1781

Centuries:	17th century - 18th century - 19th century
Decades:	1750s 1760s 1770s - 1780s - 1790s 1800s 1810s
Years:	1778 1779 1780 - 1781 - 1782 1783 1784

Year 1781 (MDCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1781

January - June

January 2 - Virginia passes law ceding its western land claims, paving the way for Maryland to ratify the Articles of Confederation
January 5 - American Revolution: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
January 6 - In the Battle of Jersey the British beat the French in what was technically the last battle fought in the British Islands (coming after the Battle of Culloden in 1745). It was the last attempt by France to invade Jersey militarily.
January 17 - American Revolution: Americans under Daniel Morgan defeat British forces at the Battle of Cowpens.
February 2 - Articles of Confederation ratified by Maryland, the 13th and final state to do so.
January - William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister, enters Parliament.
March 1 - United States Continental Congress implements the Articles of Confederation forming its Perpetual Union as the United States in Congress Assembled.
March 13 - Sir William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus. Originally he calls it Georgium Sidus (George's Star) in honour of King George III of England.
March 15 - American Revolution: American General Nathanael Greene loses Battle of Guilford Court House to British.

March 13: Uranus discovered [image in false color].

July - December

July 27 - French spy Francis Henry de la Motte executed in Tyburn prison in England for high treason
July 29 - American Revolution: Skirmish at the House in the Horseshoe: A Tory force under David Fanning attacks Phillip Alston's smaller force of Whigs at Alston's home in Cumberland County, North Carolina (in present day Moore County, North Carolina). Alston's troops surrender after Fanning's men attempt to ram the house with a cart of burning straw.
August 30 - American Revolution: French fleet under Comte de Grasse enters Chesapeake Bay, cutting British General Charles Cornwallis off from escape by sea.
September 4 - Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Ángeles de Porciuncula (City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula) by a group of 44 Spanish settlers.
September 5 - American Revolution: British fleet under Thomas Graves arrives and fights de Grasse, but to no effect.
September 6 - American Revolution: The British army attacks a fort in Groton, Connecticut which became known as the Battle of Groton Heights.
September 10 - American Revolution: Graves gives up trying to break through the now-reinforced French fleet and returns to New York, leaving Cornwallis to his fate.
October 19 - American Revolution: Following the Siege of Yorktown, General Charles Cornwallis surrenders to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the armed struggle of the American Revolution.
October 20 - Patent of Tolerance, providing limited freedom of worship, was approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
November 5 - John Hanson is elected President of the Continental Congress.
November 29 - The slave ship Zong dumps its living cargo into the sea in order to claim insurance.
November 29 - Henry Hurle officially founds the Ancient Order of Druids(AOD) in London, England.
December 12 - French and British fleets fight in the Second Battle of Ushant.

Undated

Bank of North America is chartered by the Continental Congress.
Charles Messier publishes final catalog of Messier objects.
Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers tungsten.
Immanuel Kant publishes Critique of Pure Reason.
Jeremy Bentham formulates utilitarian ethics.
Reverend Samuel Peters publishes General History of Connecticut, using the term blue law for the first time.
Antonio Salieri selected as music teacher of Princess of Württemberg over Mozart.
John Phillips establishes Phillips Exeter Academy.
Washington Academy later Washington and Jefferson College.
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor abolishes serfdom.

Births

**1781 in other calendars**
Gregorian calendar	1781 MDCCLXXXI
Ab urbe condita	2534
Armenian calendar	1230 ԹՎ ՌՄԼ
Bahá'í calendar	-63 – -62
Berber calendar	2731
Buddhist calendar	2325
Burmese calendar	1143
Chinese calendar	4417/4477-12-7 (庚子年十二月初七日) — to — 4418/4478-11-17 (辛丑年十一月十七日)
Coptic calendar	1497 – 1498
Ethiopian calendar	1773 – 1774
Hebrew calendar	5541 – 5542
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1836 – 1837
- Shaka Samvat	1703 – 1704
- Kali Yuga	4882 – 4883
Holocene calendar	11781
Iranian calendar	1159 – 1160
Islamic calendar	1195 – 1196
Japanese calendar	An'ei 10Tenmei 1 (天明元年)
Korean calendar	4114
Thai solar calendar	2324

January 26 - Achim von Arnim, German writer (d. 1831)
January 30 - Adelbert von Chamisso, German writer (d. 1838)
February 17 - Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec, French physician and inventor (d. 1826)
March 4 - Rebecca Gratz, American educator and philanthropist (d. 1869)
March 13 - Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German architect and painter (d. 1841)
April 2 - Bhagwan Swaminarayan, Hindu Spiritual Leader and believed by a few to be god (d. 1830)
June 9- George Stephenson, English engineer (d. 1848)
June 21 - Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1840)
July 6
- Thomas Stamford Raffles, English founder of Singapore (d. 1826)
- John D. Sloat, American naval officer (d. 1867)
July 27 - Mauro Giuliani, Italian composer (d. 1829)
September 3 - Eugène de Beauharnais, French nobleman, son of Napoleon's wife Josephine (d. 1824)
September 6 - Anton Diabelli, Austrian music publisher, editor, and composer (d. 1858)
October 1 - James Lawrence, U.S. Navy officer (d. 1813)
November 6 - Lucy Aikin, English writer (d. 1864)
November 20 - Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (d. 1854)
November 29 - Andrés Bello, Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, teacher, philosopher and sociologist (d. 1865)
November 30 - Alexander Berry, Scottish adventurer and Australian pioneer (d. 1873)
December 11 - Sir David Brewster, Scottish physicist (d. 1868)
date unknown
- William Williams of Wern, minister (d. 1840)
- Shaka Zulu King of the Zulu people. (d. circa 22 September 1828)

See also Category: 1781 births.

Deaths

January 12 - Richard Challoner, English Catholic prelate (b. 1691)
January 15 - Marianne Victoria of Borbón, queen regent of Portugal (b. 1718)
February 15 - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German author and philosopher (b. 1729)
February 23 - George Taylor, American signer of the Declaration of Independence
February 24 - Edward Capell, English critic (b. 1713)
March 18 - Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French statesman and economist (b. 1727)
April 23 - James Abercrombie, British general (b. 1706)
April 28 - Cornelius Harnett, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1723)
May 8 - Richard Jago, English poet (b. 1715)
May 27 - Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist (b. 1716)
July 18 - Padre Francisco Garcés, Spanish missionary (killed) (b. 1738)
July 23 - John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-born Continental Congressman (b. 1724)
September 28 - William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford, British diplomat and statesman (b. 1717)
October 16 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (b. 1705)
November 4 - Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (b. 1721)
date unknown - Peter Scheemakers, Flemish sculptor (b. 1691)

See also Category: 1781 deaths.

List of centuries

These pages contain the trends of centuries and millennia.

Centuries and millennia

Millennium Century
BC
4th 40th 39th 38th 37th 36th 35th 34th 33rd 32nd 31st

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17th century

2nd millennium
16th century · 17th century · 18th century
1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s
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18th century

2nd millennium
17th century · 18th century · 19th century
1700s 1710s 1720s 1730s 1740s
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19th century

2nd millennium
18th century · 19th century · 20th century
1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s
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List of decades

See also: List of centuries and History

This is a list of decades in history, including links to corresponding articles with more information about them.
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1750s

2nd millennium
17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1720s 1730s 1740s - 1750s - 1760s 1770s 1780s
1750 1751 1752 1753 1754
1755 1756 1757 1758 1759
Births - Deaths - Architecture
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1760s

2nd millennium
17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1730s 1740s 1750s - 1760s - 1770s 1780s 1790s
1760 1761 1762 1763 1764
1765 1766 1767 1768 1769
Births - Deaths - Architecture
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1770s

2nd millennium
17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1740s 1750s 1760s - 1770s - 1780s 1790s 1800s
1770 1771 1772 1773 1774
1775 1776 1777 1778 1779
Births - Deaths - Architecture
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1780s

2nd millennium
17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1750s 1760s 1770s - 1780s - 1790s 1800s 1810s
1780 1781 1782 1783 1784
1785 1786 1787 1788 1789
Births - Deaths - Architecture
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1790s

2nd millennium
17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1760s 1770s 1780s - 1790s - 1800s 1810s 1820s
1790 1791 1792 1793 1794
1795 1796 1797 1798 1799
Births - Deaths - Architecture
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1800s

2nd millennium
18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1770s 1780s 1790s - 1800s - 1810s 1820s 1830s
1800 1801 1802 1803 1804
1805 1806 1807 1808 1809
Births - Deaths - Architecture
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1810s

2nd millennium
18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1780s 1790s 1800s - 1810s - 1820s 1830s 1840s
1810 1811 1812 1813 1814
1815 1816 1817 1818 1819
Births - Deaths - Architecture
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List of years

This page indexes the individual years pages.

Twenty-first century

2100 - 2099 - 2098 - 2097 - 2096 - 2095 - 2094 - 2093 - 2092 - 2091

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1778

17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1740s 1750s 1760s - 1770s - 1780s 1790s 1800s
1775 1776 1777 - 1778 - 1779 1780 1781

Year 1778 (
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1779

17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1740s 1750s 1760s - 1770s - 1780s 1790s 1800s
1776 1777 1778 - 1779 - 1780 1781 1782

Year 1779 (
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1780

17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1750s 1760s 1770s - 1780s - 1790s 1800s 1810s
1777 1778 1779 - 1780 - 1781 1782 1783

Year 1780 (
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1782

17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1750s 1760s 1770s - 1780s - 1790s 1800s 1810s
1779 1780 1781 - 1782 - 1783 1784 1785

Year 1782 (
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1783

17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1750s 1760s 1770s - 1780s - 1790s 1800s 1810s
1780 1781 1782 - 1783 - 1784 1785 1786

Year 1783 (
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1784

17th century - 18th century - 19th century
1750s 1760s 1770s - 1780s - 1790s 1800s 1810s
1781 1782 1783 - 1784 - 1785 1786 1787

Year 1784 (
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Roman numerals

Roman numerals are a numeral system originating in ancient Rome, adapted from Etruscan numerals. The system used in classical antiquity was slightly modified in the Middle Ages to produce the system we use today.
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Common year starting on Monday

This is the calendar for any common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G). Examples: Gregorian year 2001 & 2007 or Julian year 1918 (see bottom tables).
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Gregorian calendar

Calendars

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Wide use Astronomical · Gregorian · Islamic · ISO
Calendar Types
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Common year starting on Friday

This is the calendar for any common year starting on Friday (dominical letter C). Examples: Gregorian years 2021 & 2010 or Julian years 1910 & 1899 (see bottom tables).
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Julian calendar

Calendars

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Wide use Astronomical · Gregorian · Islamic · ISO
Calendar Types
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Selected use Assyrian · Armenian · Attic ·
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January 2

January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 363 days remaining until the end of the year (364 in leap years).
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Virginia

Commonwealth of Virginia

Flag of Virginia Seal of Virginia
Nickname(s): Old Dominion, Mother of Presidents
Motto(s): Sic semper tyrannis

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State cessions

The state cessions are those areas of the United States that the separate states ceded to the federal government in the late 18th and early 19th century.
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Maryland

State of Maryland

Flag of Maryland Seal
Nickname(s): Old Line State; Free State
Motto(s): Fatti maschii, parole femine
(Manly deeds, womanly words)

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Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, also the Articles of Confederation, was the first governing constitution of the United States of America.
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January 5

January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 360 days remaining until the end of the year (361 in leap years).
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