John Romine

Personal History

Significant Events of 1740

  • The University of Pennsylvania (located in Philadelphia) is officially established as one of nine colonial colleges that were chartered prior to the U.S. Declaration of Independence by Benjamin Franklin, the university’s founder and first president.
  • English evangelist George Whitefield preaches to 30,000 people in Boston in the US during the ‘Great Awakening’.
  • Gov. James Oglethorpe of Georgia launched a 39 day blockade of St. Augustine. That same year, Spain began construction on Fort Matanzas in the Matanzas Inlet, approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of St. Augustine, Florida.
  • Frederick II (a.k.a. Frederick the Great) becomes King in Prussia upon the death of his father.
  • Maria Theresa becomes ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia.
  • Adam Smith left Glasgow, Scotland to undertake postgraduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford.
  • The third volume of philosopher David Hume’s seminal work “A Treatise of Human Nature” is published by Thomas Longman.