Historical Events
1st Presidential Veto
Apr 5 George Washington exercises first presidential veto to strike down a Congressional bill to increase the number of seats for northern states in the House of Representatives
French Revolutionary Wars
Apr 20 Amidst the French Revolution, France declares war on Austria and Prussia, beginning the French Revolutionary Wars
Tiradentes Executed
Apr 21 Brazilian revolutionary Tiradentes, is hanged, drawn and quartered in Rio de Janeiro
- Apr 25 "La Marseillaise", later the national anthem of France, is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg
- Apr 25 Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas Pelletier
Famous Birthdays
- Apr 4 Thaddeus Stevens, US Radical Republican congressional leader (Rep-R-Pennsylvania 1849-53 1859-68), born in Danville, Vermont (d. 1868)
- Apr 12 John George Lambton, British statesman (1st Earl of Durham), born in London, England (d. 1840)
- Apr 23 John Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist, born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1882)
- Apr 25 John Keble, Anglican priest and founder (Oxford Movement), born in Fairford, Gloucestershire, England (d. 1886)
- Apr 30 Johann Friedrich Schwencke, German organist and composer, born in Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany) (d. 1852)
Famous Deaths
Tiradentes (1746-1792)
Apr 21 Brazilian revolutionary and independence fighter (Inconfidência Mineira) considered a national hero, hanged, drawn and quartered in Rio de Janeiro at 45
- Apr 23 Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and adventurer, dies at 50
- Apr 25 Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Beckmann, German composer, dies at 54
- Apr 25 Nicolas J Pelletier, French highwayman, 1st person guillotined
- Apr 30 Hans Adolf Friedrich von Eschstruth, composer and lawyer, dies at 36
- Apr 30 John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, British statesman who claimed to have invented the sandwich, dies at 73
