16th January » Virginia enacted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom called Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
10th June » A landslide dam on the Dadu River (China) called Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China.
25th June » Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island (Alaska) e.g St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
29th June » Alexander Macdonell (bishop) called Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.
8th August » Mont Blanc on the France called French – Italy known as Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
11th August » Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
11th September » The beginning of the Annapolis Convention (1786) known as Annapolis Convention.
7th November » The oldest musical organization in the United States is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
30th November » The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor called Pietro Leopoldo I, becomes the first modern state to abolish the capital punishment named death penalty (later commemorated as Cities for Life Day).
4th December » Mission Santa Barbara is dedicated (on the feast day of Saint Barbara).
29th December » French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
Famous Birthdays in 1786
7th January » John Catron, American jurist (d. 1865)
8th January » Nicholas Biddle (banker) named Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
11th January » Joseph Jackson Lister, English opticist and physicist (d. 1869)
12th January » Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1855)
2nd February » Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1856)
16th February » Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1786–1859) named Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1859)
24th February » Martin W. Bates, American lawyer and politician (d. 1869)
24th February » Wilhelm Grimm, German philologist (d. 1859)
26th February » François Arago, French mathematician and politician, 25th Prime Minister of France (d. 1853)
8th May » John Vianney, French priest and saint (d. 1859)
15th May » Dimitris Plapoutas, Greek general (d. 1864)
13th June » Winfield Scott, American general (d. 1866)
20th June » Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet and author (d. 1859)
21st June » Charles Edward Horn, English singer-songwriter (d. 1849)