Today
1749
Today in History
Thomas Lynch Jr. is born
Thomas Lynch Jr. was born on August 5, 1749. As one of South Carolina's delegates, Thomas helped tie South Carolina to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and to the new republican order that followed.
View the related personDaily moments from the American past
Browse the archive by month to see the people, decisions, and documents tied to each date.
Archive month
August
31 entries
August 1, 1770
William Clark is born
William Clark was born on August 1, 1770. William Clark was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. Clark helped lead the Corps of Discovery across the Louisiana Purchase and on to the Pacific, giving the federal government maps, reports, and diplomatic contacts in the West.
View the related personAugust 2, 1923
Warren G. Harding dies
Warren G. Harding died on August 2, 1923. Harding signed the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which created the Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office.
View the related personAugust 3, 1755
Nicholas Gilman is born
Nicholas Gilman was born on August 3, 1755. Nicholas Gilman Jr. As one of New Hampshire's delegates at Philadelphia, Nicholas helped move New Hampshire into the ratification struggle that created the new federal government in 1787 and 1788.
View the related personAugust 4, 1821
William Floyd dies
William Floyd died on August 4, 1821. William Floyd was an American Founding Father, wealthy farmer, and political leader from New York. As one of New York's delegates, William helped tie New York to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and to the new republican order that followed.
View the related personAugust 5, 1749
Thomas Lynch Jr. is born
Thomas Lynch Jr. was born on August 5, 1749. As one of South Carolina's delegates, Thomas helped tie South Carolina to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and to the new republican order that followed.
View the related personAugust 6, 1777
Battle of Oriskany
On August 6, 1777, patriot militia and Loyalist-aligned forces fought the bloody Battle of Oriskany in the Mohawk Valley. The clash became one of the fiercest engagements of the Saratoga campaign. It helped frustrate British strategy in New York and contributed to the wider American success that year.
August 7, 1742
Nathanael Greene is born
On August 7, 1742, Nathanael Greene was born. Greene became George Washington's most effective field commander in the southern campaign of the Revolutionary War. His strategy of attrition helped wear down British forces and set the conditions for the Yorktown campaign.
View the related personAugust 8, 1846
Wilmot Proviso is introduced
On August 8, 1846, Representative David Wilmot introduced a proviso to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico. The measure failed, but it ignited intense sectional debate over the future of the western lands. That debate became a major step on the road to the Civil War.
August 9, 1842
Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed
On August 9, 1842, the United States and Great Britain signed the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. Daniel Webster helped settle a set of northeastern border disputes and eased tensions between the two countries. The treaty improved diplomatic stability at a moment when American expansion and British power still collided along the continent's edges.
August 10, 1753
Edmund Randolph is born
Edmund Randolph was born on August 10, 1753. Edmund Jennings Randolph was an American Founding Father, attorney, and the seventh Governor of Virginia. Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan at Philadelphia, setting the convention on the path toward a stronger national government.
View the related personAugust 11, 1950
Steve Wozniak is born
Steve Wozniak was born on August 11, 1950. Stephen Gary Wozniak, also known by his nickname Woz, is an American technology entrepreneur, electrical engineer, computer programmer, and inventor. Steve Wozniak's work changed American technology, commerce, and the country's confidence in innovation.
August 12, 1851
Isaac Singer receives a patent for an improved sewing machine
On August 12, 1851, Isaac Singer received a patent for an improved sewing machine. His design helped move garment production from scattered hand labor toward mechanized manufacturing. The machine contributed to industrial growth and changed both factory work and household production in the United States.
August 13, 1898
Battle of Manila
On August 13, 1898, U.S. forces captured Manila from Spain in a staged but consequential battle at the end of the Spanish-American War. American commanders and Spanish officials coordinated the surrender while excluding Filipino insurgent forces from the city. The result transferred control of the colonial capital and deepened the United States' turn toward overseas empire.
August 14, 1848
Oregon Territory is organized
On August 14, 1848, Congress created the Oregon Territory. The law gave federal structure to a vast region of the Pacific Northwest after earlier joint occupation arrangements with Britain ended. Territorial organization pushed American authority farther west and prepared the way for later statehood.
August 15, 1924
Phyllis Schlafly is born
Phyllis Schlafly was born on August 15, 1924. Phyllis Stewart Schlafly was an American attorney and activist who was nationally prominent in conservatism. Schlafly's public record became attached to specific institutions, arguments, and events that extended beyond a single moment.
View the related personAugust 16, 1780
Battle of Camden
On August 16, 1780, British forces under Charles Cornwallis defeated Horatio Gates near Camden, South Carolina. The American loss exposed the weakness of patriot forces in the South and cost Congress one of its most celebrated generals. The setback helped set the stage for the later southern campaign reforms under Nathanael Greene.
View the related eventAugust 17, 1786
Davy Crockett is born
Davy Crockett was born on August 17, 1786. David Crockett was an American politician, militia officer and frontiersman. Crockett's death at the Alamo made him a national symbol of frontier courage and Texan resistance to Mexico.
View the related personAugust 18, 1774
Meriwether Lewis is born
Meriwether Lewis was born on August 18, 1774. Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Lewis helped lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition across the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific, gathering maps, scientific observations, and diplomatic contacts along the way.
View the related personAugust 19, 1946
Bill Clinton is born
Bill Clinton was born on August 19, 1946. William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Clinton signed the welfare reform law of 1996 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, measures that defined the politics of the post-Cold War center.
August 20, 1619
First recorded Africans arrive in English Virginia
On August 20, 1619, a ship carrying captive Africans reached Point Comfort in Virginia. Their arrival marked the beginning of a system of racial slavery that would expand through English America. The contradiction between slavery and liberty became one of the central moral and constitutional struggles in American history.
View the related eventAugust 21, 1798
James Wilson dies
James Wilson died on August 21, 1798. James Wilson was a Scottish American Founding Father, legal scholar, jurist, and statesman who served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 1798. The Declaration of Independence that James Wilson supported announced American sovereignty in the language of natural rights.
View the related personAugust 22, 1787
Convention approves the slave trade compromise
On August 22, 1787, delegates at Philadelphia accepted the bargain that barred Congress from ending the Atlantic slave trade before 1808. The compromise helped hold the convention coalition together, but it did so by preserving slavery in national law. That decision left a deep constitutional wound that later generations would have to confront.
View the related eventAugust 23, 1785
Oliver Hazard Perry is born
Oliver Hazard Perry was born on August 23, 1785. Oliver Hazard Perry was a United States Navy officer from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Perry's public record became attached to specific institutions, arguments, and events that extended beyond a single moment.
View the related personAugust 24, 1814
British forces burn Washington
On August 24, 1814, British troops entered Washington and burned major public buildings, including the Capitol and the President's House. The raid answered earlier American actions in Canada and exposed how vulnerable the young republic remained in wartime. The attack shocked the nation but also hardened American resolve in the War of 1812.
August 25, 2012
Neil Armstrong dies
On August 25, 2012, Neil Armstrong died. Armstrong had become the first person to walk on the Moon during Apollo 11 in 1969. That achievement made him one of the central public faces of the American space program and Cold War technological competition.
View the related personAugust 26, 1811
Thomas Fitzsimons dies
Thomas Fitzsimons died on August 26, 1811. Thomas Fitzsimons was an Irish-born American Founding Father, merchant, banker, and politician. As one of Pennsylvania's delegates at Philadelphia, Thomas helped move Pennsylvania into the ratification struggle that created the new federal government in 1787 and 1788.
View the related personAugust 27, 1776
Battle of Long Island
On August 27, 1776, British and Hessian troops defeated Washington's army on Long Island. The Americans lost the field but escaped destruction when Washington withdrew across the East River. The battle showed the scale of British power and the importance of preserving the Continental Army for a long war.
View the related eventAugust 28, 1830
Tom Thumb races a horse-drawn car
On August 28, 1830, Peter Cooper's steam locomotive Tom Thumb made its famous trial run on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Though it lost its celebrated race after a mechanical problem, the demonstration showed the future of rail transportation. The event symbolized the coming transportation revolution in the United States.
August 29, 1765
George Read is born
George Read was born on August 29, 1765. George Read Jr. The Declaration of Independence that George Read supported announced American sovereignty in the language of natural rights.
View the related personAugust 30, 1893
Huey Long is born
Huey Long was born on August 30, 1893. Huey Pierce Long Jr., nicknamed "The Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. Long's Share Our Wealth movement pressed the New Deal from the populist left and forced Roosevelt to answer demands for more aggressive redistribution.
View the related personAugust 31, 1886
Charleston earthquake strikes South Carolina
On August 31, 1886, a major earthquake struck Charleston, South Carolina. The shock killed residents, damaged thousands of buildings, and drew relief efforts from across the country. It became one of the most destructive natural disasters in American history and a major event in the study of U.S. seismic risk.