Tag: History

April 1 English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools’ Day by playing practical jokes on each other. – 1700. Eleven-day strike by 34,000 New York City transit workers begins, and halts bus and subway service in all five boroughs before strikers return to work with a 17%...

March 18 In New York City, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo join with several other investors to launch their namesake business. The discovery of gold in California in 1849 prompted a huge spike in the demand for cross-country shipping. Wells and Fargo decided to take advantage of these great...

February 25 The U.S. Congress passes the Legal Tender Act, which authorizes the use of paper notes to pay the government’s bills. It ended the long-standing policy of using only gold or silver in transactions, and it allowed the government to finance the enormously costly Civil War long after its...

February 11 Nelson Mandela, leader of the movement to end South African apartheid, is released from prison after 27 years, February 11. – 1990. February 12 Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic goes on trial at The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of genocide and war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo....

February 4 George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their votes. John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice president. – 1789. In the...

January 21 Approximately 750,000 steelworkers walk out in 30 states, largest strike in U.S. history to that time. – 1946. U.S. president Jimmy Carter grants an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. – 1977. On the first full day of...

January 7 America’s first presidential election is held. Voters cast ballots to choose state electors; only white men who own property were allowed to vote. As expected, George Washington won the election and was sworn into office April 30, 1789. – 1789. Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and struck...

December 24 The Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America is signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium to end the War of 1812. By terms of the treaty, all conquered territory was to be returned, and commissions were planned...

December 10 The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. – 1901. International Human Rights Day, commemorating the signing at the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, in part: “Everyone has the right to...