Early Modern
William Wilberforce's 1789 Speech Against the Slave Trade
The speech won wide praise, but the Commons postponed any decision to hear more evidence; the trade was abolished only in 1807.
Era · c. 1500 – 1800
Early Modern
Voyages of exploration, the Reformation and the age of revolutions that reshaped Europe and the wider world.
Early Modern
Olaudah Equiano and The Interesting Narrative (1789)
A bestselling first-person account of enslavement that strengthened the British campaign against the slave trade.
Early Modern
George Vancouver's Expedition (1791-1795): The Northwest Coast
The coast from California to Alaska was accurately charted, ending hopes of a Northwest Passage in temperate latitudes.
Early Modern
Whiskey Rebellion (1791–1794): Revolt Against the Whiskey Tax
A federal militia army of about 13,000 ended the resistance without a battle, establishing the new government's power to enforce federal law.
Early Modern
Haitian Revolution (1791): The Slave Uprising in Saint-Domingue
The uprising led to the abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue in 1793–1794 and ultimately to Haitian independence in 1804.
Early Modern
Champ de Mars Massacre (1791): National Guard Fires on Crowd
Between about a dozen and fifty people were killed, radicals were driven underground for a time and the reputations of Lafayette and Bailly were ruined.
Early Modern
Flight to Varennes (1791): Louis XVI's Failed Escape from Paris
The royal family was arrested at Varennes and brought back to Paris, and public trust in Louis XVI as a constitutional monarch collapsed.
Early Modern
Constitution of 3 May 1791: Poland's Landmark Reform Charter
The Sejm adopted a modern written constitution, but it was overturned after the Russian invasion of 1792 and the Second Partition of Poland.
Early Modern
Dream of the Red Chamber (1791): Cao Xueqin's Great Qing Novel
The first printed 120-chapter edition made the novel widely available and it became the most celebrated work of classical Chinese fiction.
Early Modern
Galvani and Animal Electricity (1791): Frog Legs and Nerves
Galvani showed that electricity makes muscles contract, founding electrophysiology and provoking the debate that led Volta to invent the battery.
Early Modern
Battle of Valmy (1792): The Cannonade That Saved the Revolution
French victory; the Prussian advance on Paris was halted and the invading army soon withdrew from France.
Early Modern
Storming of the Tuileries (1792): Fall of the French Monarchy
The palace was captured, the King was suspended and imprisoned, and the monarchy was abolished six weeks later.