Historical Events in 1764

Jan 24 A fire at Harvard University destroys Governor Winthrop's Telescope and its library of 5,000 books is mostly lost
Feb 15 St. Louis, Missouri founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclède

Essay on Women

Feb 21 English House of Commons tries John Wilkes in absentia and finds him guilty of publishing a seditious libel for his "Essay on Women," an obscene parody of Alexander Pope’s "Essay on Man"

Radical Journalist and Politician John Wilkes

Mar 22 Dutch expeditionary corps launch attack on slave armies and settlements during Bernice rebellion (modern Guyana) - first major slave rebellion in South America [1]
Apr 3 Austrian Archduke Jozef crowned himself Holy Roman Emperor Josef II

Sugar Tax Passed

Apr 5 British Parliament passes the Sugar Tax on the American colonies, introduced by Prime Minister George Grenville

May 5 Smolny Institute forms in St Petersburg for noble girls

Event of Interest

May 24 Samuel Adams writes instructions for Boston Town Meeting opposing the Sugar Act, laying groundwork for colonial resistance to taxation without representation

Founding Father and Statesman Samuel Adams

Jul 23 James Otis publishes "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved," in which he argues against taxation without representation

Edward Gibbon's Inspiration

Oct 15 Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Nov 9 Mary Campbell, a captive of the Lenape during the French and Indian War, is handed over to forces commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet
Nov 16 Native Americans surrender to the British during Pontiac's War of Odawa Chief Pontiac
Nov 26 France bans Jesuit enorde