May 31: The US Congress approves the Law on Copyright on condition of compliance with prior formalities such as registration, notification and payment of a fee, in 1790.

The Copyright Act of 1790 was the first federal copyright law that was instituted in the United States, although most states have passed various laws to ensure copyright in the years immediately after the War independence.

The stated purpose of the Act was the "Encouragement of Learning", and which is achieved by obtaining the authors' sole right and liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing and selling "copies of their" maps, letters and books "for a period of 14 years, with the right to renew for an additional 14 years if the holder of the copyright still alive. Otherwise it will go public.

The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.