history of states

10 Şubat 2013 Pazar

District of Columbia: A Historical Timeline

Prior to 1650 Pre-European Settlement
4000 BCE	Archaeological evidence indicates Native Americans settle in the area now known as Washington, D.C.
1608 CE	Captain John Smith explores the region. At the time, the Patawomeck live on the Virginia side, and the Piscataway reside on the Maryland side. Native settlements within the District of Columbia also include the Nacostines and Nacotchtank.
1651–1849 The District of Columbia
1651	Georgetown is founded. It is the farthest point upstream to which oceangoing boats can navigate the Potomac River. It becomes a thriving port town, facilitating trade and shipments of tobacco and goods from colonial Maryland.
1788	(December 23) Maryland votes to cede a 100-square mile area for the creation of the seat of the national government. About two-thirds of the area becomes the District of Columbia.
1790	(July 16) The District of Columbia is established as the seat of the United States government.
1791	(March 29) President George Washington and French architect Pierre Charles l'Enfant examine a site along the Potomac River that will become the U.S. Capitol.
1792	(July 12) The U.S. government purchases property for the future site of the U.S. Mint. The $4,266.67 purchase represents the first money appropriated by Congress for a building to be used for a public purpose. (July 31) The foundation stone is laid for the U.S. Mint. (October 13) The cornerstone of the executive mansion is laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia. It is known as the "President's House" until it becomes the "White House" during the Roosevelt administration.
1800	(June 4) The White House is completed and President John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams establish residence there. (December 12) The city of Washington in the District of Columbia becomes the official capital of the United States.
1801	(February 27) The District of Columbia is placed under the jurisdiction of Congress. (March 4) Thomas Jefferson becomes the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
1802	(May 3) Washington, D.C., is incorporated as a city, with the mayor appointed by the president and the council elected by property owners.
1814	(August 24) The War of 1812 rages. Five thousand British troops march into Washington after defeating an American force at Bladensburg, Maryland. In retaliation for the American burning of the parliament building in York, the capital of Upper Canada (now present-day Toronto), the British burn down the White House, the Capitol, and almost every public building in the city before a downpour extinguishes the fire. President James Madison and his wife Dolly flee, but not before Dolly Madison saves the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington.
1815	Congress appropriates funds for the restoration of the White House and hires James Hoban, the original designer and builder, to do the work.
1817	President James Monroe moves back into the restored White House.
1835	(January 31) Richard Lawrence misfires at President Andrew Jackson during funeral services for Congressman Warren Davis. Jackson isn't injured, and courts find Lawrence, who believes he is the King of England, to be insane.
1844	(May 24) Before a crowd of dignitaries in the chambers of the Supreme Court, Samuel Morse taps out the message "What hath God wrought?" on the telegraph to his partner in Baltimore, Alfred Vail. Electrical telegraphy becomes the first instantaneous form of communication.
1846	(August 10) President James Polk signs a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution. It is named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 makes it possible.
1848	(July 4) President Polk lays the cornerstone of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Each state of the union is invited to donate a memorial stone. The white marble obelisk is 555 feet tall and 55 feet square at the base. It is completed in 1884, and at the time it is the tallest structure in the world.
1850–1899 THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION ERAS
1850	(September 20) Washington, D.C.'s slave trade is abolished as a provision of the Compromise of 1850. Although the slave trade is now illegal, slavery is still legal. By 1860 free African Americans outnumber slaves by nearly 4 to 1 in the area.
1851	(December 24) Fire devastates the Library of Congress, destroying about 35,000 printed volumes.
1859	Northern and Southern leaders socialize together for the last time at the Napier Ball in the Willard Hotel before The Civil War is declared.
1861	(April 18) The Kansas Frontier Guards set up camp in the East Room of the White House with the mission to protect President Abraham Lincoln from a feared rebel attack on Washington. As additional Union troops enter the city, the Frontier Guard is dismissed from the White House. (October 23) President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
1862	(April 3) Slavery is abolished in Washington, D.C.
1864	(July 11) Confederate forces arrive in Silver Spring, Maryland, on the outskirts of the District of Columbia and begin to probe the Union line. President Lincoln becomes the first standing president to witness a battle as Union forces repel the Confederate army. Congress authorizes the Columbia Institution for the Deaf to grant and confirm college degrees. It becomes the world's first school for the advanced education of the deaf and hard of hearing, and later is renamed Gallaudet University. Today is remains the world's only university in which all programs and services are designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students.
1865	(April 14) On the evening of Good Friday, just after 10pm, President Lincoln is shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Southern sympathizer Booth bursts into the presidential box and shoots Lincoln behind the ear. Lincoln remains unconscious until his death at 7:22 the following morning.
1867	(January 8) African-American males are granted the right to vote in local elections. (September 25) Congress creates the first all African-American university, Howard University, in Washington, D.C.
1877	(December 6) The Washington Post publishes its first edition; it is now the city's oldest newspaper still in operation.
1888	(January 27) The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. Today, it is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world.
1893	(September 9) Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, gives birth to a daughter, Esther, in the White House. It is the first time a president's child is born in the executive mansion.
1895	Georgetown becomes part of Washington, D.C.
1900–1929 EARLY 20TH CENTURY
1901	(October 28) Race riots, sparked by African-American educator and activist Booker T. Washington's visit to the White House, kill 34 in the district.
1912	(March 27) The district's first cherry blossom trees, a gift from Japan, are planted. The Japanese government gifts 3,020 trees to the U.S. government to be planted along Washington's Potomac River. They have since become an iconic symbol of the district.
1919	(July 24) Resulting from postwar tensions of racism, unemployment, and inflation, a race riot leaves six Washingtonians dead and 100 wounded.
1922	(May 30) The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated. The 36 Doric columns in the memorial represent the number of states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's assassination.
1924	(February 22) Calvin Coolidge gives the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House as he addresses the country over 42 stations.
1925	The first national congress of the Ku Klux Klan opens, and 200,000 members march in Washington, D.C.
1930–1949 THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II
1932	(June 17) Over 10,000 World War I veterans march on Washington, D.C., demanding their bonuses for service in the war. (July 28) Under orders from President Herbert Hoover, shacks built in the shadow of the Capitol by protesting veterans are burned, and U.S. troops force the veterans to evacuate. One veteran is killed and 50 veterans and police are injured in the melee. In May of the following year, President Franklin Roosevelt allows 25,000 veterans to enroll in the Citizens' Conservation Corps in lieu of getting bonuses.
1939	(November 15) President Franklin Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is completed in 1943.
1944	(August 21) The U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union, and China open the Dumbarton Oak conference in Washington, D.C. The meeting lays the foundation for the establishment of the United Nations.
1947	(September 18) The Central Intelligence Agency is formed to collect information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, as well as to advice public policymakers.
1950–PRESENT MODERN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
1951	The U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation in Washington, D.C., restaurants.
1954	The district's public schools are desegregated. Depicting the raising of the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima, a World War II memorial to U.S. Marines is dedicated next to Arlington National Cemetery.
1961	(March 29) Residents of the district are granted the right to vote for U.S. president and vice-president when the 23rd Amendment is ratified. (May 4) A group of civil rights activists, dubbed "Freedom Riders," leave Washington, D.C., for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation on buses and in bus terminals.
1962	(November 17) President John F. Kennedy dedicates Washington's Dulles International Airport. Actually located in the greater metropolitan area on Virginia soil, the airport now sees 1,000 to 1,200 daily flight operations.
1963	(August 28) The Civil Rights March on Washington draws 200,000 to 250,000 demonstrators. During the march, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
1965	(April 17) The activist group Students for a Democratic Society holds its first anti-Vietnam War protest rally in Washington, D.C. On November 27, 15,000–25,000 protestors demonstrate against the war. Student protests become a regular occurrence in the district during the tumultuous Vietnam War era.
1968	(June 19) More than 50,000 people march on Washington to support the Poor People's Campaign for reforms in welfare, employment, and housing policies. Reverend Jesse Jackson preaches "I Am Somebody" at Resurrection City, a tent city set up in front of the White House. Authorities shut down the tent city on June 24.
1969	(November 15) A quarter of a million protesters stage a peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C.
1972	(June 17) The Watergate Scandal begins to unravel when five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee office at the Watergate Hotel at 1:52 a.m. The five burglars are soon linked to President Richard Nixon's Committee for the Re-election of the President, and Nixon conspires to obstruct an FBI investigation of the incident.
1973	(December 24) The U.S. Congress passes the Home Rule Act, which allows residents of Washington, D.C., to elect a mayor.
1974	(March 1) A grand jury concludes that President Nixon is involved in the Watergate cover-up. Rather than face impeachment, Nixon chooses to resign from office. (August 9) Nixon and his family leave the White House.
1976	The 100-mile metro system in Washington, D.C., is completed.
1977	(March 9) About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invade three buildings in Washington, killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The siege ends two days later after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join the negotiations.
1979	(October 14) One hundred thousand gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and their supporters march in celebration of gay pride and to demand equal rights for homosexuals under the law.
1981	(March 30) John W. Hinckley shoots and wounds President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington, D.C., hotel. The president recovers, but his press secretary, James Brady, is permanently disabled in the attack. The incident inspires Brady to fight for stricter gun control laws. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is named in his honor. (August) Oliver North is assigned to White House duty as Chief Middle East arms-sales adviser to the secretary of defense. He is fired on November 25, 1986, for selling arms to Iran and for diverting illegal Iran arms sales profits to Nicaraguan contras. The events spark the Iran Contra Affair of November 1986, in which other senior officials of the Regan Administration are revealed to have done the same.
1982	The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is opened to visitors. Designed by Maya Lin, it includes the names of all military personnel who died in the war or remain missing in action.
1987	(October 11) Two hundred thousand gay rights activists march through Washington, D.C., to demand protection from discrimination and more federal money for AIDS research and treatment. The AIDS Memorial Quilt has its inaugural presentation.
1990	(January 18) Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for crack cocaine use and possession during a sting operation at the Vista Hotel. Barry is convicted of one count criminal possession in October and chooses not to run for November reelection. He is sentenced to a six-month federal prison term a year later.
1992	The U.S. House of Representatives approves statehood for the District of Columbia, but the Senate does not.
1994	(January 2) Marion Barry reassumes the office of mayor after being reelected. He serves until 1991.
1995	(October 16) In an effort to encourage African-American unity, more than 800,000 African-American men gather in Washington, D.C., for the "Million Man March" led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
2001	(September 11) Letters containing highly lethal anthrax spores are mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Five people are killed and 17 others are infected. Traces of anthrax are found in three Capitol Hill buildings.
2007	(January 27) Tens of thousands of people converge on the National Mall to oppose President George W. Bush's plan for troop increases in Iraq.
2009	(January 20) Two million people converge on the National Mall to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African-American U.S. president.

Click to enlarge an image

1651: Old Stone House, Georgetown (photo 1890)

1791: Pierre Charles L'Enfant

1800: Abigail Adams

1801: Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of the United States

1814: Artist depiction of the British burning of the White House

1814: Gilbert Stuart Williamstown portrait of George Washington

1815: James Hoban's drawing of the White House

1835: An etching depicting the Andrew Jackson assassination attempt

1846: James Smithson

1848: James K. Polk coin

1865: Wanted poster for Booth

1893: Frances Cleveland

1901: Booker T. Washington

1947: CIA seal in the lobby of the Original Headquarters Building

1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. in front of the Lincoln Memorial

1972: The Watergate from the air

1976: Metro routes, present day map

1981: Chaos outside the Washington Hilton Hotel after the assassination attempt on President Reagan

1987: Project AIDS Memorial Quilt

1990: Still of Marion Barry from police surveillence tape

2001: A letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle containing anthrax powder

2009: Presidential inauguration of Barack Obama

Delaware: A Historical Timeline

PRIOR TO 1609 PRE-EUROPEAN
	The Lenape, culturally organized bands of Native Americans, settle along the Delaware River circa 1400. In 1600, the Minquas (named after the Lenape word for "treacherous") from the Susquehanna River Valley attack their villages. Two groups of Native Americans are present in the Delaware region by the turn of the 16th century: the Lenape and the Nanticoke.
1609-1682 EARLY EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
1609	Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, discovers Delaware Bay and River.
1610	Captain Samuel Argall of England names the bay and river after Lord De La Warr, the appointed "governor for life" of Virginia.
1631	Thirty-two Dutch colonists settle at present-day Lewes, taking advantage of the large whale population to produce oil. Lewes eventually refers to itself as "the first town in the first state."
1632	The Dutch settlement is destroyed. After a member of the Lenape steals a Dutch coat of arms, the tribe kills the man and presents his head to the Dutch. Members of the tribe are so incensed by the decapitation they massacre the Dutch settlement, killing all inhabitants.
1638	After a falling out with the Dutch West India Company, Peter Minuet leads a group of Swedes to the Delaware River and establishes Fort Christina (named after Queen Christina of Sweden), the first permanent settlement on the Delaware and the beginning of the New Sweden Colony.
1639	The first African is brought to Delaware from the Caribbean to Fort Christina. He is most likely a servant, rather than a slave, at the time.
1640	The first Lutheran minister in America, the Reverend Reorus Torkillus, arrives at Fort Christina from Sweden. Sweden continues to send ministers to the colonists on the Delaware until after the American Revolution.
1651	Under the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch build Fort Casimir (now New Castle), in an attempt to re-establish their presence in the region.
1654	Johan Rising, the Swedish governor, captures Fort Casimir from the Dutch.
1655	The Dutch, again led by Stuyvesant, attack all the Swedish communities and defeat the Swedes on the Delaware River, ending the New Sweden colony and incorporating all the colonies into Dutch territory.
1664	Sir Richard Nicolls is appointed by Great Britain to carry out military acquisition of the Dutch territories in the U.S. Nicholls chooses Sir Robert Carr to conquer the Dutch on the Delaware River and Carr drives the Dutch out and Delaware becomes an English colony.
1673	The Dutch regain control of Delaware and restore their pre-British invasion status.
1674	Once again, the English gain control of Delaware in the Treaty of Westminster, requiring the Dutch to turn over all of New Sweden.
1681	Britain grants English Quaker William Penn land, which includes Delaware, to establish the colony of Pennsylvania.
1682	The Duke of York transfers control of the Delaware Colony to William Penn.
1683-1775 PRE-REVOLUTIONARY DELAWARE
1742	Oliver Canby builds a flour mill on the Brandywine River, beginning a large flour-milling industry in Delaware.
1761	Irishman James Adams sets up the first printing press in Delaware, which is located in Wilmington.
1763	Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying the region. The result is the Mason-Dixon line, which resolves western border disputes among the colonies and forms the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. The Mason-Dixon line still symbolizes a cultural boundary between the northern and the southern U.S. today.
1774	Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, and George Read represent Delaware at the First Continental Congress
1775-1800 REVOLUTIONARY DELAWARE
1775	The Revolutionary War begins.
1776	(July 1-2) Caesar Rodney makes his heroic overnight ride to cast the Colonial Assembly vote that puts Delaware on the side in favor of independence. (August 2) Rodney signs the Declaration of Independence. He goes on to be major-general of the Delaware militia. The three lower counties of Pennsylvania break away and adopt their own constitution, officially becoming Delaware State. It is the first former colonial region to declare itself a state.
1777	Dover replaces New Castle as state capital. The Battle of Cooch's Bridge, fought between American militia and British-backed German troops, is waged. It is the only battle of the Revolutionary War fought in Delaware.
1777- 1778	British troops invade Delaware. They partially occupy it until June 1778.
1779	The Delaware Assembly ratifies the Articles of the Confederation.
1784	Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury meet in Frederica and establish the Methodist Church as a separate denomination in the U.S.
1785	Delaware is the first state to ratify the Constitution. Along with its first declaration of statehood, this gives the state its nickname of "the First State." The U.S. Constitutional Convention gives states the right to set voting qualifications. As a result, women lose the right to vote in Delaware.
1790	(January 28) Delaware becomes the sixth state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1792	Delaware adopts the second state constitution and changes its name to the State of Delaware.
1800-1860 ERA OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
1802	DuPont founds the first gunpowder mill, the Eleutherian Mills, along the Brandywine River near Wilmington. The company will supply as much as half the Union gunpowder used during the Civil War, and goes on to become the second largest chemical company in the world. This earns Wilmington the nickname "Chemical Capital of the World." The site is declared a national historic landmark in 1966.
1813	Former slave Peter Spencer founds the "Union Church of Africans," now known as the African Union Methodist Protestant Church. The AUMPC is the first religious denomination in the U.S. founded entirely by African-Americans. A British frigate bombards Lewes during the War of 1812, resulting in little damage.
1818	Construction begins on the mile-long Delaware Breakwater to form Lewes Harbor, completed in 1835. The breakwaters are among the first of their kind in the western hemisphere.
1829	The Delaware Free School Act passes, creating the first free public schools in the state.
1831	The New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, one of the first in the United States, opens.
1832	Delaware adopts its third state constitution. The first peach orchard in Delaware is planted. The state eventually becomes a major commercial producer of peaches.
1847	The Delaware Senate considers an act to abolish slavery. The act is defeated by one vote.
1855	A statewide prohibition law is enacted, and most of Delaware becomes "dry." Deputy Director of the state's Department of Prohibition, Harold "Three Gun" Wilson, goes so far as to raid a state party honoring the governor. Despite his efforts, bootlegging and speakeasies flourish. The state still has a Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement to this day.
1861-1900 CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
1861	The Civil War begins. More than 12,000 troops from Delaware will fight for the North. A few hundred residents fight for the South.
1861	(January 3) Delaware rejects an invitation to join the Confederacy when voters choose not to secede. According to the governor, Delaware is "the first state to embrace the Union and will be the last state to leave it."
1862	Delaware legislature rejects President Lincoln's offer to buy its slaves, and the legislature votes against the abolition of slavery (the 13th Amendment).
1867	Howard High School, Delaware's first African-American high school, opens.
1868	Delaware votes against the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection for all races under the law.
1870	The Delaware legislature votes against the 15th Amendment to guarantee African-Americans the right to vote. The First ocean resort opens at Rehoboth Beach. Rehoboth would become such a popular summer resort area, particularly for well-to-do Washingtonians, it begins to call itself the "nation's summer capitol."
1875	State legislature creates separate school funding for white children and African-American children.
1880	The DuPont Company begins manufacturing dynamite and nitroglycerin. DuPont dynamite will be used in the construction of the Panama Canal.
1881	The first organized Jewish religious service is held in Delaware.
1889	A law passes to prohibit the punishment of women at whipping posts.
1891	(March) Delmar is nearly destroyed by fire, which destroys many of town buildings.
1897	A new state constitution is adopted, which is still in effect today. Property-owning requirements for voting are abolished.
1899	The Delaware Corporation Act is passed, making it easier for businesses to incorporate in Delaware than in any other state. Today, more than 50 percent of U.S. publicly traded companies and 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware.
1900-1929 EARLY 20TH CENTURY
1901	The Delaware legislature finally ratifies the 13th, 14th, and 15th civil rights amendments.
1905	Delaware becomes the last state to abolish use of the pillory, or whipping post.
1911	Pulitzer Prize-winning author and social activist Upton Sinclair and ten others are arrested in Arden for playing tennis and baseball on a Sunday in violation of the state's "blue" laws, or moral codes. Another blue law, barring the purchase of alcohol on a Sunday, is not repealed until 2003.
1915	The Child Labor Law passes, keeping children under 14 from working, outside of farm and domestic duties. The Labor Commission of Delaware is formed out of the defunct Delaware Child Labor Commission. Its jurisdiction involves enforcing "any laws relating to the conditions, regulation or inspection of labor of minor children, or the condition, regulation or inspection of labor of females."
1917	U.S. involvement in WWI begins. Approximately 10,000 Delawareans will eventually serve.
1920	Delaware rejects the 19th Amendment, refusing to grant women suffrage.
1921	Delaware finally wins land rights to "the Wedge," a small tract of land disputed over with Maryland and Pennsylvania for nearly a century. Its border features the only true-arc boundary in the country.
1923	Delaware finally ratifies the 19th Amendment on March 6, becoming the 39th state to do so.
1926	After being in service for 150 years, Cape Henlopen Lighthouse collapses due to movement of the Great Dune on which it is built (the dune moves three to five feet each year).
1950-PRESENT MODERN DELAWARE
1950	Delaware Court orders the University of Delaware to desegregate.
1951	The Delaware Memorial Bridge opens, linking Delaware to New Jersey.
1963	The Delaware General Assembly outlaws racial segregation in public accommodations. President John F. Kennedy opens the Delaware Turnpike, which completes a nonstop highway between Boston and Washington, D.C. It is one of his last public appearances.
1964	Herman Holloway, Sr., becomes the first African-American elected to the Delaware State Senate.
1968	Riots break out in Wilmington following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. This leads to a ten-month occupation of the city by the National Guard, the longest occupation of an American city by state forces in U.S. history.
1971	The Delaware Coastal Zone Act, one of the earliest significant pieces of environmental legislation in U.S. history, passes, prohibiting the construction of industrial plants along coastal areas.
1981	The Financial Center Development Act passes, encouraging out-of-state banks to move headquarters to Delaware.
1984	S.B. Woo is elected lieutenant governor, becoming the highest-ranking Asian-American elected official in the country.
2000	Delaware elects its first female governor, Ruth Ann Minner.
2002	The Clean Indoor Air Act passes, banning smoking in almost all public places. At the time, it is considered the most stringent anti-smoking law in the country.
2003	Hurricane Isabel strikes the coast of Delaware on the heels of Tropical Storm Henri. Damages were estimated to be US$40 million and there were no casualties, but the storm was declared a presidential disaster.