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In one of the most famous duels in American history, Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shoots his long-time political antagonist Alexander Hamilton. -
Robert Fulton designed and operated the world's first commercially successful steamboat. Fulton's Clermont made its historic first run in August 1807 on the Hudson River. -
In November 1832 South Carolina adopted the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the tariffs null, void, and nonbinding in the state. U.S. Pres. Andrew Jackson responded in December by issuing a proclamation that asserted the supremacy of the federal government. -
On September 18, 1838, Douglass settled here in New Bedford after escaping from slavery in Maryland, with the help of his soon-to-be wife, Anna Murray. It was in New Bedford where Douglass experienced, for the first time, what it was like to live as a free man. His abolitionist identity started to take shape. -
In the Presidential election, Whig General William Henry Harrison defeated Democratic President Martin Van Buren.[3] Harrison won by a margin of 5% in the popular vote, but dominated the electoral college. -
Joseph Smith dies after an anti-Mormon lynch mob storms the jail he was imprisoned in and killed him and his brother. -
Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom in the North in 1849 and then risked her life to lead other enslaved people to freedom. -
Know Nothings scored victories in Northern state elections in 1854, winning control of the legislature in Massachusetts and polling 40% of the vote in Pennsylvania. -
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."