Today
1742
Today in History
James Wilson is born
James Wilson was born on September 14, 1742. 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 personDaily moments from the American past
Browse the archive by month to see the people, decisions, and documents tied to each date.
Archive month
September
30 entries
September 1, 1838
William Clark dies
William Clark died on September 1, 1838. 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 personSeptember 2, 1789
Treasury Department is established
On September 2, 1789, Congress established the Department of the Treasury. The new department gave the federal government permanent machinery to manage revenue, debt, and national finance. It became central to Alexander Hamilton's program for building the credit and authority of the republic.
September 3, 1783
Treaty of Paris ends war
On September 3, 1783, Treaty of Paris ends war; Britain recognizes U.S. independence. Treaty of Paris ends war; Britain recognizes U.S.
View the related eventSeptember 4, 1781
Los Angeles is founded
On September 4, 1781, Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles. The small colonial settlement later grew into one of the most important cities in the United States. Its founding marked a durable expansion of European and later American settlement on the Pacific coast.
September 5, 1774
First Continental Congress meets
On September 5, 1774, delegates from twelve colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress. They coordinated resistance to the Coercive Acts and began speaking in the language of colonial rights and union. The meeting created a framework for common political action before independence.
View the related eventSeptember 6, 1757
Marquis de Lafayette is born
On September 6, 1757, Marquis de Lafayette was born. Lafayette became a major French ally of the American Revolution and served beside George Washington in the Continental Army. His role at Yorktown helped tie French intervention directly to the war's decisive campaign.
View the related personSeptember 7, 1863
Union forces capture Fort Wagner
On September 7, 1863, Union forces under Quincy A. Gillmore captured Fort Wagner on Morris Island after a long siege. Confederate troops withdrew after weeks of bombardment and heavy fighting that had included the famous assault by the 54th Massachusetts. The fall of the fort strengthened Union pressure on Charleston and highlighted the growing combat role of Black soldiers in the Civil War.
September 8, 1664
English seize New Netherland
On September 8, 1664, Dutch authorities surrendered New Netherland to the English, and New Amsterdam soon became New York. The transfer reshaped control of the Atlantic seaboard and placed a crucial harbor under English rule. That change had lasting consequences for commerce, empire, and the later development of the United States.
View the related eventSeptember 9, 1774
Suffolk Resolves call for resistance
On September 9, 1774, Massachusetts patriots adopted the Suffolk Resolves and urged resistance to the Coercive Acts. The resolves encouraged militia preparation and refusal to obey what colonists saw as unconstitutional measures. When the Continental Congress endorsed them, colonial opposition took on a more organized and militant form.
View the related eventSeptember 10, 1935
Huey Long dies
Huey Long died on September 10, 1935. 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 personSeptember 11, 1786
Annapolis Convention opens
On September 11, 1786, delegates from several states met at Annapolis to discuss commercial problems under the Articles of Confederation. The turnout was too small for broad action, but the delegates issued a call for a wider convention in Philadelphia. That recommendation led directly to the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
View the related eventSeptember 12, 1813
Edmund Randolph dies
Edmund Randolph died on September 12, 1813. 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 personSeptember 13, 1860
John Pershing is born
On September 13, 1860, John Pershing was born. Pershing later commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and became General of the Armies. His leadership helped transform the United States from a late entrant into a decisive participant in the European war.
View the related personSeptember 14, 1742
James Wilson is born
James Wilson was born on September 14, 1742. 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 personSeptember 15, 1815
Richard Bassett dies
Richard Bassett died on September 15, 1815. Richard Bassett was an American politician, attorney, slave owner and later abolitionist, veteran of the American Revolution, signer of the United States Constitution, and one of the Founding Fathers of America. As one of Delaware's delegates at Philadelphia, Richard helped move Delaware into the ratification struggle that created the new federal government in 1787 and 1788.
View the related personSeptember 16, 1736
Carter Braxton is born
Carter Braxton was born on September 16, 1736. Carter Braxton was a Founding Father of the United States, signer of the Declaration of Independence, merchant, and Virginia planter. As one of Virginia's delegates, Carter helped tie Virginia to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and to the new republican order that followed.
View the related personSeptember 17, 1787
United States Constitution signed
On September 17, 1787, U.S. Constitution signed. In addition to signatures, this endorsement, the Constitution's closing protocol, included a brief declaration that the delegates' work has been successfully completed and that those whose signatures appear on it subscribe to the final document.
View the related eventSeptember 18, 2020
Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020. Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's service influenced how Americans understood federal law, constitutional limits, and judicial authority.
View the related personSeptember 19, 1737
Charles Carroll of Carrollton is born
Charles Carroll of Carrollton was born on September 19, 1737, into one of Maryland's most prominent Catholic families. In 1776 he joined the Continental Congress and became the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. He later served in the Maryland senate and the first U.S. Senate, linking revolutionary leadership to the early federal government.
View the related personSeptember 20, 1820
Richard Spaight Donnell is born
On September 20, 1820, Richard Spaight Donnell was born. Donnell later served as a North Carolina congressman in the years before the Civil War. His career tied eastern North Carolina politics to the sectional realignments of the 1840s and 1850s.
September 21, 1737
Francis Hopkinson is born
Francis Hopkinson was born on September 21, 1737. Francis Hopkinson was an American Founding Father, lawyer, jurist, author, and composer. As one of New Jersey's delegates, Francis helped tie New Jersey to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and to the new republican order that followed.
View the related personSeptember 22, 1862
Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation after Antietam. The order warned that enslaved people in areas still in rebellion would be declared free on January 1 if the Confederacy did not return to the Union. It transformed the Civil War into a struggle over slavery as well as national survival.
September 23, 1780
Benedict Arnold's treason is exposed
On September 23, 1780, patriot forces captured Major John Andre and uncovered Benedict Arnold's plan to surrender West Point to the British. Arnold escaped to British lines, but the fort remained in American hands. The exposure of the plot preserved a vital Hudson River position and became one of the Revolution's starkest lessons in loyalty and betrayal.
View the related eventSeptember 24, 1755
John Marshall is born
John Marshall was born on September 24, 1755. John Marshall was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. Marshall's public record became attached to specific institutions, arguments, and events that extended beyond a single moment.
View the related personSeptember 25, 1789
Congress sends the Bill of Rights to the states
On September 25, 1789, Congress approved twelve constitutional amendments and sent them to the states. James Madison guided the package to answer Anti-Federalist demands for explicit safeguards of liberty. Ten of those amendments became the Bill of Rights and defined limits on federal power.
September 26, 1777
British capture Philadelphia
On September 26, 1777, British forces entered Philadelphia, then the seat of the Continental Congress. Congress had already fled, but the occupation delivered a symbolic blow to the patriot cause. The loss underscored the war's danger while also showing that holding a city was not the same as crushing the American rebellion.
View the related eventSeptember 27, 1722
Samuel Adams is born
Samuel Adams was born on September 27, 1722. Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father. Samuel Adams helped build the Committees of Correspondence and the machinery of organized resistance in Massachusetts.
View the related personSeptember 28, 1781
Siege of Yorktown begins
On September 28, 1781, American and French forces began the formal siege of Yorktown. Washington, Rochambeau, and French naval power trapped Cornwallis and tightened the allied lines around the British position. The siege led to the surrender that effectively ended major fighting in the Revolution.
View the related eventSeptember 29, 1901
Enrico Fermi is born
Enrico Fermi was born on September 29, 1901. Enrico Fermi was an Italian–American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project. Fermi led the first controlled nuclear chain reaction at Chicago Pile-1 in 1942, a decisive step in the Manhattan Project.
View the related personSeptember 30, 1846
Ether anesthesia is publicly demonstrated
On September 30, 1846, dentist William T. G. Morton publicly demonstrated ether anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital. The successful use of ether changed surgery by making major operations far more bearable and more feasible. The breakthrough became one of the great American contributions to modern medicine.