George Washington (1) Event Timeline 04/30/1789-03/04/1797 |
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09/17/1787 |
Constitution finalized at Constitutional Convention (“Constitution Day”). |
06/21/1788 |
Constitution ratified when New Hampshire became 9th state to ratify. |
1789 |
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02/04/1789 |
Electors cast ballots in Electoral College, New York City; Washington elected. |
03/04/1789 |
First Congress convenes in New York City. |
04/30/1789 |
First Inaugural Address. |
05/08/1789 |
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05/18/1789 |
Message Replying to the Senate. |
06/01/1789 |
Signed 1st Act of Congress; procedures for administering oaths of office. |
06/11/1789 |
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07/04/1789 |
Signs Tariff Act of 1789, first substantive legislation protecting trade and raising revenues. |
07/27/1789 |
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08/07/1789 |
Lighthouse Act signed. Financial responsibility for lighthouses transferred to federal government from states provided related lands and tenements are ceded to the United States. |
09/15/1789 |
Signed Act to provide for the safe keeping of the Acts, Records and Seal of the United States, and for other purposes; changing name of Department of Foreign Affairs to Department of State. |
09/24/1789 |
Signed Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States; setting the size of the Supreme Court at six, and creating 13 judicial districts, and dividing most of the districts into three circuits and specifying that Supreme Court justices serve as Circuit Judges. |
09/24/1789 |
Nominated John Jay as the 1st Chief Justice of Supreme Court; Jay unanimously confirmed 09/26/1789. |
09/25/1789 |
Congress adopts 12 Constitutional Amendments (including the Bill of Rights) which are sent to the states for ratification by Washington on 10/02/1789. |
09/26/1789 |
Nominates Thomas Jefferson as 1st Secretary of State. |
10/03/1789 |
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1790 |
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01/08/1790 |
First Annual State of the Union Address to Congress. |
01/14/1790 |
Hamilton’s First Report on Public Credit submitted to Congress. |
03/22/1790 |
Jefferson begins service as Secretary of State. |
03/26/1790 |
Signed “An act to establish an uniform rule of Naturalization” outlining steps for “a free white person” to become a citizen. |
04/10/1790 |
Signed first patent act. |
05/29/1790 |
Rhode Island ratifies Constitution, the last of the 13 original colonies. |
05/31/1790 |
Signed copyright law. |
07/16/1790 |
Residence Act, provided for defining of a “district of territory” to be the permanent seat of the government of the United States, not exceeding 10 miles square, on the banks of the Potomac, (Later the “District of Columbia”). Called for relocating the government to this location no later than the first Monday in December 1800. |
08/04/1790 |
“An Act making provision for the [payment of the] Debt of the United States.” Outstanding Revolutionary War debt of the states is assumed by the United States. |
08/14/1790 |
Proclamation—Publishing a treaty of Peace and Friendship Between the United States and the Creek Nations of the Indians. |
08/26/1790 |
Proclamation—Warning Against Violation of Treatises Between the United States and the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indians. |
12/06/1790 |
Capital moves from New York to Philadelphia. |
12/08/1790 |
Second Annual Address to Congress. |
12/15/1790 |
Hamilton proposal to Congress for a national bank, Second Report on Public Credit. |
1791 |
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01/24/1791 |
Proclamation 1 –Defining the Boundaries of the District of Columbia. |
03/03/1791 |
First revenue law, creating fourteen revenue districts and placing a tax on all distilled spirits. |
03/04/1791 |
Special message: Vermont admitted as 14th state. |
03/19/1791 |
Proclamation 2—Respecting the Acts of James O’Fallon in Kentucky O’Fallon was “levying an armed force” which “disturbs the public peace.” |
03/30/1791 |
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09/09/1791 |
Commissioners name the territory within the District of Columbia (and the future seat of the Federal Government) as the “City of Washington” in honor of the nation's first President. |
10/25/1791 |
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11/04/1791 |
The Miami Indians soundly defeat an American military force of 1400 men led by General Arthur St. Clair at the cost of 900 American lives. |
12/15/1791 |
Bill of Rights declared ratified. |
1792 |
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01/12/1792 |
Thomas Pinckney appointed first United States Minister to England. |
03/01/1792 |
Signed Presidential Succession Act; outlines process for selection and voting of electors; providing for case in which neither President nor Vice-President can serve. |
04/05/1792 |
Vetoes Act of Apportionment of Representatives on grounds that it contradicts the language of the Constitution. |
09/15/1792 |
Proclamation 3b-Cessation of violence and obstruction of Justice in Protest of Liquor Laws. |
10/13/1792 |
The cornerstone for the President's mansion is laid in Washington D.C. |
11/06/1792 |
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12/05/1792 |
Electors cast ballots; Washington reelected unanimously. |
12/12/1792 |
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1793 |
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02/12/1793 |
Signs Fugitive Slave Act. |
03/04/1793 |
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04/22/1793 |
Neutrality Proclamation; In precedent-setting act, Washington declared (without Congressional advice or consent) United States neutrality in the War Involving Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain, and the United Netherlands against France. |
05/18/1793 |
President Washington receives France's envoy to the United States, Edmond Charles Genet, who unsuccessfully sought US help in European war and subsequently provoked controversy and scandal. |
08/18/1793 |
Signed Jay’s treaty, John Jay concludes a “Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation” with Britain, known today simply as the Jay Treaty. |
08/19/1793 |
Summoned Randolph for explanation of French dispatch. |
09/18/1793 |
Laid southeast cornerstone of Capitol Building in federal district. |
10/01/1793 |
US relations with Britain worsen after Britain orders confiscation of ships trading with the French in the Caribbean. |
12/03/1793 |
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12/31/1793 |
Jefferson resigned as Secretary of State. |
1794 |
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03/17/1794 |
Act to Provide Naval Armament (response to British seizing of US ships). |
03/20/1794 |
Signs An Act to provide for the Defense of certain Ports and Harbors in the United States (in response to British naval activity). |
03/22/1794 |
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03/24/1794 |
Proclamation 5- Respecting Enlisting Men in Kentucky to Invade a Neighboring Nation. Warns against raising forces for the purpose of invading territories of a nation at peace with the United States. |
04/16/1794 |
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay, is sent as Special Envoy to attempt to quell the tensions between U.S. and Britain. |
07/21/1794 |
Opponents to Whiskey Tax begin to organize in Mingo Creek, PA (Whiskey rebellion). |
08/07/1974 |
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08/20/1794 |
Battle of Fallen Timbers, Final Battle of Northwest Indian War between the United States troops, led by General Anthony Wayne, and the Nortwest Indian Confederation. |
09/25/1794 |
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11/19/1794 |
Jay Treaty Signed included withdrawal of British troops from Northwest Territory (“Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation”). |
11/19/1794 |
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11/29/1794 |
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12/01/1794 |
Hamilton submits resignation as Secretary of Treasury. |
1795 |
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01/29/1795 |
An Act to establish a uniform rule of Naturalization (repealing act of 1790). |
01/31/1795 |
Hamilton resignation as Secretary of the Treasury becomes effective. |
02/07/1795 |
11th Amendment to Constitution ratified; restricts the ability of individuals to bring suit against states in federal court. |
06/08/1795 |
Jay Treaty submitted to Senate (see 11/19/1794). |
06/24/1795 |
Jay Treaty ratified by Senate. |
07/10/1795 |
Proclamation—granting pardon to certain persons formerly engaged in violence and obstruction of Justice in Protest of Liquor laws in Pennsylvania (Whiskey Rebellion). |
08/03/1795 |
Treaty of Greenville, defining land open to settlement as result of Battle of Fallen Timbers 1794. |
08/18/1795 |
Washington signs Jay Treaty. |
10/27/1795 |
Treaty of San Lorenzo, The United States Treaty with Spain, granting Americans the right to ship goods through the port of New Orleans without having to pay duties to the Spanish Government. |
12/08/1795 |
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1796 |
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03/30/1796 |
Special Message to the House regarding The Jay Treaty; Washington refuses to provided papers requested. |
06/01/1796 |
Tennessee becomes a state. |
09/17/1796 |
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11/04/1796 |
Treaty with Tripoli, US agrees to pay a yearly tribute to Pasha Tripoli in exchange for the peaceful treatment of US shipping in the Mediterranean. |
12/07/1796 |
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12/07/1796 |
Electors Cast Ballots; John Adams elected President. |
1797 |
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02/28/1797 |
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03/04/1797 |
John Adams inaugurated. |
Last edited 12/02/2020.
George Washington, George Washington Event Timeline Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/346013