This Year in History:
1792
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
On this day in 1792, President George Washington signs legislation creating the U.S. Postal Service. Prior to the American Revolution, correspondence between parties depended largely upon hired private couriers, friends…
On February 20, 1792, President George Washington signs legislation renewing the United States Post Office as a cabinet department led by the postmaster general, guaranteeing inexpensive delivery of all newspapers,…
On this day in 1792, John Stuart, 3rd earl of Bute and advisor to the British king, George III, dies in London. Although most Americans have never heard his name,…
George Washington exercises the first presidential veto of a Congressional bill on April 5, 1792. The bill introduced a new plan for dividing seats in the House of Representatives that…
On May 8, 1792, Congress passes the second portion of the Militia Act, requiring that every free able‑bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or…
On July 18, 1792, the Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones dies in his Paris apartment, where he was still awaiting a commission as the United States consul to…
On this day in 1782, the British playwright and general, John Burgoyne, dies in England. His humiliating surrender to Patriot forces at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, left a black…
English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley is born on this day in Sussex, into a wealthy, aristocratic family. Shelley, the heir to his wealthy grandfather’s estate, was educated at Eton…
In Revolutionary France, the Legislative Assembly votes to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic. The measure came one year after King Louis XVI reluctantly approved a new constitution…
The cornerstone is laid for a presidential residence in the newly designated capital city of Washington, D.C. In 1800, President John Adams became the first president to reside in the…
On this day in 1792, the cornerstone of the White House is laid in the nation’s new capital, Washington, D.C. George Washington, who had been in office just over a…
