This Week In American History

December 24 1812 The Treaty of Ghent was signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium, ending the War of 1812. By terms of the treaty, all conquered territory...

December 17 1892 Arthur Baldwin Turnure first publishes Vogue, a new magazine dedicated to “the ceremonial side of life” and targeted at “the sage as well as the debutante, men...

December 10 1922 The Canton Bulldogs defeated the Toledo Maroons, 19-0, and are declared the first NFL champion. Canton finished the season 10-0-2, allowing 15 points and producing nine shutouts....

December 3 1818 Illinois became the 21st state. Due to the challenge of the prairies slowing emigration into the region, the population was only about 35,000 and most of the...

November 26 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill officially establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. This followed the precedent set by President Abraham Lincoln in...

November 19 1863 At the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American...

November 12 1799 Andrew Ellicott, an early American astronomer, witnessed the Leonids meteor shower from a ship off the Florida Keys. Ellicott wrote in his journal that the “whole heaven appeared...

November 5 1940 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was re-elected for an unprecedented third term as president of the United States. Roosevelt’s decision to break the precedent set by George Washington was...

October 29 1965 Nine months after its subject’s assassination, The Autobiography of Malcolm X was first published. Through his work with the Nation of Islam and advocacy for Black power,...

October 22 1965 During the Vietnam War, about 35 miles northwest of Saigon, PFC Milton Lee Olive III of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, threw himself on an enemy...

October 15 1863 The H.L. Hunley, the world’s first successful combat submarine, sunk during a test run, killing its inventor and seven crew members. The submarine would go on to...

October 8 1871 The Great Chicago Fire began when flames sparked in the Chicago barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, igniting a two-day blaze that killed between 200 and 300...