| 1790 |
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The United States conducts its first census and finds that 3,929,214 people live in the young nation. |
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The Columbia becomes the first American ship to sail around the world, a journey of 42,000 miles that took 2 1/2 years. |
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Philadelphia becomes the nation's capitol. |
| 1791 |
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Vermont becomes the first new state to join the original thirteen United States. |
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The Bill of Rights becomes part of the United States Constitution, guaranteeing Americans the right of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. |
| 1792 |
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Robert Thomas begins publishing The Farmer's Almanac, a publication containing information about New England life along with valuable data on the weather, agriculture and other practical matters. |
| 1793 |
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Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, making it a crime to hide a fugitive from enslavement or interfere with his or her arrest. |
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Yellow fever epidemic kills more than 4,000 people in Philadelphia. |
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Eli Whitney invents his cotton gin, a machine for quickly separating the seeds from newly-picked cotton. Cotton quickly becomes a major American export. |
| 1794 |
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The first major turnpike in America is completed between Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. |
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Angry farmers in western Pennsylvania oppose a government tax on liquor during an uprising known as the Whiskey Rebellion. |
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After more than a hundred years, white-powdered hair goes out of fashion for men. |
| 1795 |
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Thomas Pickney negotiates a treaty with Spain that opens navigation on the Mississippi River to Americans. |
| 1796 |
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Gilbert Stuart completes his famous portrait of George Washington. |
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Americans get their first look at an elephant when Jacob Crowninshield of Massachusetts exhibits the animal for profit. |
| 1797 |  |
John Chapman, known as "Johnny Appleseed," begins planting apple seeds along the Ohio Valley. |
| 1798 |
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Eli Whitney develops the idea of mass production. The following year he wins a government contract to manufacture firearms with virtually identical parts. |
| 1799 | |
Pennsylvania farmers stage a revolt against a federal tax on their property. |
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Less than three years after his retirement from the Presidency, George Washington dies at the age of 67 at his Mount Vernon, Virginia plantation. He is mourned by millions of Americans. |
