1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).
Events
- In Britain, Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharpthe "Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade" with support from John Wesley, Josiah Wedgwood and others.
- January 11 - William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
- February 4 - Shays' Rebellion fails
- May 13 - Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.
- May 14 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to meet to write a new Constitution for the United States.
- May 25 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to convene a Constitutional Convention intended to amend the Articles of Confederation. However, a new Constitution for the United States was eventually produced. George Washington presided over the Convention.
- June 6 - Franklin College, named for Benjamin Franklin, opens in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It later merges with Marshall College to become Franklin and Marshall College.
- July 13 - The U.S. Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
- August 27 - Launching a forty-five-foot craft on the Delaware River, John Fitch demonstrates the first US patent for his design.
- September 17 - United States Constitution adopted
- December 7 - Delaware ratifies the Constitution and becomes the first U.S. state.
- December 12 - Pennsylvania becomes the second U.S. state.
- December 18 - New Jersey becomes the third U.S. state.
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Deaths