Calendar of Literary Facts

1794

  • France abolishes slavery in its colonies
  • The Terror reaches its high tide in France; Georges Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, and Louis Antoine St. Just are beheaded, as are many other suspected enemies of the state
  • William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence and of Experience
  • William Cullen Bryant is born (November 3)
  • Dr. Jesse Bennett of Edom, Virginia, performs the first successful Caesarian section, operating upon his own wife and delivering a healthy baby girl (January 14)