1788

1788 (MDCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1788th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 788th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 18th century, and the 9th year of the 1780s decade. As of the start of 1788, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January–March

January 1 – The first edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published in London.

January 2 – Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fourth U.S. state under the new government.

January 9 – Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the fifth U.S. state.

January 18 – The leading ship (armed tender HMS Supply) in Captain Arthur Phillip's First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, to colonise Australia.

January 22 – The Congress of the Confederation, effectively a caretaker government until the United States Constitution can be ratified by at least nine of the 13 states, elects Cyrus Griffin as its last president.

January 24 – The La Perouse expedition in the Astrolabe and Boussole arrives off Botany Bay, just as Captain Arthur Phillip is attempting to move his colony from there to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson.

January 26 – Eleven ships of the First Fleet from Botany Bay, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, land at Sydney Cove (which will become Sydney), Australia, where he determines to establish the British prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.

January 31 – Henry Benedict Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain, as King Henry IX and the figurehead of Jacobitism.