| 1730–1807 | UK [newspapers] | The Daily Advertiser is launched in London, England. With its dependence on advertisements, this may be regarded as the first modern newspaper. |
| 1789 | England [political theory] | The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham publishes Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, which sets out his case for utilitarianism. |
| 1789 | USA [memoirs] | The US writer Benjamin Franklin publishes part of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, a work he began in 1771. The first complete edition appears in 1868. |
| 1789 | USA [tools] | English-born US industrialist Samuel Slater memorizes the plans of Richard Arkwright's spinning machine and brings the technology to the USA. |
| 1789 | USA [civic and commercial buildings] | The Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, designed by US statesman Thomas Jefferson, is completed. His ‘federal’ style marks a return to Roman architecture, which symbolically establishes a link between US and Roman republicanism. |
| 4 March 1789 | USA [political events] | The US Congress meets under the Constitution for the first time. Proponents of the Constitution (federalists) outnumber opponents (antifederalists) 17–9 in the Senate and 38–26 in the House of Representatives. |
| 3 April 1789 | Sweden [legislation] | King Gustav III's act of unity and security in Sweden, granting him absolute powers, becomes law. |
| 17 June 1789 | France [administration] | The Third Estate (representing the common people) of the Estates General (parliament) in France declares itself a National Assembly. |
| 20 June 1789 | France [administration] | The National Assembly in France takes the ‘Tennis Court Oath’, undertaking not to disband until a new constitution is drawn up. |
| 14 July 1789 | France [French Revolution] | A large crowd of the common people of Paris, France, (including some 5,000 women led by Théroigne de Méricourt) storms and captures the Bastille (a medieval fortress, symbol of the ancien régime) in Paris. The emigration of French aristocrats begins. |
| 15 July 1789 | France [administration] | The Commune de Paris (municipal government) is formed in Paris, France. It appoints Jean Bailly as mayor, sets up the National Guard under the Marquis de Lafayette, and is responsible for municipal administration. |
| 4 August 1789 | France [French Revolution] | The French National Assembly in Paris removes the feudal privileges of the nobility – including seigneurial rights and hunting rights. |
| 26 August 1789 | France [French Revolution] | The French National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man. |
| 15 September 1789 | USA [births and deaths] | James Fenimore Cooper, US novelist who wrote of life on the frontier, born in Burlington, New Jersey (–1851). |
| 15 September 1789 | France [births and deaths] | Louis Daguerre, French painter and physicist who invented the first practical method of photography, the daguerreotype, born in Cormeilles, near Paris, France (–1851). |
| 2 November 1789 | France [French Revolution] | Following a proposal by Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, the bishop of Autun, church property in France is placed ‘at the disposal of the nation’ with the aim of selling it off to the public. |
| 13 December 1789 | Austrian Netherlands, Belgium [political events] | The Austrian Netherlands declare their independence as ‘the United States of Belgium’. |
