American History Blogmanac: Today In American History

Spotlight: President James Monroe’s Cabinet — 1817

Daniel D. Tompkins — Vice President
John Quincy Adams — Secretary of State
William H. Crawford — Secretary of the Treasury
John C. Calhoun — Secretary of War
Benjamin W. Crowninshield — Secretary of the Navy (1817–1818)
Smith Thompson — Secretary of the Navy (1819–1823)
Samuel L. Southard — Secretary of the Navy (1823–1825)
Richard Rush — Attorney General (1817)
William Wirt — Attorney General (1817–1825)
Return J. Meigs, Jr. — Postmaster General (1817–1823)
John McLean — Postmaster General (1823–1825)

About Our Header

The 1823 map of the United States above in our header is an interesting reflection of the time. It was engraved and distributed in 1823 by Sidney E. Morse, A.M. New-Haven: engraved and published by N. & S.S. Jocelyn. At this time in our history it has been three years since the Compromise of 1820 which is already beginning to buckle under the strain over the issue of slavery. It also reflects an issue overshadowed by the slavery issue: the dispute over the Oregon Territory and the existing border dispute for the territory claimed by the U.S. This dispute between the U.S and the United Kingdom would not be resolved until 1848 when clear and agreed upon boundaries would be reflected in all maps issued afterwards.

April Notable American Birthdays

Washington Irving — April 3, 1783
Maya Angelou — April 4, 1928
Dorothea Dix — April 4, 1802
Billie Holiday — April 7, 1915
Percy Julian — April 11, 1899
Gifford Pinchot — April 11, 1865
Winfield Scott — April 13, 1786
Thornton Wilder — April 17, 1897
Jane Addams — April 21, 1860
Ella Fitzgerald — April 25, 1917
Tennessee Williams — April 26, 1911
George Dewey — April 26, 1837
Coretta Scott King — April 27, 1927
William T. Sherman — April 27, 1820
Samuel F. B. Morse — April 27, 1791
Duke Ellington — April 29, 1899

April Inventions & Innovations — U.S. History

April 10, 1790 — Congress passes the first U.S. Patent Act, establishing the American patent system.
April 1, 1826 — Samuel Morey patents an early internal combustion engine, decades before the automobile.
April 3, 1885 — U.S. patent issued for a compact gasoline engine that influenced early automotive design.
April 14, 1896 — Thomas Armat receives the first U.S. patent for a movie projector (the Vitascope).
April 15, 1912 — Patent granted for an early electric traffic signal, precursor to the modern stoplight.
April 16, 1923 — Patents issued for sound‑on‑film technology, enabling synchronized audio in movies.
April 25, 1961 — Robert Noyce receives the U.S. patent for the integrated circuit, foundation of modern computing.
April 26, 1977 — Patent issued for fiber‑optic communication systems, paving the way for high‑speed internet.
April 29, 1992 — U.S. patent granted for the JPEG digital image compression standard.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Today In American History

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