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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250thOn this day › August 4
What happened on August 4 in American history
August 4 is the 216th day of the year (the 217th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 6 stories from August 4 spanning 1790 to 2007. Among them: in 1790, Washington signs duties on rum, molasses and tea to pay the nation's debts; and in 1814, British storm Fort Erie in the dark; a bastion explodes and the attack collapses.
1790
Washington signs duties on rum, molasses and tea to pay the nation's debts
Days later, Congress quietly arms ten small ships to make sure the money actually gets collected.
1814
British storm Fort Erie in the dark; a bastion explodes and the attack collapses
A blast in the northeast bastion killed roughly 250 attackers in seconds, and the siege dragged on for weeks after.
1964Member story · 1776 Club
Destroyers report attack in the Gulf of Tonkin; no one ever sees an enemy boat
Two nights after a real firefight, Maddox and Turner Joy shoot at radar ghosts in heavy seas.
1969Member story · 1776 Club
In a Paris apartment, Kissinger opens back-channel talks with Hanoi's envoy
The public negotiators keep arguing over table shapes while a quieter conversation starts down the hall.
1977
Carter signs the Department of Energy into law
Four scattered energy agencies become one cabinet department, built to answer the 1973 oil crisis.
2007Member story · 1776 Club
A university, not NASA, leads a Mars lander off the pad at Cape Canaveral
The Phoenix spacecraft, built from a canceled lander pulled out of storage, is bound for ice under the Martian arctic soil.
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