#OTD in 1790.
John Barry's Philadelphia Spelling Book Arranged Upon a Plan Entirely New becomes the first American book copyrighted.
John Barry was a schoolmaster of the Free School of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. While no complete copy of the book exists today, the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress has the printed title page and two pages of text that Barry originally deposited.
https://www.copyright.gov/history/copyright-exhibit/beginnings/