May 7, 1789: President George Washington attends a ball in his honor. The event provided a model for the first official inaugural ball, held to celebrate James Madison’s ascension to the office ten years later, which then became an annual tradition.
Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States on April 30, [...]

May 2, 2011: Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, is killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan. The notorious, 54-year-old leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist network of Islamic extremists, had been the target of a nearly decade-long international [...]

April 30, 1789: George Washington is sworn in as the first American president and delivers the first inaugural speech at Federal Hall in New York City. Elements of the ceremony set tradition; presidential inaugurations have deviated little in the two centuries since Washington’s inauguration.
In front of 10,000 spectators, Washington appeared in a plain brown broadcloth [...]

April 27, 1773: British Parliament passes the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company from bankruptcy by greatly lowering the tea tax it paid to the British government and, thus, granting it a de facto monopoly on the American tea trade. Because all legal tea entered the colonies through England, [...]

At precisely high noon, thousands of would-be settlers make a mad dash into the newly opened Oklahoma Territory to claim cheap land.
The nearly two million acres of land opened up to white settlement was located in Indian Territory, a large area that once encompassed much of modern-day Oklahoma. Initially considered unsuitable for white colonization, Indian [...]

At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation the [...]

In Massachusetts, British troops march out of Boston on a mission to confiscate the Patriot arsenal at Concord and to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, known to be hiding at Lexington. As the British departed, Boston Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback from the city to warn Adams and Hancock and rouse [...]

On April 17, 1790, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84.
Born in Boston in 1706, Franklin became at 12 years old an apprentice to his half brother James, a printer and publisher. He learned the printing trade and in 1723 went to Philadelphia to work after a dispute with his [...]

From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Apollo 16, the fifth of six U.S. lunar landing missions, is successfully launched on its 238,000-mile journey to the moon. On April 20, astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke descended to the lunar surface from Apollo 16,which remained in orbit around the moon with a third astronaut, Thomas K. Mattingly, in command. Young and [...]

April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shoots President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.  The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
Booth, a Maryland native born in 1838, who remained in the North during the [...]

Future President Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s preeminent political theorist, is born on April 13, 1743.
Historian and biographer Joseph Ellis has called Jefferson, who had a monumental role in shaping American politics, the American sphinx for his enigmatic character. Since his terms in office, presidents and politicians from both ends of the [...]

The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina‘s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, [...]

April 11, 1970: Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The spacecraft’s destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin and conduct geological experiments. After an oxygen tank exploded on [...]

At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.
In retreating from [...]

On April 6, 1917, two days after the U.S. Senate votes 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U.S. House of Representatives endorses the decision by a vote of 373 to 50, and the United States formally enters the First World War.
When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position [...]

Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indian confederacy, marries English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia. The marriage ensured peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years.
In May 1607, about 100 English colonists settled along the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. The settlers fared badly because of [...]

Just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers’ strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him in the jaw and [...]

April 3, 1860: The first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting [...]

April 2, 1917: President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I. In his address to Congress that day, Wilson lamented it is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war. Four days later, Congress obliged and declared war on Germany.
In February and March 1917, Germany, embroiled [...]

 
In a letter dated March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, urging him and the other members of the Continental Congress not to forget about the nation’s women when fighting for America’s independence from Great Britain.
The future First Lady wrote in part, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, [...]

March 29, 1945: Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd Army captures Frankfurt, as “Old Blood and Guts” continues his march east.
Frankfurt am Main, literally “On the Main” River, in western Germany, was the mid-19th century capital of Germany (it was annexed by Prussia in 1866, ending its status as a free city). Once integrated into a [...]

March 28, 1774: Upset by the Boston Tea Party and other blatant acts of destruction of British property by American colonists, the British Parliament enacts the Coercive Acts, to the outrage of American Patriots.
The Coercive Acts were a series of four acts established by the British government. The aim of the legislation was to restore [...]

Future President Thomas Jefferson is elected to the second Continental Congress on March 27,1775. Jefferson, a Virginia delegate, quickly established himself in the Continental Congress with the publication of his paper entitled A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Throughout the next year, Jefferson published several more papers, most notably Drafts and Notes [...]

The Provincial Congress of South Carolina approves a new constitution and government on this day in 1776. The legislature renames itself the General Assembly of South Carolina and elects John Rutledge as president, Henry Laurens as vice president and William Henry Drayton as chief justice.
South Carolina took this action towards independence from Great Britain four [...]

In an effort to raise funds to pay off debts and defend the vast new American territories won from the French in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), the British government passes the Stamp Act on this day in 1765. The legislation levied a direct tax on all materials printed for commercial and legal use in [...]

This post originally appeared at History.com
After four months of widespread protest in America, the British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, a taxation measure enacted to raise revenues for a standing British army in America.
The Stamp Act was passed on March 22, 1765, leading to an uproar in the colonies over an issue that was [...]

This post originally appeared on History.com
On this day in 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States, is born on a plantation in Virginia.
Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton [...]

On this day in 1963, the Hula-Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the company’s co-founder, Arthur “Spud” Melin. An estimated 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone.
In 1948, friends Arthur Melin and [...]

This post originally appeared on History.com
The first session of the U.S. Congress is held in New York City as the U.S. Constitution takes effect. However, of the 22 senators and 59 representatives called to represent the 11 states who had ratified the document, only nine senators and 13 representatives showed up to begin negotiations for [...]

On February 14th, lovebirds around the world will celebrate St. Valentine’s Day. This is a day to let your special someone know how much you care, and spend some time together. There is a lot of confusion around the origins and symbols of Valentine’s Day, however. Let’s dig a little.
Who was Saint Valentine and why [...]

On February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born. From humble beginnings, Lincoln rose to be the 16th president of the United States. Remembered for emancipation, Lincoln’s legend looms large in our history. How much of it is legend, however, and how much is true?
Was Lincoln really a simple country lawyer? This is [...]

On February 1, 1790, the United States Supreme Court held its first session. This historic event took place in the Royal Exchange Building in New York City, and was presided over by Chief Justice John Jay. The U.S. Constitution had taken effect nearly a year earlier, and had provided for such a court. Their purpose [...]

Source of this article: History.com
On this day in 1785, the Georgia General Assembly incorporates the University of Georgia, the first state-funded institution of higher learning in the new republic.
The previous year, the assembly had set aside 40,000 acres from which they planned to earn the money they would need to endow such an institution. In [...]

Source of this article: History.com
A millwright named James Marshall discovers gold along the banks of Sutter’s Creek in California, forever changing the course of history in the American West.
A tributary to the South Fork of the American River in the Sacramento Valley east of San Francisco, Sutter’s Creek was named for a Swiss immigrant who [...]

Source of this article: History.com
Ronald Reagan, former Western movie actor and host of television’s popular “Death Valley Days” is sworn in as the 40th president of the United States.
More than any president since the Texas-born Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan’s public image was closely tied to the American West, although he was raised in the solidly [...]

On January 20, 1937, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as president of the United States of America. 1937 marked the dawn of his second of four terms in office, a presidency which leaves behind the legacy of the New Deal. The New Deal is a labyrinth of truth and legend but, as it turns [...]

On January 13, 1929, Wyatt Earp passed away at the age of 80. Earp was one of the legendary lawmen of the Wild West who are remembered as larger than life. They tried to bring law to the lawless world of cattle rusting and gunfights…or so we think. Is the Wild West really as wild [...]

On December 28, 1856, President Woodrow Wilson was born. Wilson, our 28th President is best known for leading the United States through World War I, and for pushing for the creation of a Covenant League of Nations to prevent such a war in the future. With such a legendary history, some of it is bound [...]

It’s almost Christmas! There are a lot of traditions this time of year and with tradition comes legends. Let’s examine some popular Christmas myths to see which are legend and which are actually true. The first thing to establish is that Christmas is not the most important holiday on the Christian calendar.  It has the [...]

December 16, 1773 was a significant moment in American revolutionary history. For many, it’s seen as the first time the American colonies took a stand against British oppression. That was, of course, the date of the Boston Tea Party.
Protestors today still claim similarities to the dozens of men who, dressed as Native Americans, boarded three [...]

On December 6th, The Washington Monument in Washington, DC celebrated its 127th anniversary. The 550-foot obelisk was completed in 1884, 95 years after George Washington’s death. Freemasonry seems to be a wellspring of outlandish theories and, as Washington and the monument’s architect Robert Mills were Masons, the monument is no exception. The legend and history [...]

On November 22, 1783, our First President passed away. If you happen to be a George Washington fan however, you know that he died on December 14, 1799. Why the discrepancy in dates? It’s because we’re not talking about George Washington! We’re talking about John Hanson.
While George Washington was, indeed, the first president of the [...]

Today, we will join around our dinner tables with family to celebrate and give thanks. We will enjoy our turkey and togetherness with traditions passed down by the pilgrims from the first Thanksgiving, which they shared with their Native American neighbors. We love knowing that this is the same way the pilgrims celebrated centuries ago. [...]

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and turkey preparations are in full swing.
I wonder if the turkey had been chosen as the symbol of our country, as Ben Franklin originally proposed, would we still be eating them as the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving day feast?
Writing from France on January 26, 1784 to his daughter Sally (Mrs. Sarah [...]

In schools, many teachers teach lessons about pilgrims and the original settlers of the British Colonies here in America. Some of them aren’t exactly true, though, starting with a couple of stories about the Mayflower.
The first myth is about the passengers on the Mayflower, who people seem to think were mostly old men. This probably [...]

It’s that time of year again. Time for children to dress up as ghouls and goblins, princesses and superheroes. However, how much of what we really know about Hallowe’en is true?
One myth about Hallowe’en is that is comes from the ancient Celtic Lord of the Dead named Samhain and is, therefore, evil. Most of us [...]

We hear a lot of stories about America’s founding fathers, and many of them are about Benjamin Franklin’s inventions and exploits. One of the most famous legends about Franklin is that he discovered electricity with a kite and a key in a storm. The story goes that he went outside on a stormy night with [...]

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Children hear that a million times, and that much is true. However, the rest of the story is a little more myth than fact. Just a few days ago, we celebrated Columbus Day. Let’s take a look at the true story of Christopher Columbus.
Contrary to popular belief, almost [...]

We’ve all heard the story of Paul Revere’s midnight ride on April 18, 1775. We hear the take of his courageous ride alone through the countryside calling “The British are coming!” The colonists were warned and disaster averted. It’s a wonderful tale of heroism. Unfortunately, it isn’t entirely true.
The true story is equally heroic, although [...]

One of the most notable things which makes America exceptional is that the American dream is accessible to everyone. In 1907, Henry Ford was determined to do this by creating “a motor car for the great multitude.” This would require completely reinventing mass production, moving away from the expensive custom-made vehicles that had come before.
In [...]

Americans want to be bigger, better and faster. When a sport comes up that allows us to compete at all three, we can’t resist making our mark. When motorsport began catching on in Europe, we made it our own with the Indianapolis 500.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built as a small track in 1909 as [...]

The story of American exceptionalism is one of creativity, innovation, and overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In this series, we’ll be taking a look at how this can be illustrated through the American automobile industry. What better place to start than with Henry Ford’s first vehicle, the Ford Quadricycle?
For something to be the exception, it must [...]

Today is Constitution Day, which commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who, are born in the U.S. or by naturalization, have become citizens. To celebrate, we are sharing one of our favorite educational videos from the Schoolhouse Rock series, America Rock. You [...]

National POW/MIA Recognition Day
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” —George Orwell
Today, is the United States’ National POW/MIA Recognition Day: A day to remember former and active members of the military who have been prisoners of war or are missing in action, [...]

American Exceptionalism may have been a founding value, but without American ingenuity and hard work, the dream would have died out long before we became the shining city on the hill. The American Dream doesn’t come cheaply; it’s achievement relies on every American’s willingness to work.
We celebrate Labor Day in honor of the American workers [...]

War is brutal. Or, more famously said, war is hell. Only the bravest dare fight them and only the most dedicated, honorable men and women dare lead young people into battle. The prospect of armed conflict is not only daunting, even though it has effectively preserved our freedom for centuries, but an aspiration for only [...]

For most people, their exposure to the genius of F. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller is limited to photos of Spaceship Earth, the massive, golf-ball like structure that welcomes visitors into Disney’s EPCOT Center in Orlando, Florida. The structure, known as the “Geodesic Dome,” a marvel of architecture, mathematics and technology was actually invented by Fuller and [...]

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial was dedicated in Washington DC today. The monument, which has been decades in the making is sparking a national conversation on the state of Dr. King Jr.’s famous dream, and bringing Americans across the country to a single roundtable discussion: how has Dr. King’s legacy shaped and changed [...]

In some ways, the year 1969 changed America.
Led Zeppelin released it’s first album. Richard Nixon became the 37th President of the United States. The Beatles gave their final public performance. The Supreme Court determined that the First Amendment applied to students in public schools after teenagers in Des Moines began wearing black armbands to their [...]

Today is the 102nd birthday of a man who made an indelible mark on American pop culture: Leo Fender, the man who utterly perfected (and commercialized) the electric guitar Americans have come to know and love so well in their rock music.
It’s kind of hard to think of a world that had no electric guitar. [...]

The North Pole isn’t actually a location with jolly elves, and it’s rare for anyone to reach it by any means, least of which by a seafaring vessel traveling underwater, but that’s exactly what US explorers did on August 2, 1958. This week in history, the USS Nautilus, named after the famed vessel of Captain [...]

Just days ago, NASA celebrated the 35th Anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, an event that was truly the culmination of over a decade of strife, as NASA engineers and astronauts heeded then President John F. Kennedy’s call to look forward into space. In 1968, as Neil Armstrong and his team hovered over the moon, [...]

Most people know Walt Disney from his cuddly animated features, lovable mouse mascot and the happiest places on Earth, but did you know that Walt Disney was also a social visionary? Tomorrowland wasn’t designed just to make people feel optimistic about space aliens; it was designed to expose Disneyland visitors to possible technological developments, futuristic [...]

The Casey Anthony trial has had a dramatic effect on the American psyche. For those unfamiliar, a Florida mother who’s daughter went missing and whose remains were later found just steps from her grandparents home was acquitted of her daughters murder after a month-long jury trial that tested the boundaries of patience. When the dust [...]

This weekend, the New York Yankee’s Derek Jeter achieved what can only be termed a milestone in American achievement: his 3000th hit. With a home run on Saturday, Jeter crossed the bases into the record books as only 43 others have in Major League Baseball history (none of them in a Yankee uniform), but continued [...]

American exceptionalism has it’s hallmarks. We might be front and center for opportunity, but we’re also front and center for innovation, exploration, and, maybe more than that, for style. America has always seen fit to take what other countries deny to their citizenry and put it into the hands of the lowly: land ownership, higher [...]

History Channel
This Day in History | June 10, 1752
Ben Franklin Flies Kite During Thunderstorm

On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm and collects a charge in a Leyden jar when the kite is struck by lightning, enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. Franklin became [...]