1794

January–March

• January 13 – The U.S. Congress enacts a law providing for, effective May 1, 1795, a United States flag of 15 stars and 15 stripes, in recognition of the recent admission of Vermont and Kentucky as the 14th and 15th states. ^[1] A subsequent act restores the number of stripes to 13, but provides for additional stars upon the admission of each additional state.
• January 21 – King George III delivers the speech opening Parliament and recommends a continuation of Britain's war with France.
• February 4 – French Revolution: The French First Republic abolishes slavery.
• February 11 – The first session of the United States Senate is open to the public.
• The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed by Congress for submission to the states for ratification. ^[2]
• March 11 – Canonsburg Academy (now Washington & Jefferson College) is chartered by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.^[3]
• March 12 – General Antoni Madaliński, a commander of the National Cavalry in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, disobeys an order from the ruling Russian Empire and Kingdom of Prussia imposing demobilization, advancing his troops from Ostrołęka to Kraków.
• March 14 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
• March 22 – Congress prohibits American ships from supplying slaves to any nation other than the United States, setting a penalty of forfeiture of the ship and a $2,000 fine. ^[2]
• March 24 – Tadeusz Kościuszko makes his proclamation, starting the Kościuszko Uprising against the Russian Empire and Kingdom of Prussia, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Prussian Partition.
• March 26 – The U.S. lays a 60-day embargo on all shipping to and from Great Britain. ^[2]
• March 27 –
  • The United States Government authorizes the building of the first six United States Navy vessels (in 1797 the first three frigates, United States, Constellation (1797) and Constitution go into service), not to be confused with October 13, 1775, which is observed as the Navy's Birthday.
  • The U.S. Senate passes a rule ending its policy of closing all of its sessions to the public. ^[2]

April–June

• April 4 – Battle of Racławice: Polish supporters of the Kościuszko Uprising defeat forces of the Russian Empire.
• April 5 – French Revolution: Reign of Terror – Georges Danton is executed.
• April 17–19 – Kościuszko Uprising – Warsaw Uprising: The Polish people overthrow the Russian garrison in Warsaw.
• April 28 – Sardinian Vespers: The people of Cagliari in Sardinia oust the viceroy and his Piedmontese functionaries.
• April 29–May 1 – Battle of Boulou: The French defeat the Spanish and Portuguese forces.
• May 7 – French Revolution: Robespierre establishes the Cult of the Supreme Being as the new state religion of the French First Republic.
• May 8 – French Revolution: Reign of Terror – Chemist Antoine Lavoisier is tried, convicted and executed by guillotine in Paris, on the same day as with 27 co-defendants also associated with the former ferme générale.
• May 18 – Battle of Tourcoing: French troops defeat British forces.
• May 28–June 1 – The Glorious First of June (Battle of Ushant): British and French ships battle to a draw.
• June 1 - The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars.
• June 4 – British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
• June 17
  • The Anglo-Corsican Kingdom is established.
  • Battle of Mykonos: The British Royal Navy captures French frigate Sibylle.
• June 24 – Bowdoin College is founded in Brunswick, Maine.

June 26: Battle of Fleurus

• June 26 – Battle of Fleurus: French forces defeat the Austrians and their allies, leading to permanent loss of the Austrian Netherlands and destruction of the Dutch Republic. French use of an observation balloon marks the first participation of an aircraft in battle.

July–September

• July 12 – Horatio Nelson loses the sight in his right eye, in the British Siege of Calvi in Corsica.
• July 13 – Battle of the Vosges between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria.
• July 13–September 6 – Kościuszko Uprising – Siege of Warsaw: The Polish people resist a siege by armies of the Russian Empire and Kingdom of Prussia.
• July 17 – The sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne are executed 10 days prior to the end of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.

July 27: Robespierre and Saint-Just are arrested

• July 27 (9 Thermidor) – French Revolution – Thermidorian Reaction: Robespierre and Saint-Just are arrested on the orders of the French National Convention; they are executed the next day, ending the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.
• August 20 – Battle of Fallen Timbers in Northwestern Ohio: American troops under the command of General Anthony Wayne (nicknamed "Mad Anthony") defeat Native American tribes of the Western Confederacy. ^[2]
• August 29 – Stonyhurst College is finally established as a Roman Catholic school in Lancashire, England, having had several European locations.
• September 10 – The University of Tennessee is established at Knoxville.

October–December

• October 2 – Battle of Aldenhoven between French forces and those of Austria.
• October 4 – In the first and only instance of an incumbent United States president leading men into battle, George Washington arrives at Carlisle, Pennsylvania to guide the U.S. Army's suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion ^[4]. The rebels soon disperse and the insurrection collapses by the end of the month.
• October 10 – Battle of Maciejowice: Forces of the Russian Empire defeat Polish supporters of the Kościuszko Uprising; Tadeusz Kościuszko is wounded and captured.
• October 22 – Fort Wayne founded in what is now the U.S. state of Indiana.
• November 4 – Battle of Praga: Russian General Alexander Suvorov storms Warsaw, in the war against the Polish Kościuszko Uprising, and captures Praga, one of its suburbs, killing many civilians.
• November 14 – The first recorded meeting of the Franklin Literary Society is held at Canonsburg Academy (modern-day Washington & Jefferson College).^[5]
• November 19 – The United States and Great Britain conclude the Jay Treaty, the basis for ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations. ^[2]
• November 20 – Battle of St-Laurent-de-la-Muga fought between French and Spanish forces.
• December 8 – The Great New Orleans Fire (1794) burns over 200 buildings in the French Quarter.
• December 23 – In New Orleans, St. Louis Cathedral is dedicated.

Date unknown

• Coffee is forbidden by royal decree in Sweden.^[6]
• France occupies Aachen.
• The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry, a British Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment, is formed by the Earl of Cassillis at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire.
• Colombian Antonio Nariño translates and publishes the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
• Britain agrees to evacuate border forts in the Northwest Territory (roughly the area north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi), and thereby end British support for the Indians.
• The Oban distillery is built in Scotland.

Date unknown

• Caroline Howard Gilman, American author (d. 1888)
• Gustafva Lindskog, Swedish athlete (d. 1851)
• Francesco Puccinotti, Italian pathologist (d. 1872)
• Mirza Shafi Vazeh, Azeri poet (d. 1852)