, 1789 was about -6.0 °C. Wind direction mainly east. Weather type: omtrent helder. Source: KNMI
February 4 » George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
March 4 » In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights is written and proposed to Congress.
April 7 » Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
July 12 » In response to the dismissal of the French finance minister Jacques Necker, the radical journalist Camille Desmoulins gives a speech which results in the storming of the Bastille two days later.
July 14 » Alexander Mackenzie finally completes his journey to the mouth of the great river he hoped would take him to the Pacific, but which turns out to flow into the Arctic Ocean. Later named after him, the Mackenzie is the second-longest river system in North America.
September 29 » The 1st United States Congress adjourns.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Wilfried Celis, "Family tree Celis", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-celis/I220.php : accessed January 22, 2026), "Maria Elisabeth CELIS (1786-1789)".
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