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George Washington led the U.S. to victory in the American Revolutionary War.
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President Washington signs a bill into law that directed the federal government to assume the Revolutionary War debts of the states.
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George established the first presidential cabinet of advisors and began the tradition of having a cabinet of advisors.
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Washington called for the creation of an official Bank of the United States. After a hard-won approval by Congress, Washington signs the bill
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President Washington issues a proclamation of neutrality, warning Americans to avoid aiding either side in the emerging conflict between Britain and revolutionary France.
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The three-man American peace commission is received coolly and then asked to pay a bribe to speak with French Foreign Minister Charles Maurice Talleyrand. This episode becomes known as the “XYZ Affair.”
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Congress approved the first of four acts that collectively became known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These four acts became the most bitterly contested domestic issue during the presidency of John Adams.
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Congress passes and Adams signs the Federal Bankruptcy Act into law, providing merchants and traders protection from debtors.
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A resolution is passed and eventually signed by President Adams calling for the establishment of a Library of Congress.
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Congress passes an act dividing the Northwest Territory into two parts, with the border between them running north from the junction of the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers. The western part of the territory will be known as the Indiana Territory while the eastern half will retain the name Northwest Territory.
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Yusuf Karamini, pasha of Tripoli, declares war on the United States by symbolically cutting down the flagpole at the U.S. consulate. This action came after the United States refused to pay more tribute to the Tripolitans in exchange for protection from piracy against American ships.
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President Jefferson signs the Enabling Act, establishing procedures under which territories organized under the Ordinance of 1787 can become a state. The law effectively authorizes the people of Ohio territory to hold a convention and frame a constitution.
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Captain Meriwether Lewis, formerly Jefferson's personal secretary, sets out from Pittsburgh to begin an expedition of the newly acquired western territory of the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis will pick up Captain William Clark to serve as co-leader of the trip early in the next year. Jefferson sponsored the journey out of personal scientific curiosity and concern for the economic and political security of the western United States.
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The United States and Tripoli sign a Treaty of Peace and Amity in Tripoli, effectively ending the Tripolitan War.
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Congress authorizes a commission to build a national road from Cumberland, Maryland, to the Ohio River.
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Under the terms of Macon's Bill Number 2, Madison accepts a French offer to stop confiscation of American supplies and ships. he declares a halt in trade with Britain unless the Orders are repealed. Undeterred, Britain vows to continue to seize American ships until France ends its trade restrictions.
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Under the command of Andrew Jackson, 2,000 troops defeat the Creek Confederation at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in the Tallapoosa River, eliminating the Confederation as an obstacle to American expansion toward the Gulf Coast. The engagement is one of the most significant American victories in the War of 1812, providing the United States with two-thirds of Creek land in the Treaty of Fort Jackson.
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With momentum on their side, and in retaliation for the torching of Canadian Parliament buildings, British forces attack and burn Washington, D.C., setting the White House, the Capitol, and other federal buildings ablaze.
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Jackson, leading 4,000 militiamen, citizens, and regular soldiers, wins a resounding victory over 6,000 British forces in the Battle of New Orleans. Many of Jackson's troops are volunteers, among them free blacks and slaves. There are just a dozen American casualties to 2,000 British casualties. Jackson's victory, along with his success against the Creeks, makes him a national hero.
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Madison signs a bill re-chartering a new national bank in Philadelphia. The charter is set for a twenty-one-year term.
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Monroe enunciates a policy of neutrality towards the Latin American colonies seeking independence. He also advocates a controversial fact-finding mission, the Aguirre Mission, to Buenos Aires that could be construed as recognition for the colony's sovereignty.
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Mississippi becomes the twentieth state in the Union.
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Illinois is admitted as the twenty-first state of the Union.
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Monroe signs the Military Establishment Act, forwarded by Secretary of War Calhoun, to reduce the Army's manpower by 40 percent to 6,126 men. The move reflects a shift in national priorities toward commerce and negotiation, and away from intimidation, as the primary tool of foreign policy.
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Monroe signs the Tariff of 1824 into law, implementing protectionist measures in support of local manufactures and goods. Complaints arise in the South with cotton-growers fearful of British retaliation for the increase in price. Northern manufacturers are pleased with the law.
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The first passage on the 363-mile-long Erie Canal is completed from Lake Erie to New York City, linking the Atlantic and trans-Atlantic marketplaces with growing agricultural production in the Northwest states. Construction of the canal began in 1817. During his presidential term, Adams strongly supports national planning of and the use of national funds for an improved transportation infrastructure.
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Military standardization and integration of Union and state militias is a foremost concern during the Adams administration. In response to a proposal by the secretary of war to revamp military organization and seniority systems, a joint House and Senate resolution calls for the production and dispersal of training manuals.
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Under the mediation of Czar Nicholas I, President Adams finalizes a settlement with the British over restitution for damages incurred during the War of 1812, left unresolved by the Treaty of Ghent.
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Adams proclaims all American ports closed to trade with British colonies, suspending disagreements from an era of protracted contention with the British over tariffs, navigation and duties. Adams's declaration embodies his response to a rising Continental cartel of exclusive trading relationships.
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Joel Poinsett accedes to a Mexican boundary settlement on behalf of the United States. This concludes a slew of unsuccessful efforts by Adams to negotiate more favorable borders than the existing Sabine River.
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Congress passes the Indian Removal Act, sanctioning the forcible relocation of Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes to land allotments west of the Mississippi river. Ninety-four removal treaties follow the bill's enactment. From 1835 to 1838, Cherokee and Creek are forcibly removed from the Southeast onto reservations. Nearly one quarter die along what became known as the “Trail of Tears.”
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President Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill that would have renewed the corporate charter for the Second Bank of the United States. It was one of the most definitive acts of his presidency.
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Viewing his reelection as a mandate to continue his war against the Second Bank of the United States, Jackson issues an order for the Treasury Department to withdrawal federal deposits from the Bank of the United States and place them in state banks. When Secretary of the Treasury William Duane refuses, Jackson fires him.
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Jackson announces he will terminate the national debt, freeing the United States of foreign and domestic obligations beyond the reserves of the Treasury.
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Jackson recognizes the independence of Texas but declines to address annexation in light of threats by Mexico and its concerns about security.