Here are a few of the events that ocurred in the year 1796. Our coins provide us a bridge to those events of long ago, and help us to appreciate both the coins and their history a little more: In the year 1796: - August 1796: Philadelphia became the first city in America to install gas lighting. Also, the first medical textbook on pediatrics was published in Philadelphia in that year. - December 18th 1796: the first Sunday newspaper - The Monitor - was published in Baltimore - October 29th 1796: the first ship to set sail to california from an Atlantic port arrived in Monterey. - March 9th 1796: Napoleon Buonaparte married his sweetheart Josephine de Beauharnais. - March 10th 1796: Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Lodi, and effectively took control of a major part of northern Italy. - September 9th 1796: The Philadelphia paper 'The American Daily Advertiser' published Washington's farewell address to the nation. - June 1st 1796: Tennesee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state. - December 1796: the first canal in the United States commenced operations at South Hadley, Massachusetts, and the first Public health Hospital was founded, also in Massachusetts. - December 1796: the first tramway in the United States built by Boston Brick Works was in operation. - 1796: in this year, Nicolas Carnot who discovered and laid the foundation for the first and second law of thermodynamics, was born in France. - July 11th 1796: The british withdrew from Fort Detroit. Captain Moses Porter took possession of the fort in the name of the United States. - 1796: In that year, in the Northwest Territory, General Moses Cleaveland founded the city that bears his name. His men mispelled his name as 'Cleveland', Ohio. - November 1796: Andrew jackson was elected to be Tennessee's first delegate to the House of Representatives. - September 17th. 1796: Washington delivered his Farewell Address to the nation, not as a speech, but as a written statement. - In the year 1796, this Silver Dollar was minted at the U.S mint at Philadelphia, to serve in the channels of commerce of the young nation: Hope you enjoy! Eduard
Excellent thread. Thanks, Eduard ! This really highlights one of the true joys of coin collecting. Also on this date in 1796: Dentists STILL had not discovered novacaine. Washington, famous for bad teeth, was speechless. :crying: Also in 1796 : Anne Bingham, model for the magnficent Draped Bust design, was still the most fabulous babe in town. :whistle: :kewl:
BTW... the EAC guys publish a journal entitled "Penny Wise". Each issue has an article like this, in which they list world events of a given year. They don't reveal the year until the end. Cool little puzzle.
Thank you 900fine, i took my inspiration for this from a 1999 catalogue which specialized in coins of 1796. Thanks you for adding some humorous bits to the events that occurred in 1796! I just wanted to highlight that one of the reasons why we like our coins so much is (certainly very much so in my case) because of the historical association they have. Because of the bridge they build to the past. (So what if they have a nick or 2, or have been cleaned somewhere/sometime along their history, the key thing to me is their history). Eduard
1796 was also the first year that all of the denominations authorized by the Mint Act of 1792 were coined. An event that would not happen again until 1849.
Ah, but I do! I own several Conder tokens with this date. But, ssshhhh :vanish:, this a U.S Coin forum so I cannot talk about British history!
We have to leave it to a non resident to publish something like this. BTW, "Mad" Anthony Wayne also died. He was my great-great-great-great grandfather - at least that is what I have been told.
The article is typically done by John Wright -- who also has a similar writeup (albeit more brief) for each middle-date year from 1816-39 in his excellent book, "The Cent Book".
Now here is a 1796 coin to make you drool. Sold for over a million dollars. http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=454&Lot_No=3059&ic=Left-FeaturedItemMain-071107
Thanks all, thanks Freaky and Dutchman, for your comments and postings on this thread. I though a little bit of history would not hurt! that is part of the passion behind the coin. Numismatically of course the year 1796 also holds many interesting issues that we all know - the 1796 quarter, and the half dollar. Both of them scarce and priced coins. I have tried to build up a small collection of 1796 issues, and have managed to obtain a dime (JR-2), the dollar posted here (B-5 i think), and 7 large cents. The quarter and half dollar i will never own.... Regards, Eduard
