Act of Union: Did you mean...?

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) was an American lawyer and statesman, one of the key political figures of the Antebellum Era. Initially a nationalist, Calhoun spent his early career trying to strengthen and modernize the federal government, but...

John Hancock (1737-1793) was a merchant, politician, and Founding Father of the United States, who helped lead the Patriot movement during the American Revolution (1765-1789). He served as president of the Second Continental Congress from...

Marbury v. Madison (1803) was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that established the principle of judicial review. In the decision, written by Chief Justice John Marshall, the court struck down a congressional statute...

The British East India Company (1600-1874) was the largest and most successful private enterprise ever created. All-powerful wherever it colonised, the EIC's use of its own private army and increasing territorial control, particularly in...

Martin Luther's 95 Theses, credited with sparking the Protestant Reformation in Europe, have become a cultural touchstone since he posted them 31 October 1517, but the little-known 97 Theses, posted only a month earlier, are equally significant...

The American Revolution (c. 1765-1789) was a definitive event in Western history that saw the emergence of the United States and helped spawn additional waves of revolutions and societal upheavals on both sides of the Atlantic. Though the...

The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation of the "Five Civilized Tribes" – Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole – from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern region of the United States to "Indian Territory" (modern-day...

The celebration of Juneteenth – originally known as "Freedom Day" – began on 1 January 1866 in Texas and, since then, a number of myths have grown up around the event it commemorates: the issuance of General Order No. 3 in Galveston Texas...

George Washington's Farewell Address was published in a Philadelphia newspaper on 19 September 1796, near the end of his second and final presidential term. In it, Washington explains his reasoning for not seeking a third term and warns his...

The Battle of Yellow Tavern (11 May 1864) was a pivotal engagement of the American Civil War (1861-1865), not so much for any grand strategic reason than for the loss of Major General J. E. B. Stuart, the famed Confederate cavalry commander...