1780
André hangs at Tappan; he placed the noose himself
Washington denied a British officer's last request to die by firing squad as a soldier.
1789
Twelve amendments leave Washington's desk, bound for thirteen statehouses
The President forwards a resolution of twelve amendments; only ten will survive to become the Bill of Rights.
1864Member story · 1776 Club
Confederates hold the Saltville saltworks; wounded Union prisoners are murdered after the battle
Black cavalrymen who surrendered or lay wounded on the field were shot where they fell.
1919Member story · 1776 Club
A stroke fells Wilson in the White House; the President is left unable to govern
Seven days after collapsing in Pueblo, Colorado, Wilson is paralyzed and largely cut off from his own government.
1967Member story · 1776 Club
Thurgood Marshall takes the judicial oath; the Supreme Court has its first Black justice
Five weeks after a 69-11 Senate vote, the nation's leading civil rights lawyer puts on the robe.
1980
The House votes 376 to 30 to expel Michael Myers; no member has left this way since the Civil War
Caught on FBI tape taking a $50,000 bribe, the Pennsylvania Democrat becomes the first lawmaker expelled from Congress in more than a century.