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On this day for the United States
Events
1778 –
American Revolutionary War : In Paris the
Treaty of Alliance and the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
1788 –
Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the
United States Constitution .
1815 –
New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to
John Stevens .
1820 – The first 86
African American immigrants sponsored by the
American Colonization Society start a settlement in present-day
Liberia .
1843 – The first
minstrel show in the United States, The
Virginia Minstrels , opens (
Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
1862 –
American Civil War :
Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing
Fort Henry, Tennessee , known as the
Battle of Fort Henry .
1899 –
Spanish–American War : The
Treaty of Paris , a
peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the
United States Senate .
1922 – The
Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the
naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
1933 – The
20th Amendment to the United States Constitution , establishing the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal offices, goes into effect.
1951 – The Broker , a
Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near
Woodbridge Township, New Jersey . The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
1959 –
Jack Kilby of
Texas Instruments files the first
patent for an
integrated circuit .
1959 – At
Cape Canaveral ,
Florida , the first successful test firing of a
Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
1978 – The
Blizzard of 1978 , one of the worst
Nor'easters in
New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of 4" an hour.
1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed
Ronald Reagan National Airport .