April 25, 1507 - German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller first used term "America" on a world map to refer to the huge mass of land in the Western Hemisphere, in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

August 18, 1587 - Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island, NC.

April 26, 1607 - An expedition of English colonists went ashore at Cape Henry, VA to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere.

May 13, 1607 - The English colony at Jamestown, VA was settled. Some 100 English colonists settle along the west bank of the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Dispatched from England by the London Company, the colonists had sailed across the Atlantic aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. first colonial council was held by seven settlers whose names had been chosen and placed in a sealed box by King James I. The council, which included Captain John Smith, an English adventurer, chose Edward Wingfield as its first president. During the next two years, disease, starvation, and more Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more settlers and supplies. 1609-1610 - severe winter, colonists referred to as "starving time," killed most of the Jamestown colonists, leading the survivors to plan a return to England in the spring. June 10, 1610 - Thomas West De La Warr, newly appointed governor of Virginia, arrived with supplies and convinced the settlers to remain at Jamestown. 1612 - John Rolfe cultivated the first tobacco at Jamestown, introducing a successful source of livelihood. April 5, 1614 -  Rolfe married Pocahontas, thus assuring a temporary peace with Chief Powhatan.

November 11, 1620 - Forty-one Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Plymouth, Massachusetts; signed the Mayflower Compact calling for the establishment of a "Civil Body Politick" to enact "just and equal laws" for the governance of the first English colony in New England.

March 25, 1634 - Maryland was founded by English colonists sent by the second Lord Baltimore; first colonists to Maryland arrive at St. Clement's Island on Maryland's western shore and found the settlement of St. Mary's; 1632 - King Charles I of England granted a charter to George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, yielding him proprietary rights to a region east of the Potomac River in exchange for a share of the income derived from the land; named Maryland in honor of Henrietta Maria, the queen consort of Charles I.

March 29, 1638 - Swedish colonists (Swedish Lutherans) settled in present-day Delaware.

January 14, 1639 - In Hartford, Connecticut, the first constitution in the American colonies, the "Fundamental Orders," is adopted by representatives of Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hartford; a binding and compact frame of government that put the welfare of the community above that of individuals; first written constitution in the world to declare the modern idea that "the foundation of authority is in the free consent of the people"; 1662 - Charter of Connecticut superseded the Fundamental Orders; though the majority of the original document's laws and statutes remained in force until 1818.

March 7, 1644 - Massachusetts establishes 1st 2-chamber legislature in colonies.

March 24, 1664 - Roger Williams was granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island.

March 4, 1681 - England's King Charles II granted a charter to William Penn for an area of land that later became Pennsylvania.

March 14, 1743 - The first recorded town meeting in America was held, at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

May 19, 1749 - King George II of England granted the Ohio Company (founded primarily by Virginian planters in 1747) a charter of several hundred thousand acres of land around the forks of the Ohio River, promoted westward settlement by American colonists from Virginia. France had claimed the entire Ohio River Valley in the previous century, but English fur traders and settlers contested the claims. The royal chartering of the Ohio Company directly challenged the French claim to Ohio and was a direct cause of the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754. With the defeat of the French in 1763, the Ohio River and the Great Lakes areas were placed within the boundaries of Canada, and the Ohio Company was merged with another land company to better exploit the region. Settlers in Ohio resented these acts and joined the patriots in their struggle against the British in the American Revolution. In 1783, Ohio was ceded to the United States with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. In 1788, Marietta became the first permanent American settlement in what was known as the Old Northwest. During the next decade, Native Americans were suppressed and British traders were pushed out, and in 1799 Ohio became a U.S. territory. In 1803, it entered the Union as the 17th state.

March 17, 1756 - St. Patrick's Day 1st celebrated in New York City at Crown and Thistle Tavern; March 17, 1762 - First St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City as Irish soldiers serving in the British army held the first parade honoring St. Patrick, in New York City; March 17, 1989 - Dorothy Cudahy is 1st female grand marshal of St. Patrick Day Parade; March 17, 1991 - Irish Lesbians and Gays march in St. Patrick Day parade.

October 19, 1765 - The Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.

November 1, 1765 - The Stamp Act went into effect, prompted stiff resistance from American colonists; taxation measure designed to raise revenue for British military operations in America (French and Indian War [1754-63] and Pontiac's Rebellion [1763-64] were costly for Great Britain, Prime Minister George Grenville hoped to recover some of these costs by taxing the colonists); passed without debate by Parliament in March 1765, the Stamp Act was designed to force colonists to use special stamped paper in the printing of newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, and playing cards, and to have a stamp embossed on all commercial and legal papers. October 1765 - nine colonies sent representatives to New York to attend a Stamp Act Congress, where resolutions of "rights and grievances" were framed and sent to Parliament and King George III; colonists greeted the arrival of the stamps with violence and economic retaliation; March 1766 - Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act after months of protest and economic turmoil, and an appeal by Benjamin Franklin before the British House of Commons; the same day, Parliament passed the Declaratory Acts, asserting that the British government had free and total legislative power over the colonies; Parliament would again attempt to force unpopular taxation measures on the American colonies in the late 1760s, leading to a steady deterioration in British-American relations that culminated in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775.

November 23, 1765 - Frederick County, MD repudiated the British Stamp Act.

March 4, 1766 - The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, the cause of bitter and violent opposition in the colonies.

September 5, 1774 - The first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.

October 26, 1774 - The First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.

1775 - Continental Congress appointed Michael Hillegas and George Clymer as joint treasurers. 1777 - Hillegas assumed the role on his own. 1789 - Congress officially established the Treasury Department, which was led by Alexander Hamilton.

January 11, 1775 - Francis Salvador, the first Jew to be elected in the Americas, takes his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress; known as the "Southern Paul Revere" when he warned Charleston, South Carolina, of the approaching British naval fleet; August 1, 1776 - first recorded Jewish soldier killed in the American War for Independence.

April 14, 1775 - Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first American society dedicated to the cause of abolition, is founded in Philadelphia by Quaker educator and abolitionist Anthony Benezet; 1784 - The society changes its name to the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage; 1787 - Benjamin Franklin lent his prestige to the organization, served as its president.

May 24, 1775 - John Hancock is elected president of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia; served adoption of Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and, as such, was the first member of the Congress to sign the historic document.

July 26, 1775 - Congress establishes the United States Post Office and names Benjamin Franklin the first United States postmaster general. October 5, 1774 - William Goddard, a Patriot printer frustrated that the royal postal service was unable to reliably deliver his Pennsylvania Chronicle to its readers or deliver critical news for the paper to Goddard, laid out a plan for a "Constitutional Post" before the Continental Congress; November 7, 1776 - Franklin’s son-in-law, Richard Bache, took over the position when Franklin became an American emissary to France.

October 13, 1775 - The Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet; November - the Continental Navy was formally organized; December - Esek Hopkins was appointed the first commander-in-chief; first fleet consisted of seven ships: two 24-gun frigates, the Alfred and the Columbus; two 14-gun brigs, the Andrea Doria and the Cabot; and three schooners, the Hornet, the Wasp, and the Fly; April 1798 - United States Navy was formally established with the creation of the Department of the Navy.

January 10, 1776 -  Thomas Paine publishes 47-page pamphlet "Common Sense", set forth his arguments in favor of American independence (sold some 500,000 copies): "Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither they have fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still."

January 25, 1776 - The Continental Congress authorizes the first national Revolutionary War memorial in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during an assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775. When word of his death reached Philadelphia, Congress voted to create a monument to Montgomery's memory and entrusted Benjamin Franklin to secure one of France’s best artists to craft it. Franklin hired King Louis XV’s personal sculptor, Jean Jacques Caffieri, to design and build the monument. 1778 - Upon its completion the Montgomery memorial was shipped to America and arrived at Edenton, North Carolina, where it remained for several years. Although originally intended for Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Congress eventually decided to place the memorial in New York City. 1788 - it was installed under the direction of Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant beneath the portico of St. Paul's Chapel, which served as George Washington’s church during his time in New York as the United States’ first president in 1789, and where it remains to this day. 1818 - Montgomery’s body, which was originally interred on the site of his death in Quebec, was moved to St. Paul’s.

June 11, 1776 - The Continental Congress selects Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut and Robert R. Livingston of New York to draft a declaration of independence.

June 12, 1776 - Virginia's colonial legislature, assembled in Williamsburg, became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights; unanimously adopted George Mason’s declaration of rights. The assembled slaveholders of Virginia promised to "the good people of VIRGINIA… and their posterity" the equal right to life, liberty and property, with the critical condition that the "people" were white men. These same white men were guaranteed that "all power" would be "vested in, and consequently derived from" them. Should a government fail to represent their common interest, a majority of the same held the right to "reform, alter or abolish" the government. Roots in the English Bill of Rights, drafted in 1689 upon the overthrow of Catholic King James II by Protestant Queen Mary and her husband King William III. Virginia’s Declaration of Rights later became the basis for the Bill of Rights amended to the federal Constitution.

July 2, 1776 - The Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, formally adopts Richard Henry Lee's resolution for independence from Great Britain; unanimously (New York abstaining) passed a resolution that ''these United Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States.'' Congress had appointed a committee to draft a formal declaration of independence: John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia; declaration was presented on June 28, 1776.

July 4, 1776 - The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that would eventually encourage France's intervention on behalf of the Patriots.

July 8, 1776 - In Philadelphia, Colonel John Nixon rang the Liberty Bell  from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

August 2, 1776 - Members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. Fifty-six congressional delegates in total signed the document, including some who were not present at the vote approving the declaration. The delegates signed by state from North to South, beginning with Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire and ending with George Walton of Georgia. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania and James Duane, Robert Livingston and John Jay of New York refused to sign. Carter Braxton of Virginia; Robert Morris of Pennsylvania; George Reed of Delaware; and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina opposed the document but signed in order to give the impression of a unanimous Congress. Five delegates were absent: Generals George Washington, John Sullivan, James Clinton and Christopher Gadsden and Virginia Governor Patrick Henry. August 10 - news of the Declaration of Independence arrived in London. January 18, 1777- draft bearing the delegates’ signatures was first printed by Baltimore printer Mary Katharine Goddard.

September 9, 1776 - The second Continental Congress made the term ''United States'' official, replacing ''United Colonies.''

June 14, 1777 - The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted a resolution stating that "the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white" and that "the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." The national flag, which became known as the "Stars and Stripes," was based on the "Grand Union" flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.

July 2, 1777 - Vermont becomes first American colony to abolish slavery.

September 19, 1777 - The Continental Congress fled the capital in Philadelphia for the more secure site of York, Pennsylvania, upon learning of the approach of General William Howe and the British forces.

November 15, 1777 - After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress, sitting in its temporary capital of York, Pennsylvania, agrees to adopt the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (precursor to the Constitution). 1781 - last of the 13 states ratified the agreement; March 4, 1789 - the modern United States was established when the U.S. Constitution formally replaced the Articles of Confederation.

November 17, 1777 - Congress submits the Articles of Confederation to the states for ratification. The Articles had been signed by Congress two days earlier, after 16 months of debate. Bickering over land claims between Virginia and Maryland delayed final ratification for almost four more years. Maryland became the last state to approve the Articles on March 1, 1781, affirming them as the outline of the official government of the United States. The nation was guided by the document until the implementation of the current U.S. Constitution in 1789. Between 1776 and 1787, Americans went from living under a sovereign king, to living in sovereign states, to becoming a sovereign people. That transformation defined the American Revolution.

December 18, 1777 - United States celebrates its first national day of thanksgiving, commemorate the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga after the surrender of General John Burgoyne and 5,000 British troops in October 1777.

January 30, 1781 - Maryland becomes the 13th and final state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, almost three years after the official deadline given by Congress of March 10, 1778 (Virginia was the only state to ratify the Articles by the 1778 deadline); only ratified after Virginia relinquished its claims on land north of the Ohio River to Congress; March 1, 1781 - Articles took effect.

September 16, 1782 - George Washington first used the Great Seal of the United States on a document.

February 3, 1783 - Spain recognized United States' independence.

January 14, 1784 - At the Maryland State House in Annapolis, the Continental Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris. The document, negotiated in part by future President John Adams, contained terms for ending the Revolutionary War and established the United States as a sovereign nation. The treaty outlined America’s fishing rights off the coast of Canada, defined territorial boundaries in North America formerly held by the British and forced an end to reprisals against British loyalists. Two other future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, were among the delegates who ratified the document.

April 23, 1784 - Continental Congress passed first of Northwest Ordinances; established a process for the settlement of the Northwest Territory—the lands west of Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi River, north of the Ohio River, and south of the Great Lakes; May 1785 - second ordinance enacted; September 1786 - committee of Congress, led by William Johnson (Connecticut) and Nathan Dane of Massachusetts (for whom Dane County, Wisconsin, is named) and Rufus King (Massachusetts), drafted a new ordinance; July 13, 1787 - Congress passed ordinance; replaced 1784 ordinance. Ohio(1803) was the first state to be created from the territory, followed by Indiana (1816), Illinois(1818), Michigan (1837), and Wisconsin (1848). Ordinances provided: 1) framework for the creation of territories in the western lands, 2) provided a predictable path to statehood and representative government on an equal, rather than a subservient, basis with the original states (five states created from the Northwest Territory and precedent for the admission of other states), 3) guarantees of civil and religious liberties for the territories established a precedent for what would later become the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments to the new federal constitution).

August 19, 1785 - Congress empowered the U.S. Treasury Board to standardize the nation's weights and measures.

November 23, 1785 - John Hancock was elected president of the Continental Congress for the second time.

January 16, 1786 - The legislature of Virginia adopted a religious freedom statute, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and introduced by James Madison;  model for the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.

September 11, 1786 - Annapolis Convention, in which 12 delegates met to discuss commercial matters of interest between the states, convened; led to the Constitutional Convention.

May 25, 1787 - The Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia with 55 delegates (a quorum) to compose the Constitution of the United States of America. The Articles of Confederation, ratified several months before the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, provided for a loose confederation of U.S. states, which were sovereign in most of their affairs. Delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The building, which is now known as Independence Hall, had earlier seen the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation. George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected convention president. During three months of debate, the delegates devised a brilliant federal system characterized by an intricate system of checks and balances. Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation of the states in the upper house (Senate). September 17, 1787 - Constitution of the United States of America was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. December 7, 1787 - five states (of 13 required to ratify) --Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut--ratified it in quick succession. June 21, 1788 - New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. September 25, 1789 - the first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution--the Bill of Rights--and sent them to the states for ratification. May 29, 1790 - Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.

July 13, 1787 - The US Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, enacts the Northwest Ordinance, establishing rules for governing the Northwest Territory, for admitting new states to the Union and limiting the expansion of slavery.

August 6, 1787 - In Philadelphia, delegates to the Constitutional Convention begin debating the first complete draft of the proposed Constitution of the United States. The delegates devised a brilliant federal system characterized by an intricate system of checks and balances. The convention was divided over the issue of state representation in Congress, as more-populated states sought proportional legislation, and smaller states wanted equal representation. The problem was resolved by the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation of the states in the upper house (Senate).

September 17, 1787 -  38 of 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the Constitution of the United States of America. Supporters of the document waged a hard-won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out of 13 U.S. states. On May 25, 1787 - delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention.

September 28, 1787 - Congress voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.

October 27, 1787 - The first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the U.S. Constitution, was published in a New York newspaper, "Independent Journal."

December 7, 1787 - Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution as all 30 delegates to the Delaware Constitutional Convention voted in favor (Delaware the first state of the modern United States). Constitution would become binding once nine of the former 13 colonies had ratified the document; June 21, 1788 - New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, making federal democracy the law of the land; March 4, 1789 - government under the U.S. Constitution took effect.

December 12, 1787 - Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 46 to 23. Pennsylvania was the first large state to ratify, as well as the first state to endure a serious Anti-Federalist challenge to ratification. Pennsylvania was the most ethnically and religiously diverse state in the new nation. One-third of Pennsylvania’s population was German-speaking, and the Constitution was printed in German for the purposes of involving that population in the debate. The chairman of the Pennsylvania ratifying convention, Reverend Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, was the son of the leading German Lutheran minister and grandson to Conrad Weiser (1696-1760), who had been a leading colonial Indian interpreter and German-speaking political leader. The leader of the Anti-Federalist opposition was the Delaware-born Scots-Irishman Thomas McKean. Future Supreme Court Justice and Scottish immigrant James Wilson was the most articulate defender of the Federalist cause.

January 2, 1788 - Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Named after King George II, Georgia was first settled by Europeans in 1733, when a group of British debtors led by English philanthropist James E. Oglethorpe traveled up the Savannah River and established Georgia's first permanent settlement--the town of Savannah.

June, 21, 1788 - The U.S. Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it; subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. September 25, 1789 - first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution--the Bill of Rights--and sent them to the states for ratification.

September 13, 1788 - The Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election, for the first Wednesday in February 1789, and declared New York City the temporary national capital.

September 30, 1788 - The Pennsylvania Legislature elected the first two members of the U.S. Senate - William Maclay of Harrisburg and Robert Morris of Philadelphia.

November 1, 1788 - The U.S. Continental Congress closed.

February 4, 1789 - Electors unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.

June 4, 1789 - U.S. constitution goes into effect.

June 8, 1789 - James Madison first proposed the Bill of Rights.

March 3, 1791 - The District of Columbia was organized, establishing a non-partisan home for the federal government.

September 25, 1804 - The Twelfth Amendment was ratified, changing the procedure of choosing the president and vice-president.

February 20, 1809 - The US Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.

April 12, 1811 - First U.S. colonists on Pacific coast arrive at Cape Disappointment, WA.

September 7, 1813 - United States gets its nickname, Uncle Sam; linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, NY, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812; stamped the barrels with "U.S." for United States, but soldiers began referring to the grub as "Uncle Sam's." The local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for the U.S. federal government. 1860s - 1870s - political cartoonist Thomas Nast began popularizing the image of Uncle Sam; July 1916 - James Montgomery Flagg created most famous image of Uncle Sam in a tall top hat and blue jacket, pointing straight ahead at the viewer for the cover of Leslie's Weekly with the title "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?"; portrait with the words "I Want You For The U.S. Army" was used during World War I as a recruiting poster; September 1961 - U.S. Congress recognized Samuel Wilson as "the progenitor of America's national symbol of Uncle Sam."

September 14, 1814 - Francis Scott Key wrote ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812. Key, an American lawyer, watched the siege while held on a British ship and wrote famous words after observing that the U.S. flag over Fort McHenry was still waving after an 1,800-bomb assault. The lyrics were set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven," an English drinking song written by the British composer John Stafford Smith. September 20, 1814 -  published in the Baltimore Patriot newspaper. 1916 -  President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order formally designating song as national anthem. 1931 - President Herbert Hoover signed a Congressional act confirming Wilson's presidential order.

January 5, 1815 - Federalists from all over New England, angered over the War of 1812, drew up the Hartford Convention, demanded several important changes in the Constitution of the United States of America.

March 20, 1816 - The Supreme Court affirmed its right to review state court decisions.

July 8, 1835 - The Liberty Bell cracked when it was rung in honor of Chief Justice John Marshall, who had recently died.

March 3, 1837 - Congress increases Supreme Court membership from 7 to 9.

February 22, 1856 - First national meeting of Republican Party in Pittsburgh.

March 29, 1867 - Congress approves Lincoln Memorial.

October 30, 1868 - John W. Menard of Louisiana is first black elected to Congress.

January 20, 1869 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton becomes first woman to testify before Congress.

February 6, 1869 - Harper's Weekly publishes 1st picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers.

April 10, 1869 - Congress increases number of Supreme Court judges from 7 to 9.

May 15, 1869 - National Woman Suffrage Association formed.

December 10, 1869 - Wyoming territorial legislators pass a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote; first territory or state in the history of the nation to grant women right of citizenship; most Wyoming legislators supported William Bright and Edward Lee's bill because they thought it would win the territory free national publicity and might attract more single marriageable women to the region (territory had over 6,000 adult males and only 1,000 females).

December 28, 1869 - Knights of Labor, a labor union of tailors in Philadelphia established in 1869, hold the first Labor Day ceremonies in American history; 1884 - American Federation of Labor observes first annual observance of Labor Day - resolved in a convention in Chicago that "the first Monday in September be set aside as a laborer's national holiday"; 1887- Oregon became the first state to designate Labor Day a holiday; 1894 - Congress designated the first Monday in September a legal holiday for all federal employees and the residents of the District of Columbia.

1870 - Wyoming territorial governor, John Campbell, appointed Esther Morris first woman judge in American history (worked nine months as a justice of the peace, handled the 26 cases); November 1870 - retired.

January 15, 1870 - The Democratic Party was represented as a donkey in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly; cartoon is entitled "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion." The jackass (donkey) is tagged "Copperhead Papers," referring to the Democrat-dominated newspapers of the South, and the dead lion represents the late Edwin McMasters Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln's secretary of war during the final three years of the Civil War. In the background is an eagle perched on a rock, representing the postwar federal domination in the South, and in the far background is the U.S. Capitol.

February 12, 1870 - Women in the Utah Territory gained the right to vote.

December 12, 1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first black congressman.

March 22, 1871 - William Holden of North Carolina becomes first governor removed by impeachment.

May 10, 1872 - Equal Rights Party nominated Victoria Woodhull for President; first woman nominated for U.S. president.

December 11, 1872 - America's first black governor took office as Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became acting governor of Louisiana.

June 18, 1873 - Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.

November 7, 1874 - Thomas Nast symbolized The Republican Party as an elephant for the first time in a cartoon in Harper's Weekly magazine.

June 15, 1876 - Sara Spencer (R), Secretary of National Woman Suffrage Association, addressed 1876 Republican National Convention; first woman to address a U.S. presidential convention.

June 14, 1877 - First Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.

March 3, 1879 - Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood became the first woman to be admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

March 22, 1882 - Congress outlawed polygamy.

September 5, 1882 - The nation's first Labor Day parade was held in New York City; initiated by Peter J. McGuire, a carpenter and labor union leader who co-founded the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions; intended to be a tribute to the toil and achievements of the nation's workers. The holiday was also a testament to the strength of the burgeoning labor movement, which helped push the event onto the national stage; 1894 - Labor Day became an official holiday.

March 13, 1884 - Standard Time was adopted throughout the United States.

June 24, 1884 - John Lynch is first black elected chairman of Republican convention.

June 19, 1885 - Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States, arrives in New York City's harbor, enclosed in more than 200 packing cases. Originally known as "Liberty Enlightening the World," the statue was proposed by French historian Edouard Laboulaye to commemorate the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolution. Designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the 151-foot statue was the form of a woman with an uplifted arm holding a torch. February 1877 - Congress approved the use of a site on New York Bedloe's Island, which was suggested by Bartholdi. May 1884 - statue was completed in France, and three months later the Americans laid the cornerstone for its pedestal in New York. October 28, 1886 - last rivet of the monument was fitted on during a dedication presided over by U.S. President Grover Cleveland. 1924 - made a national monument.

October 29, 1886 - The ticker-tape parade is invented in New York City when office workers spontaneously throw ticker tape into the streets as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.

September 30, 1889 - Wyoming state convention approves a constitution that includes a provision granting women the right to vote - first state in the history of the nation to allow its female citizens to vote. 1848 - the legislature in Washington Territory became the first to introduce a women's suffrage bill (narrowly defeated); 1870 - Utah Territory; 1883 -  Washington Territory when these territories became states they preserved women's suffrage. 1914 - All states west of the Rockies had women's suffrage, no state did east of the Rockies, except Kansas.

April 11, 1890 - President Benjamin Harrison designated Ellis Island as the site of the first federal immigration station (named for Samuel Ellis, private owner of the island in the 1770's); January 1, 1892 - Ellis Island opened to immigrants; January 2 - Annie Moore, 15-year-old Irish girl, first immigrant to be processed; 1954 - more than 12 million immigrants entered the U.S. via Ellis Island.

February 12, 1892 - President Abraham Lincoln's birthday was declared a national holiday.

March 15, 1892 - New York State unveils automatic ballot booth (voting machine).

March 1, 1893 - Diplomatic Appropriation Act authorizes the U.S. rank of ambassador.

July 22, 1893 - Katharine Lee Bates writes "America the Beautiful," in Colorado.

November 7, 1893 - Colorado granted women the right to vote.

October 30, 1896 - Martha Hughes Cannon of Utah becomes first female state senator (in Utah State Senate); ran against her husband.

May 14, 1897 - The first public performance of John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever" occurred, in Philadelphia.

November 1, 1897 - The first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public; previously housed in the Congressional Reading Room of the United States Capitol building.

May 10, 1908 - The first Mother's Day observance took place during church services in Grafton, West Virginia and Philadelphia.

May 7, 1914 - U.S. Congress establishes mother's day.

October 16, 1916 - Margaret Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic, in New York City at 46 Amboy Street in Brooklyn; clinic was closed by the police, she received a 30-day jail sentence. 1917 - Sanger helped to organize the National Birth Control League (later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America); 1923 - opened a permanent birth control clinic in New York City; 1885 - Dr. Aletta Jacobs opened the first birth-control clinic in the world in Amsterdam.

November 7, 1916 - Republican suffragist Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress; 1918 - vote against WWI contributed to her defeat in her  reelection bid; 1940 -  again won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; became the only person in the history of Congress to vote against U.S. entry into both world wars ( sole dissenting vote re: WW II).

1918 - Irving Berlin, immigrant from what is now Belarus, wrote God Bless America as homage to his adopted homeland; originally intended to include the piece in his World War I "barracks musical" Yip, Yip Yaphank; twenty years later, when World War II threatened the nation, Berlin resurrected the song but altered the lyrics to reflect the mood of the country. updated version was made famous by singer Kate Smith.

March 19, 1918 - U.S. Congress approved Standard Time Act; established Daylight Saving Time, authorized time zones.

March 31, 1918 - U.S. first began daylight saving time on Easter Sunday, when clocks were set ahead by one hour. The idea had been sponsored by the Daylight Savings Association. When New York Senator William M. Calder first introduced the bill to Congress the previous year, 17 Apr 1917, it was initially defeated, but subsequently passed by roll-call on 27 Jun 1917. The concept has already been introduced in Great Britain as a fuel-saving measure during wartime, in order to conserve coal stocks during WW I.

June 4, 1919 - 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification; stated that "the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," passed both houses of Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. August 18, 1920 - Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. Eight days later, the 19th Amendment took effect.

January 5, 1920 - GOP women demanded equal representation at the Republican National Convention.

August 26, 1920 - The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was declared in effect. Women's suffrage movement began in July 1848 in Seneca Falls, NY where 200 woman suffragists, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met to discuss women's rights.

May 3, 1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.

February 27, 1922 - The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed the right of women to vote; 1916 - the Democratic and Republican parties endorsed female enfranchisement; June 4, 1919 - Congress passed the 19th Amendment and sent to the states for ratification; August 18, 1920 - Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, achieving the required three-fourths majority of state ratification; August 26, 1920 - the 19th Amendment officially took effect.

October 3, 1922 - Rebecca L. Felton, D-GA, became the first woman to be seated in the U.S. Senate ; appointed by Governor Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia to serve out the remaining term of Thomas E. Watson.

November 4, 1922 - The U.S. Postmaster General ordered all homes to get mailboxes or relinquish mail delivery.

November 21, 1922 - Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

April 7, 1923 - Workers Party of America (New York City) becomes official Communist Party.

April 13, 1923 - The Illinois state legislature was the first to vote to allow women to serve on juries.

October 11, 1923 - The first political telecast, sponsored by the Democratic National Committee, aired from New York.

May 15, 1924 - The US Congress instituted immigration quotas.

June 2, 1924 - Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.

June 10, 1924 - First political convention broadcast on radio - Republicans at Cleveland.

November 4, 1924 - Nellie Taylor Ross of Wyoming and Miriam Ferguson of Texas were elected the first and second women governors; Ross was chosen to serve the remaining term of her husband, William B. Ross, who died in office.

February 28, 1933 - First female in cabinet: Francis Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor.

May 15, 1933 - First voice amplification system to be used in U.S. Senate.

June 12, 1935 - Senator Huey Long of Louisiana spoke continually for 15 hours in Senate's longest speech on record (150,000 words).

March 2, 1939 - The Massachusetts legislature voted to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution had gone into effect.

March 18, 1939 - Georgia finally ratified the Bill of Rights.

August 1, 1944 - Adam Clayton Powell elected first black congressman from East.

July 27, 1945 - U.S. Communist Party forms.

February 9, 1950 - What is known as "McCarthyism" began when Joseph McCarthy, a relatively obscure Republican senator from Wisconsin, announced during a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, that he had in his possession a list of 205 communists who had infiltrated the U.S. State Department. The unsubstantiated declaration, which was little more than a publicity stunt, thrust Senator McCarthy into the national spotlight. These and other equally shocking accusations prompted the Senate to form a special committee, headed by Senator Millard Tydings of Maryland, to investigate the matter. The committee found little to substantiate McCarthy's charges.

February 26, 1951 - The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

June 9, 1954 - Climax of the McCarthy hearings when Joseph N. Welch, special attorney for the army, responded to a McCarthy attack on a member of his law firm by facing the senator and tearfully declaring, "Until this moment, senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" The crowded hearing room burst into spontaneous applause.

August 24, 1954 - The Communist Control Act went into effect, virtually outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

November 12, 1954 - Ellis Island closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892.

December 2, 1954 -The Senate voted 67 to 22 to condemn Joseph R. McCarthy, Republican Senator from Wisconsin, for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." In the ultimate action the Senate voted to condemn Senator McCarthy for 1) contempt of a Senate Elections subcommittee that investigated his conduct and financial affairs, for abuse of its members, and 2) for his insults to the Senate itself during the censure proceeding. Equivalent to a censure.

February 20, 1959 - The FCC applies the equal time rule to TV newscasts of political candidates.

July 28, 1959 - Hawaii's first U.S. election sends first Asian-Americans to Congress.

August 24, 1959 - Three days after Hawaiian statehood, Hiram L. Fong was sworn in as the first Chinese-American U.S. senator, while Daniel K. Inouye was sworn in as the first Japanese-American U.S. representative.

March 29, 1961 - The 23rd Amendment, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote for president, was ratified.

February 14, 1962 - First Lady Jackie Kennedy hosted the first televised tour of the White House.

April 9, 1963 - Winston Churchill becomes first honorary U.S. citizen, posthumously.

March 25, 1966 - U.S. Supreme Court rules the poll tax unconstitutional.

May 17, 1967 - Governor of Tennessee signed into law the repeal of the 1925 state law, the Butler Act, prohibiting the teaching of evolution. The law had made it "unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." The law had been tested in what became known as the "Scopes monkey trial." Scopes was found guilty, but the law had been undermined. Upon appeal, Scopes was acquitted on a technicality. The law itself remained a Tennessee state statute for 42 years.

November 5, 1968 - Shirley Chisholm of New York became the first African-American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.

March 10, 1971 - Senate approves amendment lowering voting age to 18.

March 21, 1972 - U.S. Supreme Court rules states can't require 1-yr residency to vote.

July 14, 1972 - Jean Westwood is first woman chosen to head Democratic National Committee.

March 22, 1974 - U.S. Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment, sent to the states for ratification; 1923 - First proposed by the National Woman's political party to provide for the legal equality of the sexes and to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. October 1971 - under the leadership of U.S. Representative Bella Abzug of New York and feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, it won the requisite two-thirds vote from the U.S. House of Representative; March 1972 - approved by the U.S. Senate, sent to the states; ultimately failed to achieve ratification by the a requisite 38, or three-fourths, of the states; sexual equality is not protected by the U.S. Constitution.

November 5, 1974 - Ella Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to win gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband.

March 7, 1975 - The Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowed 60 senators to limit debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of senators present.

March 2, 1977 - The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a strict code of ethics.

March 15, 1977 - The U.S. House of Representatives began a 90-day test to determine the feasibility of showing its sessions on TV.

June 12, 1978 - U.S. House of Representatives allows live radio coverage.

March 19, 1979 - The U.S. House of Representatives began televising its day-to-day business.

February 2, 1980 - Details of ABSCAM, an FBI operation to uncover political corruption in the government, were released to the public. The FBI had conducted a sting operation targeting members of Congress using phony Arab businessmen.

March 23, 1981 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teenage girls seek abortions.

April 4, 1981 - Henry Cisneros became the first Mexican-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city - San Antonio, Texas.

June 30, 1982 - The Equal Rights Amendment (passed by Congress in 1972), prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, failed to secure ratification by a sufficient number of states to ensure its inclusion in the Constitution of the United States of America.

June 4, 1985 - The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law providing for a daily minute of silence in public schools.

November 12, 1985 - Xavier Suarez was elected Miami's first Cuban-American mayor.

February 27, 1986 - The U.S. Senate approved telecasts of its debates on a trial basis.

June 24, 1986 - Guy Hunt elected first Republican governor of Alabama in 112 years.

June 21, 1989 - The Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment.

November 7, 1989 - L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the nation's first elected black governor (December 1872 - Pinkney Benton Stewart Pinchback, a Reconstruction-era lieutenant general of Louisiana who became the first African American to hold that office; served as acting governor for five weeks while impeachment proceedings were in progress against Governor Henry Clay Warmoth).

November 7, 1989 - David N. Dinkins was elected New York City's first black mayor.

November 21, 1989 - The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time.

January 13, 1990 - Lawrence Douglas Wilder of Virginia, a grandson of slaves, became the nation's first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.

May 16, 1991 - Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

May 7, 1992 - A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified when Michigan became the 38th state to approve it.

May 19, 1992 - The 27th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises, went into effect.

November 3, 1992 - Illinois Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun became the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

December 14, 1993 - A Colorado judge struck down as unconstitutional the state's voter-approved ban on gay rights laws.