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Declaration of Independence signed
The Declaration of Independence was a document created by the thirteen American colonies to free themselves from the British Empire. -
Articles of Confederation ratified
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States of America and legally established the union of the states. The Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the Articles in June 1776 and sent the draft to the states for ratification in November 1777. -
Constitution ratified
The Constitution is the supreme law of the United States. It provides the framework for the govenment of the United States. On this day it was ratified by the thirteen colonies. -
Marbury vs. Madison
Marbury v. Madison is a landmark case in United States law. It formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. -
McCulloch v. Maryland
McCulloch v. Maryland was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. The court ruled in favor of McCulloch -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was an unannounced military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It resulted in the United States entry into World War II. -
Mapp v. Ohio
Mapp v. Ohio was a landmark case in criminal procedure, in which the United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures," may not be used in criminal prosecutions in state courts, as well as federal courts. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a joint resolution passed in response to two alleged minor naval skirmishes off the coast of North Vietnam between U.S. destroyers and Vietnamese torpedo ships from the North -
Lemon v. Kurtzman
Lemon v. Kurtzman was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Pennsylvania's 1968 Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which allowed the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to reimburse nonpublic schools for teachers' salaries who taught secular material in these nonpublic schools, secular textbooks and secular instructional materials, violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. -
New Jersey v. TLO
New Jersey v. T. L. O. was a case appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1984, involving the search of a high school student for contraband after she was caught smoking. She was charged as a juvenile for the drugs and paraphernalia found in the search. She fought the search, claiming it violated her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, held that the search was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. -
Iraq War Resolution passed
The Iraq War Resolution is a joint resolution passed by the United States authorizing the War against Iraq. This resolution was passed by President George W. Bush.
