The University of Georgia, one of the oldest public universities in the United States, was founded.

The University of Georgia is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in the United States. It is the flagship school of the University System of Georgia.

The title of oldest public university in the United States is claimed by three universities: the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the College of William and Mary. Each has a distinct basis for the claim: North Carolina being the first to hold classes and graduate students as a public institution, Georgia being the first created by state charter, and William & Mary having the oldest founding and operations dates of any current public university, but it was a private institution for over 200 years, until 1906.