History of the US

"The Articles of Confederation were written by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress on July 12, 1776. They were ratified in 1781 and lasted until 1789" (Hakim).

The Northwest Ordinance is passed by the Confederation Congress. It created a fair way for land in the Northwest Territory (previously claimed by Virginia and others) to become states. In these new states, slavery was prohibited, and their citizens were guaranteed freedom of religion and trial by jury, among other rights.

The convention that was to create a (functional) form of government for the US was officially called to order.

The Constitution of the United States is officially completed and ready to be signed.

The Constitution is ratified by the required 3/4 of the states and become law.

The first US president under the Constitution, George Washington, is inaugurated in New York City.

President George Washington picks a site on the Potomac River for a new city that was to be the nation's capital. Originally called the Federal City, it is now known as Washington D.C.

Robert Carter III, an extremely rich Virginian who was one of the largest slave owners in the US (with more than 500 slaves), frees all of his slaves. This (at the time considered crazy) deed was in response to his quest for true religion and conversion into the Baptist (who believed all people are equal before God) faith.

The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified according to the method prescribed in the Constitution.

President John Adams appoints former congressman and Secretary of State John Marshall Supreme Court chief justice.

The Supreme Court case of Marbury vs. Madison establishes the process of judicial review. The case is led by chief justice John Marshall.

President Thomas Jefferson bought all of the land France had claimed in North America - the so called Louisiana Territory. This $15 million purchase doubled the size of the United States.

The expedition that explored and mapped the newly bought Louisiana Territory took two years to do so.

Zebulon Pike, a young army officer, explores the Southwest, traveling along the Arkansas River. Along the way, he "discovers" Pikes Peak (named after him), a towering mountain he fails to climb.

The Constitution protected the slave trade to America for 20 years after its signing. Only after this amount of time was up, on January 1, 1808, could laws become effective to end the slave trade. Such a law was passed in 1808 deeming the slave trade illegal.

Washington lawyer Francis Scott Key writes "The Star-Spangled Banner" to celebrate the British defeat at Fort McHenry, Baltimore. He had watched the battle aboard a British ship where he was being temporarily held after overhearing the British plan of attack while acting as a diplomat (acquiring the release of British prisoner-of-war Dr. William Beanes).

Secretary of War under President James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, organizes an exploring expedition led by U.S. Army major Stephen H. Long. Major Long's party explored, mapped, and painted the land west of the Mississippi River, including the Great Plains (which Long determined to be "uninhabitable by a people depending on agriculture for their subsistence").

The Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 as an agreement between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory (which was now being "cut up" into new states) north of the parallel 36°30′ north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. To balance the number of "slave states" and "free states" in the nation, the northern region of what was then Massachusetts was admitted into the US as a free state to become Maine. Prior to that decision, the House of Representatives had refused to accept the Compromise.

Spain agrees to a treaty presented by President Monroe's Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. This deal, which Spain accepted as it was too weak to fight, offered $15 million for Florida.

Austin's party promised they would become good Mexican citizens and Catholics. They led the way for many Americans' emigration to Texas, which in part led to the Mexican-American War.

William Becknell and his companions left Old Franklin, Missouri, with the intent of trading with Native Americans. At the urging of Mexicans the party met, they turned instead towards the newly-independent Mexican town of Santa Fe. They traded very successfully, which encouraged other merchants to travel the Trail.

President James Monroe gives a speech to Congress stating that European countries could not look for colonies in the American continents - they were "closed off". Part of his reasoning was that since the US didn't interfere with Europe's affairs, those countries shouldn't "interfere" with ours.

The Erie Canal, spanning from the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, is completed after 8 years of building. The Canal traverses 360 miles and greatly increased the speed of trade and transportation in the US.

President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act. This law made it legal for the president to move Native American tribes west and led to the "Trail of Tears".

Daniel Webster replies to Robert Hayne in a Senate speech on the importance of the Union. Hayne's argument, that state rights (specifically, Southern states') were more important than the unity of the nation as a whole, and Webster's rebuttal, in which he stated that the Constitution created a "people's government"; a government that protected peoples' rights in general, as opposed to specific states' interests, would later be dubbed "The Great Debate".

William Lloyd Garrison, a white Massachusetts man, begins publishing the abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator". It soon became the leading paper of its kind, and was read by many famous blacks and whites, including Frederick Douglass.

More than 1,000 "mountain men" - men who lived as the Native Americans did and trapped animals for their furs (primarily beavers) - meet for the first rendezvous organized by William Ashley, who headed the endeavor.

President Andrew Jackson, in order to eliminate the Bank of the United States (whose directors, he was convinced, stood against the idea of democratic-self government), does not renew the Bank's charter, successfully destroying the institution.

Partly due to President Andrew Jackson's elimination of the Bank of the United States, which regulated currency, many smaller banks throughout the nation began to print money. This led to an overall decrease in the currency's value, in turn causing a depression. Many citizens were without jobs, banks closed and people lost their savings, and crop prices fell, leading to the loss of many farmers' land. In many cases, these desperate families sold whatever they still owned and used the profit to move west. Often, they used the Oregon Trail, which started being used for that purpose in about 1843.

Sarah and Angelina Grimke (with a diagonal left-to-right accent on the "e") were Southern sisters who, because they could not bear to live in their slave-owning families, had come north, became Quakers, and started telling people why. They lectured on the evils and inhumanity of slavery as they had experienced it first-hand. Angelina became the first American women to address a legislative body when she delivered countless antislavery petitions that had been collected by women to the Massachusetts legislature. The sisters' actions angered many white men because they were going against and beyond the "role" of women at the time.

Frederick Douglass was an American slave who, after his escape in 1838, became one of the most important abolitionists and all-around civil activists. He used his knowledge of reading and writing (unusual for blacks at the time) to fight for the rights of all peoples by writing books, a newspaper, and speaking passionately and eloquently, often to an abusive audience.

The Cherokees, among many other Native American tribes, are forced to walk the "Trail of Tears" westward from the home of their ancestors to a newly designated Indian reservation.

Having experienced loneliness and sadness first-hand as a child without a mother and with a father that was never at home, Dorothea Dix had sympathy for the troubled and mentally ill. In an all-exposing piece of writing she composed in 1843, "Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts", Dix told of the horrible treatment of those persons who were kept in the privately run, unregulated mental asylums of her day. Dix traveled around the US and other nations for over 30 years, visiting, speaking and writing about asylums, poor houses and prisons.

These two trails were known as "the Overland trails", and carried a wave of freedom-seeking Americans west.

John L. O'Sullivan, a newspaper reporter, first used the phrase "Manifest Destiny" in an article published in the "United States Magazine and Democratic Review". In it, O'Sullivan said it was "our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence...". Basically, he was arguing that God gave us the divine right to take over the continent (even if that meant throwing people who had being living here for thousands of years off their land), so we have a duty to do so. This phrase made taking more and more land sound like a noble thing to do, which helped clear peoples' coincidences. Because of this, it became very popular; after all, people didn't want to admit that greed had a lot to do with their eagerness to expand the country.

President James K. Polk signs a treaty with England. It stated that the nations would split the Oregon territory (which, up until this point, both countries had claimed) on the 49th parallel. England received the land north of that parallel (which today is western Canada) and the U.S. possessed the southern part of the territory (which today makes up the states of Oregon, California, and Idaho).

Brigham Young, leader of the religious group who attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly dubbed "the Mormons" after their holy book), leads his people west to escape harsh religious persecution. In 1848, they settle in today's Utah, which was at the time owned by Mexico.

Organized by women's rights leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott (in addition to some of their friends), this Convention (the first in the nation) attracted ~300 people -- both men and women. The first day of the convention was open to women only; the reason for this being that Stanton and Mott felt it was necessary to first convince women that this was an important fight/cause (not all women wanted to vote because of all the years they had been told by men that they shouldn't be able to). Men were permitted to attend the second day of the Convention. The attendees wrote the Seneca Falls Declaration, which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence (adding "and women" to "all men are created equal").

The Fugitive Slave Law, enacted as part of the Compromise of 1850, required anyone who found an escaped slave in a free state to return him/her to his/her owner (or be fined, jailed, or both).

In order to protect the Union and prevent secession, Henry Clay presents a compromise between the North's interests and the South's interests. One of its points was that a fugitive slave law be enforced (meaning that runaway slaves who make it to free states must be returned to their owners).
A few weeks later, a very ill John C. Calhoun came to the Senate to answer Clay (someone read his speech for him as he was too sick to do so himself). He stated that if the North cannot stop talking about slavery, the South should "peacefully separate" itself.
Daniel Webster is the next to give his input during his famous last Senate oration. To prevent the terrible war that, in his opinion, secession would surely produce, Webster agreed to Clay's compromise, which Congress voted to accept.

Sojourner Truth was born a slave in NY state before running away in 1826. With the help of a white Quaker family, she hired a lawyer, went to court, and won back a child of hers (she had 13 children total, most of which were sold into slavery) who had been sold by her former master to a buyer in the South (which was against NY law).
In 1851, S. Truth spoke at a women's rights convention in Ohio in reply to a man who said that women were by nature weak and inferior to men. What she said would later be known as her "Ain't I a Woman" speech.

Amelia Bloomer (inventor of the long pantaloons known as "Bloomers") was responsible for introducing these women's rights masterminds, who made up one of the most active and strong teams in the campaign for suffrage.

Commodore Matthew Perry, of the U.S. Navy, sails to Japan to negotiate a trade agreement on behalf of President Millard Fillmore. Japan (a feudal society at the time), which for hundreds of years had been isolated from the rest of the world under the Japanese Decree of Exclusion, was behind on "modern" technology (such as steamboats, railroads, and the telegraph). After Japanese officials (after much deliberation) accepted the U.S.'s offer, the country slowly began to "modernize" itself.

Senator Stephen A. Douglas introduced a bill to divide the territory west of MO, IA, and MN (which was technically guaranteed to the Indians) into two regions: Kansas and Nebraska. Another part of the bill repealed the Missouri Compromise (which had been passed in 1820 and stated that the territory in question would not allow slavery since it was above the determined latitude line), thus allowing the newly created territories to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery. The Act outraged many Northerners, led to an unofficial "guerrilla war" between pro- and anti- slavery settlers and activists, and further divided North and South.

The Republican party was the result of a meeting of political leaders in Ripon, Wisconsin. At first, the new party's main appeal was to free, white, working-class men who didn't want to compete with slave labor. The party was also against slavery in the American West. 6 years after its founding, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president.

In what is today usually considered the worst decision in the history of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roger Taney released an opinion declaring the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. This incredibly controversial ruling "made war almost certain" (quote: Joy Hakim).

The very controversial "Oberlin trial" was seen as a test case of whether or not the government would enforce the Fugitive Slave Law (which had been passed in 1850). Many citizens of Oberlin, Ohio, were tried and found guilty of having broken the Law by helping a fugitive slave escape from slave catchers who had kidnapped him. In the end, the accused were fined and given a prison sentence, per the law (although they were later set free in return for the slave catchers' freedom. The catchers had broken the law, too, because they hadn't shown the proper papers when capturing the runaway).

In response to the huge demand of mail that was being sent between California and the East Coast (due mostly to the Gold Rush), and the incompetence of the national postal service, the Pony Express began operating a mail delivery route. Riders (who all risked their lives on a daily basis and endured extreme weather) received fresh horses at stations set up along the route. One rider would cover about eight stations before handing the reins over to a coworker. The Pony Express brought mail from one side coast of the US to the other in an then-incredible 10 days. However, the Express only lasted 18 months, due to the invention and widespread use of the telegraph.

Rebecca Harding was the author of an unsigned article in the most important magazine of the day: the "Atlantic Monthly". The article, titled "Life in the Iron Mills", reported on the horrible working conditions in her hometown (Wheeling, WV)'s iron mills. Her writing made some people aware, many for the first time, of the horror of millwork (and in general, the hard lives of factory workers).

The Industrial Revolution completely changed society and life for millions of people around the world as the US (and many other countries) shifted from a farm-based to a capitalistic market economy. This period, divided into two Revolutionary periods (1750-1850 and 1850-1900), marked a huge number of inventions and technological advancements (including the steam engine, powered loom, telephones, railroads, and many more).

Samuel Slater (who was a young apprentice in a cotton mill in England before immigrating to the US) opens the first spinning mill in Pawtucket, R.I.

The cotton gin, a machine that removes seeds from cotton, is invented by Eli Whitney. This invention revived slavery in the South.

The steamship "Clermont", designed by Robert Fulton, an American inventor, covers the stretch of the Hudson River from New York City to Albany in 32 hours. That speed was considered incredibly fast at the time.

The first factory that could both spin and weave cotton in the same building is built by Francis Cabot Lowell after he took a trip to England and observed the factories there.

The first Cherokee alphabet is created by Sequoyah. It consisted of 86 characters (many of which were similar to English letters) representing Cherokee syllables.

Peter Cooper, an American inventor and owner of a iron foundry, builds a steam-powered train. This marvel, which Cooper called "Tom Thumb", was built for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad.

Benjamin Day begins publishing a daily newspaper, the "New York Sun". The "Sun" sells for a penny, which enables the ordinary American to purchase a paper that he couldn't have afforded before. Pre-television, radio, and the internet, newspapers spread news fast around an ever-growing country. Soon more "penny newspapers" are founded (examples: the "New York Herald" and the "New York Tribune").

Samuel F. Morse, an American artist-turned-inventor, sends the first message using his invention, the telegraph. This then amazingly-fast method of cross-nation communication had an immense effect on many areas of life (in addition to putting the Pony Express out of business).

James Marshall, while building a mill for John Sutter, happened to discover heavy gold flakes in a California mountain stream. Although Marshall, after the gold had been tested and its identity confirmed by Sutter, tried to keep his wonderful discovery a secret, word spread, and soon miners were flooding in from all over the US and even abroad. The California Gold Rush, as it was called, brought wealth and diversity to the state, although it wasn't as picture-perfect as newspapers depicted it.

Traveling on a track laid by the Chicago & Rock Island, the company's Line Number 10 train arrives in Rock Island, Illinois. It thus became the first railroad train to cover the distance between the East Coast and the Mississippi River. This achievement made traveling and moving west much easier, but also took over business from steamboats and other, older forms of transportation, leading to their decline.

In 1856, a bridge crossing the Mississippi River was completed by the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad Company, enabling passengers on their Line Number 10 trains to travel over the River in fraction of the time it took to ferry it on a boat. However, 2 weeks after the bridge was opened for use, an overturned steamboat caught the partly-wooden bridge on fire. This led to the owners of the steamboat suing the railroad company (which Abraham Lincoln defended as a lawyer), resulting in a case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. It was as much about North (railroads) vs. South (steamboats) as the actual complaint, and led to increased friction between those two parts of the country when the jurors couldn't reach a decision (which was seen as a victory by the North/railroad company).

Sarah Pierce opens the Litchfield Female Academy in the dining room of her home as a comprehensive school for girls (a revolutionary idea at the time). Pierce's school didn't just teach music, painting, and needlework (the "subjects" most people thought girls should concentrate on); some of the courses offered were philosophy, logic, and grammar (to name a few). The Academy existed for 41 years (until 1833). One of its most notable students was Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

Mary Lyon opens Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, thus creating the 2nd college for women in the nation (the 1st was Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia). The price of tuition was low, so almost anyone who wished to attend could afford to do so. Most of the College's students went on to be teachers. Emily Dickinson was on of its most notable students (although she left before graduating).

George Catlin, an American artist and member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, decided to sketch and paint Indians living in their traditional ways before they became extinct. He was very ahead of his time in that he painted Native Americans with honesty, affection and admiration, as opposed to attacking (or simply ignoring) them as was the common practice among other whites.

John James Audubon, a self-dubbed "American woodsman" and artist, finishes his masterwork: "Birds of America". This collection of drawings depicting many of North America's birds attempted successfully to capture the image of birds that would soon be extinct due to hunting and destruction of their natural habitats (6 birds featured are now extinct). "Birds of America" became hugely popular in England and Europe, thus drawing attention to the work of American artists and authors, who (contrary to popular belief in the Old World) had just as much talent as their European equivalents.

American author, naturalist, scientist, architect, civil activist, and abolitionist (to name just a few of the hats this man wore) Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden". This book depicts Thoreau's 2 year stay in a cabin on the edge of Walden Pond.

Walt Whitman, an American poet, publishes "Leaves of Grass". This extremely long poem (so lengthy it can be called a book) is all about America and its inhabitants: both white, Native American, enslaved black, and animal.

Joseph Smith founds a religion based on the holy book "the Book of Mormon". Because the official name of Smith's new church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was too long for most people to bother saying, the members of this religion were dubbed "Mormons" after their holy book.

British defeated.

The Declaration of Independence signed in Philadelphia

Washington and American troops cross the Delaware River into New Jersey. They surprised and captured ~1,000 Hessians.

He offered his service to the American cause at his own cost and without pay.

The Americans spend the winter at Valley Forge, PA.

He takes over the position from Sir William Howe.

Last major battle of the Revolutionary War. The War was technically over but there were small "skirmishes" for two more years, until 1783.

Peace agreement between the US and Britain signed in Paris, France.

Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, led ~1200 Massachusetts farmers, angry about high taxes that forced them to give up their homes and farms, in marching on a MA court. The latter was forced to adjourn. Shays' Rebellion made many people aware of the need for the Articles of Confederation to be revised.

The French Revolution was inspired by the successful American Revolution.

The Bastille, a prison in which political prisoners and enemies of the king were jailed, was stormed by angry citizens. This event marks the beginning of the French Revolution.

Congress passes the Alien and Sedition Acts in response to the large number of French immigrants fleeing Europe due to the conflict between France and England. The 3 Alien Acts made it difficult for foreigners to become US citizens and gave the president the power to throw anyone he thought to be dangerous out of the country. The Sedition Act made it a crime to criticize the government.

William Henry Harrison defeats the Shawnee Tribe, led by Tenskwatawa (known as the Prophet) at Tippecanoe. This battle ended any hope of a united Indian nation that could forge a peace between the Native Americans and the whites.

The War of 1812, often considered the "2nd Revolution" resolved remaining issues between Great Britain and the US. No land/territory was exchanged in this US victory.

Tecumseh (also known as Teckamthi), the Native American leader who attempted (in vain) to unite the Indian tribes in order for them to be treated fairly and equally by the white settlers is killed in battle fighting for the British against the Americans.

Andrew Jackson, who would become the 7th president of the US, defeats Creek Indians (known as the "Red Sticks") at the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River. Fighting on the side of the US were the "White Sticks", a group of Creek Indians who liked American ways and were rivals of the Red Sticks, who wanted to keep their Indian ways.

Mexico, 3 years after rebelling against Spanish rule and becoming independent, approves a constitution and forms a republic. Unfortunately, very soon thereafter Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna named himself dictator. General Santa Anna ignored many of the freedoms the constitution had promised.

A group of Americans led by Sam Houston attacked Mexican general/dictator Santa Anna and his troops at San Jacinto (near present day Houston, Texas). They captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign a treaty that made Texas an independent nation. Sam Houston was elected president of the new Republic of Texas, which had its own flag.

General/dictator Santa Anna marched toward Texas with an army of more than 3,000 men. He was determined to send the Americans back to the U.S., and even more so after American rebels attacked San Antonio in 1835. A group of less than 200 Americans gathered in an old, walled San Antonio mission named the "Alamo". They held out for 12 days under siege from Santa Anna's army before the latter broke through the walls of the Alamo and killed all but 3 women and 3 children, who lived to tell the story.

Osceola, a Seminole Indian who strongly resisted his people's relocation out of the land of their ancestors, dies in prison. He was captured under a white flag of truce during the Seminole War, which he helped start.

Sengbe Pieh is captured by illegal slave traders near his village in Sierra Leone, Africa. He and many other blacks were forced to march 3 1/2 days before being chained and loaded onto a slave ship bound for the Spanish colony of Cuba. There, because Spain had outlawed the bringing in of slaves (as the US had as well), he and the other captives were given European names and false identity papers to make it seem as though they had been brought to Cuba before the slave trade was made illegal. Sengbe Pieh (who was now Joseph Cinque), along with 53 other blacks, was purchased by two partners and loaded onto a schooner. Cinque, fearing for his and the other prisoners' safety, picked the lock on the chain around his neck before freeing the others. Using huge sugarcane knives, they organized a mutiny against their captors, killing the ship's captain and taking their "owners" prisoner. Cinque, who wanted to sail back to Africa, was tricked, and the ship arrived in Connecticut. After many court cases, their situation reached the Supreme Court in 1841, where John Quincy Adams helped to defend Cinque and the others. In the end, the Court ruled that the slave traders had captured the blacks illegally, violating the "you can't bring slaves into these countries" law, and so they were free.

The Mexican-American War bloomed in part out of a struggle over the Texas-Mexican border. While some were in favor of the war - in part because of the idea of Manifest Destiny - others, like Fredrick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and Henry David Thoreau considered it an unnecessary war and said that the US was being a bully. The U.S. won the war, and the Texas-Mexico border was set at the Rio Grande River. In addition, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, gave the U.S. California - which included land stretching from Texas to California and beyond.

Benjamin Franklin, the man who was to become a noted author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat, as well as one of the Founding Fathers of the US, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

The man who would become the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary War, one of the most influential Founding Fathers, and the first US president is born near present day Colonial Beach, Virginia.

John Adams, the Founding Father, statesman, diplomat, and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain who would become the first vice-president and second president of the United States, is born in in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts (then called the "north precinct" of Braintree, Massachusetts).

Thomas Jefferson, the man who would become an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States (among many other accomplishments) is born in Virginia.

James Madison, the man who would become an American statesman and political theorist, the fourth President of the United States, the “Father of the Constitution”, and the co-founder (with T. Jefferson) of the Democratic-Republican Party, among other accomplishments, is born in Virginia.

Alexander Hamilton, the man who would become a Founding Father of the United States, Revolutionary War hero, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury is born in Charlestown, the capital of the island of Nevis (one of the British West Indies).

Andrew Jackson became an army general and as such defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814), and the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815). He was the 7th President of the US and the creator of the modern Democratic Party, among other accomplishments. He was born in a log cabin on the border between North and South Carolina.

John Quincy Adams, the man who would become the sixth President of the US, the 8th United States Secretary of State, an American diplomat, senator, and congressional representative, among other accomplishments, is born in Massachusetts.

John Hanson becomes President of Congress under the Articles of Confederation, and therefore, the first US president.

Benjamin Franklin, a noted author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat, as well as one of the Founding Fathers of the US, dies at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, at age 84.

George Washington, former Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, and the first US president, dies at his home: Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father of the United States, Revolutionary War hero, economist, political philosopher, one of America’s first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury is shot and killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in New York.

John Adams, a Founding Father, statesman, diplomat, and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain who became the first vice-president and second president of the United States, dies at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Thomas Jefferson, an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States (among many other accomplishments) dies at his home in Virginia.

James Madison, an American statesman and political theorist, the fourth President of the United States, the “Father of the Constitution”, and the co-founder (with T. Jefferson) of the Democratic-Republican Party, among other accomplishments, dies at his plantation in Virginia.

Andrew Jackson, was an army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814), and the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815). He was the 7th President of the US and the creator of the modern Democratic Party, among other accomplishments. Jackson died at his home, The Hermitage, in Tennessee.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the US, the 8th United States Secretary of State, an American diplomat, senator, and congressional representative, among other accomplishments, dies in the Speaker's Room inside the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

Legendary politicians and orators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster died in 1852. While they were political opponents (most all of the time), these two masterminds of Congress were both extremely patriotic and wanted only the best for their country. Both served many terms in various political offices, including Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Representative. For some famous historical events/laws these two were responsible for, check out the Missouri Compromise (1820), the Great Debate (1830) and the Compromise of 1850 -- Clay played a major role in this -- (1850).