United States History in Brief
1492, August 3, Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain.
1492, October 12, Columbus discovered America.
1607, May 13, the English made first permanent settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.
1609, September 11, Henry Hudson, commanding the “Half Moon,” sailed into New York Harbor.
1620, November 11, the “Mayflower,” containing the Pilgrims, arrived at Provincetown, Massachusetts.
1620, December 22, the “Mayflower” landed at Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1690, September 25, the first American newspaper was published at Boston, Massachusetts.
1732, February 22, George Washington, first President of the Republic, was born.
1743, April 13, Thomas Jefferson was born.
1765, March 22, Passage of the Stamp Act.
1767, March 15, Andrew Jackson born.
1770, March 5, massacre and riot in the streets of Boston, Massachusetts.
1773, December 16, the famous Boston Tea party was organized.
1775, April 18, the ride of Paul Revere, warning inhabitants of the coming battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
1775, April 19, the battle of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
1775, May 20, the first Declaration of Independence was signed at Mecklenburg, North Carolina.
1775, June 17, Battle of Bunker Hill, at Charlestown, Massachusetts.
1776, March 17, the British evacuated Boston.
1776, June 17, George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American forces.
1776, July 4, The Declaration of Independence was formally signed at Philadelphia.
1776, August 27, Battle of Long Island.
1776, December 26, Battle of Trenton.
1781, October 19, Cornwallis surrendered his army, at Yorktown, Virginia.
1783, January 20, the United States and Great Britain agreed upon secession of hostilities.
1783, November 25, New York was evacuated by the British.
1789, April 30, George Washington was inaugurated first President of the United States.
1790, June 28, Washington, District of Columbia, was made the Capital of the United States.
1791, August 30, Issue of the first United States patent.
1792, April 2, United States Mint established at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1793, September 18, Laying of the corner stone of the capitol, at Washington, District of Columbia.
1784, May 8, Congress established the Post-Office Department.
1796, September 17, President Washington issued his Farewell Address.
1799, December 14, death of President Washington.
1807, January 19, birth of General Robert E. Lee.
1807, August 11, first trial trip of a steamboat, by Robert Fulton, its inventor, on the Hudson River.
1809, February 12, birth of Abraham Lincoln.
1813, September 10, Perry’s victory on Lake Erie.
1815, January 8, Battle of New Orleans.
1816, December 13, establishment, at Boston, Massachusetts, of the first Savings Bank in the United States.
1819, May 22, the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean sailed from Atlanta, Georgia.
1844, May 27, first telegraph message sent by Professor Morse, the inventor of telegraphy.
1846, April 23, beginning of the Mexican War.
1847, February 22, Battle of Buena Vista.
1847, September 14, capture of the city of Mexico by the United States Army.
1851, August 27, the Yacht “America” won the international cup race, at Cowes, England.
1858, August 16, the Old World and the New World connected by telegraphic cable.
1859, October 18, capture of John Brown, at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
1860, December 20, South Carolina seceded from the Union.
1861, April 12, Fort Sumter, South Carolina, bombarded.
1861, April 15, President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers.
1861, July 21, Battle of Bull Run.
1862, March 9, Fight in Hampton Roads, Virginia, between the “Monitor” and the “Merrimac.”
1862, April 28, New Orleans evacuated.
1862, June 6, capture of Memphis, Tennessee.
1862, September 15, General Stonewall Jackson captured Harper’s Ferry.
1862, September 17, Battle of Antietam.
1863, January 1, President Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Emancipation.
1863, February 25, passage of the National Bank Act.
1863, July 1 to 3, Battle of Gettysburg.
1863, September 19, Battle of Chickmauga.
1864, March 6 to 8, Battle of the Wilderness.
1864, June 19, the Warship “Kearsarge” sank the “Alabama.”
1864, September 2, General Sherman captured Atlanta, Georgia.
1865, April 9, General Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
1865, April 14, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln.
1867, March 30, Treaty for the purchase of Alaska signed.
1869, May 10, completion of the Union Pacific Railroad.
1871, October 8, great fire at Chicago.
1881, July 2, President Garfield shot by Charles J. Guiteau.
1886, May 4, Haymarket riot at Chicago.
1889, May 31, great flood at Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1893, February 14, the Hawaiian Islands annexed to the United States.
1897, June 14, Venezuela boundary line treaty ratified by Congress.
1898, February 15, United States Battleship “Maine” blown up in Havana Harbor.
1898, April 21, Severance of diplomatic relations between Spain and the United States.
1898, April 27, Matanzas, Cuba, fired upon by American warships.
1898, May 1, Admiral Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet at Manila.
1898, May 6, United States fleet bombarded Santiago, Cuba.
1898, May 12, Admiral Sampson fired upon San Juan, Porto Rico.
1898, June 3, Hobson sank the Merrimac in the harbor of Santiago, that he might block the channel.
1898, June 22, first landing of the United States troops in Cuba.
1898, July 3, the Spanish fleet destroyed at Santiago.
1898, July 16, Santiago surrendered.
1898, August 13, Manila surrendered.
1898, November 28, end of the Spanish-American War.
1901, September 6, President McKinley killed by Leon Czolgolz.
1901, September 16, Hay-Pauncefote Canal Treaty ratified by Congress.
1902, July 4, Declaration of Peace with Philippine Islands, and amnesty granted to all insurgents.
1904, May 4, the United States took control of the Panama Canal.
University Extension.—A scheme for extending to people at large the advantages of a university education, by means of courses of lectures and classes in various important cities. The scheme originated at the University of Cambridge, England, in 1872, and was introduced into the United States in 1890.
University Settlements.—Homes established in the poorer parts of cities, where educated and cultured people may live and try to improve the lives of their neighbors. Lectures, studies, and various other devices are resorted to. The movement started in England in 1867, and appeared in New York in 1887, as a “Neighborhood Guild.” University settlements are now found in all the chief cities of the United States.
Utopia.—An imaginary island, with an ideal commonwealth, the inhabitants of which enjoy perfect laws and institutions. It is described in Sir Thomas More’s political romance, “De Optimo Reipublicae Statu, deque Nova Insula Utopia,” published in Latin in 1516, and translated into English in 1551. His purpose was to describe his idea of social arrangements by which the people’s most absolute happiness and improvement might be secured.
Vaccination.—Vaccination, a preventive of smallpox, was discovered by Dr. Edward Jenner of England. It consists of injecting into the blood a virus made from the sores or scabs of cows suffering from cowpox, or the virus may be taken from the sore coming from vaccination itself. Comparatively few people, properly vaccinated, can have the smallpox, and are largely exempt from any disease resembling it, except that which is known as varioloid, which is a mild form of smallpox. It is not known how long vaccination remains a preventive, but probably for seven years, when one should be vaccinated again. The prejudice against vaccination, which was very intense at its discovery, no longer exists except among a few. Practically every physician advocates it, and it is compulsory in some towns and cities. Deaths have occurred from it, but they are very infrequent.
Vacuum.—The perfect vacuum, which it is impossible to produce, is space without air or atmosphere. Vacuums are made by pumping all the air out of a receptacle or chamber. In a vacuum, everything falls at the same rapidity, as there is nothing to buoy it up, a feather descending as rapidly as lead shot.
Vedas.—Sacred writings of the Hindus, hymns, prayers, and liturgies, said to have been compiled by Vyasa about 1200 B. C. They are written in Sanskrit, and divided into four parts.
Voodooism.—A degraded form of religion prevalent among the negroes of Hayti and the Southern States of America. Supposed to be a relic of the religion of equatorial Africa.
Watered Stock.—It is said that the late Commodore Vanderbilt originated what is known as watered stock. Watered stock is capitalizing an industry at a figure in advance of its real value. For example: a railroad has tangible assets of $10,000,000, and an earning capacity sufficient to pay a 6 per cent. dividend on its capitalization; financial giants manipulate the stock and increase it to, say, $20,000,000, watering it to the extent of 100 per cent. In other words, the real value of the stock then is one-half of what it was in the first place. Stock watering has become epidemic, and is the cause of hundreds of thousands of financial failures. The stock waterers, however, as a rule, win, the public being the victims.
Wealth of the Nations.—The estimated wealth of the principal nations of the earth is given in billions: United States, 130; Great Britain and Ireland, 80; France, 65; Germany, 60-1/2; Russia, 40; Austria-Hungary, 25; Italy, 20; Belgium, 9; Spain, 5.4; Netherlands, 5; Portugal, 2.5; Switzerland, 2.4.