Editing 1785 (section)

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 19]] &ndash; The Commonwealth of [[Massachusetts]] [[state cessions|cedes all of its claims]] to territory west of New York State to the United States Confederation Congress. The area will become the southern portions of Michigan and Wisconsin.<ref>''The United States: Its Beginnings, Progress and Modern Development'', Volume 3, ed. by Edwin Wiley and Irving E. Rines (American Educational Alliance, 1912) p384</ref><ref name="Harper1785"/>
* [[April 21]] &ndash; The Empress [[Catherine the Great]] of the [[Russian Empire]] issues the Charter to the Towns, providing for "a coherent, unified system of administration" for new governments organized in Russia. 
* [[April 26]] &ndash; [[John Adams]] is appointed as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, and [[Thomas Jefferson]] as ambassador to France.<ref>Robert V. Remini, ''John Quincy Adams: 6th President, 1825-1829'' (Times Books, 2014) p17</ref>
* [[April 28]] &ndash; Astronomer [[William Herschel]] begins his second series of surveys of the stars, published in 1789.<ref>Stephen James O'Meara, ''Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects'' (Cambridge University Press, 2016) p534</ref>
* [[May 10]] &ndash; A [[hot air balloon]] crashes in [[Tullamore]], Ireland, causing a fire that burns down about 100 houses, making it the world's first [[Aviation accidents and incidents|aviation disaster]] (by 36 days).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Tullamore Balloon Fire - First Air Disaster in History |first=Michael |last=Byrne |date=2007-01-09 |work=Tullamore History |url=http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/72/1/The-Tullamore-Balloon-Fire---First-Air-Disaster-in-History/Page1.html |publisher=Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society |access-date=2012-08-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326081536/https://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/72/1/The-Tullamore-Balloon-Fire---First-Air-Disaster-in-History/Page1.html |archive-date=March 26, 2012 |df=mdy }}</ref>
* [[May 20]] &ndash; The [[Northwest Ordinance of 1785]], setting the rules for dividing the U.S. [[Northwest Territory]] (later Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan) into townships of 36 square miles apiece, is passed by the Confederation Congress. Walter G. Robillard and Lane J. Bouman, ''Clark on Surveying and Boundaries'' (LexisNexis, 1997) The survey system will later be applied to the continent west of the Mississippi River.<ref name="Harper1785"/>
* [[May 23]] &ndash; [[Benjamin Franklin]] receives a patent for [[bifocals]].
* [[June 3]] &ndash; The [[Continental Navy]] is disbanded.
* [[June 15]] &ndash; After several attempts, [[Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier]] and his companion, Pierre Romain, set off in a balloon from [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]], but the balloon suddenly deflates (without the envelope catching fire) and crashes near [[Wimereux]] in the Pas-de-Calais, killing both men, making it the first fatal aviation disaster.