Events

• February 15 – Federalist Congressman Roger Griswold
  Roger Griswold
  Roger Griswold was the 22nd Governor of Connecticut and a member of the US House of Representatives, serving as a Federalist....
  
   of Connecticut
  Connecticut
  Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
  
   attacks Vermont
  Vermont
  Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
  
   Representative Matthew Lyon
  Matthew Lyon
  Matthew Lyon , father of Chittenden Lyon and great-grandfather of William Peters Hepburn, was a printer, farmer, soldier and politician, serving as a United States Representative from both Vermont and Kentucky....
  
   with a walking stick in the chambers of the United States House of Representatives
  United States House of Representatives
  The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
  
  .
• March – The XYZ Affair
  XYZ Affair
  The XYZ Affair was a 1798 diplomatic episode during the administration of John Adams that Americans interpreted as an insult from France. It led to an undeclared naval war called the Quasi-War, which raged at sea from 1798 to 1800...
  
   begins, souring relations between the United States and France
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
  .
• April – U.S. House of Representatives elections begin in New York
  New York
  New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
  
   and continue into 1799.
• April 7 – The Mississippi Territory
  Mississippi Territory
  The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Mississippi....
  
   is organized from territory ceded by Georgia
  Georgia (U.S. state)
  Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
  
   and South Carolina
  South Carolina
  South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
  
   and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain.
• July 7 – Quasi-War
  Quasi-War
  The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought mostly at sea between the United States and French Republic from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.-Background:The Kingdom of France had been a...
  
  : The United States Congress
  United States Congress
  The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
  
   rescinds treaties with France
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
  , sparking the war.
• July 9 – Quasi-War
  Quasi-War
  The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought mostly at sea between the United States and French Republic from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.-Background:The Kingdom of France had been a...
  
  : The Act Further to Protect the Commerce of the United States
  Act Further to Protect the Commerce of the United States
  An Act further to protect the commerce of the United States, is an act of Congress approved July 9, 1798, authorizing the President of the United States to use military force in the Quasi-War with France.-Legislative history:...
  
   is approved by Congress, authorizing the President to use military force against France.
• July 11 – The United States Marine Corps
  United States Marine Corps
  The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
  
   is established by Congress (the Marine Corps had existed prior, see history of the United States Marine Corps
  History of the United States Marine Corps
  The history of the United States Marine Corps began with the founding of the Continental Marines on November 10, 1775 to conduct ship-to-ship fighting, provide shipboard security and discipline enforcement, and assist in landing forces. Its mission evolved with changing military doctrine and...
  
  ).
• July 14 – The Alien and Sedition Acts
  Alien and Sedition Acts
  The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress in the aftermath of the French Revolution's reign of terror and during an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams...
  
   become United States law, making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government
  Federal government of the United States
  The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
  
  .
• July 16 – The Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen Act is signed into law, creating the Marine Hospital Service
  Marine Hospital Service
  The Marine-Hospital Service was an organization of Marine Hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen in the U.S. Merchant Marine, U.S. Coast Guard and other federal beneficiaries....
  
  , the forerunner to the current United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
• August 31/September 1 – The first bank robbery in United States history takes place at the Bank of Pennsylvania
  Bank of Pennsylvania
  The Bank of Pennsylvania was established on July 17, 1780, by Philadelphia merchants to provide funds for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
  
   at Carpenters' Hall during the night or early morning. The robbers accessed the vault using a key and took US$162,821.
• September – Charles Brockden Brown
  Charles Brockden Brown
  Charles Brockden Brown , an American novelist, historian, and editor of the Early National period, is generally regarded by scholars as the most ambitious and accomplished US novelist before James Fenimore Cooper...
  
   publishes the first significant American novel, the Gothic fiction
  Gothic fiction
  Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
  
   Wieland: or, The Transformation; an American Tale
  Wieland (novel)
  Wieland: or, The Transformation: An American Tale, usually simply called Wieland, is the first major work by Charles Brockden Brown. First published in 1798, it distinguishes the true beginning of his career as a writer. Wieland is the first - and most famous - American Gothic novel. It has often...
  
  .
• October 2 – The Treaty of Tellico is signed between the United States and the Cherokee Nation
  Cherokee Nation
  The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
  
  .

Undated

• Eli Whitney
  Eli Whitney
  Eli Whitney was an American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin. This was one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution and shaped the economy of the Antebellum South...
  
   contracts with the U.S. federal government for 10,000 rifles, which he produces with interchangeable parts
  Interchangeable parts
  Interchangeable parts are parts that are, for practical purposes, identical. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any device of the same type. One such part can freely replace another, without any custom fitting...
  
  .

Further reading

• T. W. Higginson. American Flash Language in 1798. Science, Vol. 5, No. 118 (May 8, 1885), pp. 380–382.
• Carlos E. Godfrey. Organization of the Provisional Army of the United States in the Anticipated War with France, 1798-1800. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 38, No. 2 (1914), pp. 129–132
• Letters from William and Mary College, 1798–1801. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Apr., 1921), pp. 129–179.
• Yellow Fever in Boston, 1798. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 59, (Oct., 1925 - Jun., 1926).
• George W. Kyte. Guns for Charleston: A Case of Lend-Lease in 1798-1799. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Aug., 1948), pp. 401–408
• Patricia Holbert Menk. D. M. Erskine: Letters from America, 1798-1799. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Apr., 1949), pp. 251–284.
• Frederick B. Tolles. Unofficial Ambassador: George Logan's Mission to France, 1798. William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan., 1950), pp. 1–25.
• Charles E. Peterson. Fish Oil for Roofs, 1798. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Dec., 1952), pp. 34– 35
• William G. Soler. A Reattribution: John Dickinson's Authorship of the Pamphlet "A Caution," 1798. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 77, No.1 (Jan., 1953), pp. 24–31.
• James Morton Smith. The Enforcement of the Alien Friends Act of 1798. Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jun., 1954), pp. 85–104.
• James Morton Smith. Background for Repression: America's Half-War with France and the Internal Security Legislation of 1798. Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Nov., 1954), pp. 37–58.
• James Morton Smith. The Federalist "Saints" versus "The Devil of Sedition": The Liberty Pole Cases of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1798-1799. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Jun., 1955), pp. 198–215
• Lee H. Nelson. Brickmaking in Baltimore, 1798. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Mar., 1959), pp. 33–34
• Latrobe on Architects' Fees, 1798. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Oct., 1960), pp. 115–117
• Metchie J. E. Budka, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz. A Visit to Harvard College: 1798. From the Diary of Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec., 1961), pp. 510–514.
• Carlos R. Allen, Jr. David Barrow's Circular Letter of 1798. William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jul., 1963), pp. 440–451
• Peter J. Parker. Asbury Dickins, Bookseller, 1798–1801, or, the Brief Career of a Careless Youth. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 94, No. 4 (Oct., 1970), pp. 464–483.
• Steven H. Hochman. On the Liberty of the Press in Virginia: From Essay to Bludgeon, 1798-1803. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 84, No. 4 (Oct., 1976), pp. 431–445
• Lee W. Formwalt. An English Immigrant Views American Society: Benjamin Henry Latrobe's Virginia Years, 1796-1798. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 85, No. 4 (Oct., 1977), pp. 387–410.
• William J. Murphy, Jr. John Adams: The Politics of the Additional Army, 1798-1800. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Jun., 1979), pp. 234–249
• Alfred J. Marini. Political Perceptions of the Marine Forces: Great Britain, 1699, 1739 and the United States 1798, 1804. Military Affairs, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 171–176
• Lee Soltow. Housing characteristics on the Pennsylvania frontier: Mifflin County dwelling values in 1798. Pennsylvania History, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Jan. 1980), pp. 57–70
• Robert Gough. Officering the American Army, 1798. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Jul., 1986), pp. 460–471
• Lee Soltow. The Distribution of Income in the United States in 1798: Estimates Based on the Federal Housing Inventory. The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 69, No. 1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 181–185
• Thomas M. Ray. "Not One Cent for Tribute": The Public Addresses and American Popular Reaction to the XYZ Affair, 1798-1799. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Winter, 1983), pp. 389–412
• Lee Soltow. Wealth Inequality in the United States in 1798 and 1860. The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 66, No. 3 (Aug., 1984), pp. 444–451.
• Paul Douglas Newman. Fries's Rebellion and American Political Culture, 1798-1800. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 119, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Apr., 1995), pp. 37–73
• Anita DeClue, Billy G. Smith. Wrestling the "Pale Faced Messenger": The Diary of Edward Garrigues During the 1798 Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic. Pennsylvania History, Vol. 65, Explorations in Early American Culture (1998), pp. 243–268
• Robert H. Churchill. Popular Nullification, Fries' Rebellion, and the Waning of Radical Republicanism, 1798–1801. Pennsylvania History, Vol. 67, No. 1, Fries' Rebellion (Winter 2000), pp. 105–140
• Jeffrey S. Dimmig. Palatine Liberty: Pennsylvania German Opposition to the Direct Tax of 1798. The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Oct., 2001), pp. 371–390.