The official signing ceremony for the Declaration of Independence was on August 2, 1776, not July 4. On July 4, Congress approved the final draft of the declaration, and John Hancock and the secretary of the Congress signed it. But most members of Congress signed it at the official ceremony on August 2. A few…
The date of the first human migration to the Americas is still in dispute. It may be as early as 35,000 years ago or, according to some archeologists, no more than 12,000 years ago. Whichever date turns out to be correct, it is believed that the first Americans migrated from northeastern Siberia across the Bering…
The 1964 resolution that gave President Johnson the right to use extensive military force in southeast Asia was approved by all of the House of Representatives and all but two members of the Senate. The two dissenting senators were Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of Alaska.
What Peter Minuit gave the Manhattoe tribe was a package of trinkets and cloth valued at 60 guilders, roughly equivalent to $24.
Sophia Smith (1796-1870) founded the Smith College for women. After receiving an inheritance upon the death of her brother, a wealthy stockbroker, she was advised by a clergyman to use the money to begin an institution of higher education for women. Plans were drawn up in 1868, and in 1871, Smith College was founded.
James Buchanan (1857-1861) was the only U.S. president that was a lifelong bachelor. He had been engaged in 1819 to Ann Caroline Coleman, but she died of an overdose of laudanum before the two were married.