US Congress timeline
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Congress Creates The Oregon Territory
On August 14, 1848, Congress created the Oregon Territory, an area encompassing present-day Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and parts of western Montana... Read more
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The Guano Islands Act Is Passed By The U.S. Congress
The Guano Islands Act is federal legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, on August 18, 1856. It enables citizens of the U.S. to take possession of... Read more
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State of the Union Address by President Grover Cleveland
The following is an excert from the State of the Union address related to the US relationship with Hawaii: "I express my unhesitating conviction... Read more
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Annexation of Hawaii by the United States
When William McKinley won the presidential election in November 1896, the question of Hawaii's annexation to the U.S. was again opened. The... Read more
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Jeannette Rankin Elected as the First Woman to Serve in US Congress
Jeannette Rankin was the first woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives and the first female member of the Congress... Read more
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United States Declares War on Germany
DECLARATION OF WAR Public Resolution No. 1 S. J. Res. 1 65th Congress Sixty-fifth Congress of the United States of America; At the First... Read more
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Congress Passes $7,000,000,000 Bond Bill to Carry on the War
First Liberty Loan of $2,000,000,000 Oversubscribed by 4,000,000 Wage Earners Ways and means for carrying on the War were the immediate concern... Read more
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US Congress Appropriates $640,000,000 for Manufacture of Airplanes
The nation voiced its enthusiastic approval when, on July 14, 1917, the Congress voted an appropriation of $640,000,000 for the manufacture of... Read more
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Winston Churchill Addresses A Joint Meeting Of The United States Congress
The date was December 26, 1941. Outside the U.S. Capitol Building, platoons of soldiers and police stood at high alert. Shortly after noon, British... Read more
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John F. Kennedy Elected to Massachusetts' Eleventh Congressional District
After World War II, Kennedy had considered the option of becoming a journalist before deciding to run for political office. Prior to the war, he... Read more
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Charles Van Doren Admits to Cheating on the Game Show Twenty-One
I was involved, deeply involved, in a deception. The fact that I, too, was very much deceived cannot keep me from being the principal victim of... Read more
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Safe Drinking Water Act
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the principal federal law in the United States that ensures safe drinking water for the public. Pursuant to... Read more
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Senator Robert Byrd Elected as Minority Leader
Senator Byrd rose from the hardscrabble hollows of West Virginia to spend 12 years as Senate Democratic leader. He was majority leader from 1977 to... Read more
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The Twenty-seventh Amendment is ratified
The Twenty-seventh Amendment (Amendment XXVII) prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of the Congress from taking... Read more
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Jesse Jackson Jr. Wins 2nd Congressional Seat
Jesse Jackson Jr., the 30-year-old son of the civil rights activist, will bring his famous name to Washington after trouncing Republican Thomas... Read more
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Sonia Sotomayor is Confirmed to the US Court of Appeals
With complete Democratic support, and support from 25 Republican senators including Judiciary chair Orrin Hatch, Sotomayor was confirmed on October... Read more
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Senator Robert Byrd Becomes First Senator to Cast 17,000 Roll Call Votes
A new milestone was reached Thursday in the U.S. Senate, when Sen. Robert Byrd -- already the record holder for casting the most ballots in the... Read more
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CIA Director Leon Panetta Acknowledges that the CIA Misled Congress
CIA Director Leon Panetta told lawmakers in a recent briefing that the intelligence agency he heads misled Congress on "significant actions" for a... Read more
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Shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Following Inclusion on Sarah Palin's 'Hit List'
Giffords, who has been in Congress since 2006 and is Arizona's first Jewish representative, is married to astronaut Mark Kelly. (Click for that... Read more
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Surgeon Optimistic Giffords Will Survive
Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is out of surgery after being shot while hosting a public event today, and a Tucson surgeon said he was... Read more
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Sarah Palin Offers Condolences Following Tucson Shooting
Sarah Palin, who's been taking flak because of a SarahPac map that put Gabrielle Giffords' district in its crosshairs (literally), issued a quick... Read more
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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Off Ventilator for the First Time
Another milestone for Gabrielle Giffords: Doctors today took her off a ventilator for the first time since last week's shooting, reports CNN. They... Read more
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Republican-Controlled House of Representatives Votes to Repeal Health Care Reform Bill
Swiftly honoring a campaign pledge, newly empowered Republicans pushed legislation to repeal the nation’s health care overhaul through the House on... Read more
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First Post-Shooting Images of Gabrielle Giffords Released
The first pictures of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to emerge since a shooting in Tucson nearly took her life five months ago show a smiling face, along... Read more
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US Representative Giffords Released from Hospital
The Arizona congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt earlier this year was released on Wednesday from the hospital where she was... Read more