| January 11 | Titania and Oberon, moons of Uranus, discovered by William Herschel |
| January 25 | Shays' Rebellion suffers a setback when debt-ridden farmers, led by Captain Daniel Shays, fail to capture an arsenal at Springfield, Mass |
| January 28 | Philadelphia's Free Africa Society organizes |
| February 4 | 1st Anglican bishops of New York and Pennsylvania consecrated in London |
| February 4 | Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails |
| February 18 | Austrian emperor Jozef II bans children under 8 from labor |
| April 12 | Philadelphia's Free African Society forms |
| April 16 | 1st American comedy, "The Contrast," made its debut in New York City |
| May 6 | 1st Black Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston |
| May 10 | Parliament impeaches Warren Hastings |
| May 13 | Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay |
| May 14 | Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up U.S. constitution |
| May 17 | English slave ship Sisters, from Africa to Cuba, capsizes |
| May 25 | Constitutional convention opens at Philadelphia, George Washington presiding |
| May 29 | "Virginia Plan" proposed |
| June 12 | Law passes providing a senator must be at least 30 years old |
| July 2 | De Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered |
| July 6 | French government proclaims end to stamp/land tax |
| July 6 | Orange troops occupy Area at Duurstede |
| July 13 | Congress establishes Northwest Territory (excludes slavery) |
| July 13 | Ord of 1787-a territory can become 3 to 5 states at 60,000 pop |
| July 15 | Parliament of Paris banished to Troyes |
| August 2 | Horace the Saussure reaches top of Mont Blanc |
| August 6 | Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia begans debate |
| August 10 | Mozart completes his "Eine small Nachtmusik" |
| August 10 | Turkey declares war on Russia |
| August 17 | Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups |
| August 19 | W Herschel discovers Enceladus, a moon of Saturn |
| August 22 | John Fitch's steamboat completes its tests, years before Fulton |
| August 24 | Wolfgang A Mozart completes his viola sonata in A, K526 |
| September 12 | Black Masons form 1st lodge |
| September 13 | Prussian army moves into Netherlands |
| September 15 | Utrecht patriots flee to Amsterdam |
| September 17 | Prussian troops conquer Gorinchem |
| September 17 | U.S. constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention |
| September 20 | Prince Willem V returns to Hague |
| September 27 | Constitution submitted to states for ratification |
| September 28 | Congress sends Constitution to state legislatures for their approval |
| September 30 | 1st U.S. voyage around the world - Columbia leaves Boston |
| October 2 | Maagden House opens in Amsterdam |
| October 10 | Amsterdam surrenders to Prussian invasion army |
| October 17 | Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school facilities |
| October 26 | "Federalist Papers" published, calls for ratification of Constitution |
| October 27 | Federalist letters start appearing in New York newspapers |
| October 29 | Opera "Don Giovanni" is produced (Prague) |
| November 1 | 1st free school in New York City (African Free School) opens |
| November 18 | 1st Unitarian minister in U.S. ordained, Boston |
| November 21 | Andrew Jackson admitted to bar |
| November 30 | Spanish governor leaves Philippines |
| December 6 | Laurens Pieter van de Speigel appointed Dutch pension advisor |
| December 7 | Delaware becomes 1st state to ratify constitution |
| December 12 | Pennsylvania becomes 2nd state to ratify U.S. constitution |
| December 18 | New Jersey becomes 3rd state to ratify constitution |
