Thomas Jefferson's text for the Declaration of Independence is accepted by the Congress in Philadelphia

John Hancock is the first delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence, formally written out on a large sheet of parchment

The US Congress agrees the final version of the Articles of Confederation, defining the terms on which states join the Union

Delegates meeting in Philadelphia agree a final draft for a US consitution, to be submitted to the states for ratification

The constitution of the United States is ratified by the states, but it is immediately agreed that amendments will be desirable

The ministers of Louis XVI reluctantly announce that the estates general will meet in 1789, for the first time since 1614

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified by the states

The first political parties, Hamilton's Federalists and Jefferson's Republicans, emerge in the USA

Republican Thomas Jefferson and Federalist Aaron Burr have an identical number of Electoral College votes in the US presidential election

The Spanish Cortes in Cadiz produces a strikingly liberal new constitution for Spain

Bolívar defeats the Spanish at Carabobo and liberates, for the second time, his native city of Caracas

After defeating the Spanish at Pichincha, Antonio José de Sucre enters Quito and liberates Ecuador

The Republican party in the USA splits into National Republicans and Democratic Republicans

Conservative 'bigwigs' and liberal 'novices' emerge as Chile's two main political parties

Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell wins a sensational by-election victory to join the Westminster parliament

Adult white males now have the vote in almost all the states of the USA

Andrew Jackson, elected president of the USA, introduces the era known as Jacksonian democracy

Old Sarum, the most notorious of Britain's rotten boroughs, has just seven voters but returns two members to parliament

The Tories in Britain adopt a reassuring name for an uncertain future – Conservatives

The opponents of US president Andrew Jackson, mockingly called King Andrew, become known as the Whig party

Alexis de Tocqueville publishes in French the first two volumes of his extremely influential study Democracy in America

The Whig party in Britain begin referring to themselves as Liberals

Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell pioneers mass political demonstrations, which become known as 'monster meetings'

Louis Napoleon, asking the French people to approve his elevation to emperor as Napoleon III, receives a resounding yes in the plebiscite

Lionel Nathan Rothschild becomes the first Jew to sit in Britain's House of Commons, taking his oath on the Old Testament