August 1

1790, the first U.S. census was completed, showing a population of nearly 4 million people.

In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.

In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state.

August 2

1100 -- King William II of England was killed in a hunting accident.

1776, members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

1876, frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, S.D.

August 3

1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, on a voyage that took him to the present-day Americas.

August 4

In 1735, a jury acquitted John Peter Zenger of the New York Weekly Journal of seditious libel.

In 1790, the Coast Guard had its beginnings as the Revenue Cutter Service.

In 1792, English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Field Place, England.

In 1830, plans for the city of Chicago were laid out

In 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Mass. Lizzie Borden, Andrew Borden's daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, but acquitted at trial.

August 5

In 1861, the federal government levied an income tax for the first time.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Admiral David G. Farragut is said to have ordered, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" as he led his fleet against Mobile Bay, Ala.

In 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.

August 6

In 1691, Henry Kelsey claimed the Red River Valley for Britain.

In 1787, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began to debate the articles contained in a draft of the United States Constitution.

In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis I abdicated.

In 1825, Bolivia declared its independence from Peru

In 1890, convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in the electric chair as he was put to death at Auburn State Prison in New York.

August 7

In 1782, George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and non-commissioned officers.

In 1789, the U.S. War Department was established by Congress

August 8

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

In 1876, Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his mimeograph.

August 9

In 1790, the Columbia returned to Boston Harbor after a three-year voyage, becoming the first ship to carry the American flag around the world.

In 1842, the United States and Canada resolved a border dispute by signing the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

In 1848, the Free-Soil Party nominated Martin Van Buren for president at its convention in Buffalo, N.Y.

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau published "Walden," which described his experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

August 10

On Aug. 10, 1846, Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 had made it possible.

In 1809, Ecuador struck its first blow for independence from Spain.

In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.

August 11

In 1884, The boundary between Ontario and Manitoba was settled.

In 1860, the nation's first successful silver mill began operation near Virginia City, Nev.

August 12

On Aug. 12, 1851, Isaac Singer was granted a patent on his sewing machine.

In 1867, President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

In 1898, the peace protocol ending the Spanish-American War was signed.

In 1898, Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States.

August 13

In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured present-day Mexico City from the Aztec Indians.

In 1624, French King Louis XIII named Cardinal Richelieu his first minister.

In 1704, the Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.

In 1846, the American flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles.

August 14

In 1861, Montreal was badly flooded. One quarter of the city was under water.

In 1848, the Oregon Territory was established.

In 1900, international forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.

August 15

In 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica.

August 16

In 1777, American forces won the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington, Vt.

In 1812, Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.

In 1829, the original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, arrived in Boston to be exhibited to the Western world.

In 1858, a telegraphed message from Britain's Queen Victoria to President Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid transatlantic cable.

In 1861, President Lincoln prohibited the states of the Union from trading with the seceding states of the Confederacy.

August 17

On Aug. 17, 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steam Boat began heading up New York's Hudson River on its successful round-trip to Albany.

In 1863, Federal batteries and ships bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor during the Civil War.

In 1896, a prospecting party discovered gold in Alaska, a finding that touched off the Klondike gold rush.

August 18

In 1227, the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan died.

In 1846, U.S. forces led by Gen. Stephen W. Kearney captured Santa Fe, N.M.

In 1894, Congress established the Bureau of Immigration.

August 19

On Aug. 19, 1812, the USS Constitution defeated the British frigate "Guerriere" east of Nova Scotia during the War of 1812.

In 1848, the New York Herald reported the discovery of gold in California.

August 20

In 1833, Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, was born in North Bend, Ohio.

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after the fighting had stopped.

August 21

In 1680, Pueblo Indians took possession of Santa Fe, N.M., after driving out the Spanish.

In 1831, former slave Nat Turner led a violent insurrection in Virginia. (He was later executed.)

In 1858, the famous debates between senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas began.

In 1878, the American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, N.Y.

August 22

Industrialist Ezra Butler Eddy was born in Vermont 174 years ago today, in 1827. E.B. Eddy, who became known as the matchmaker of the world, moved his small friction-match factory from Burlington, Vt., to Hull, Que., in 1851. He expanded, modernized and diversified to produce a variety of wood and paper products. Eddy was elected mayor of Hull six times and was a member of the Quebec legislature for six years. He died in 1906.

On Aug. 22, 1851, the schooner America outraced the Aurora off the English coast to win a trophy that became known as the America's Cup.

In 1485, England's King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending the War of the Roses.

In 1775, King George III of England proclaimed the American colonies in a state of open rebellion.

In 1787, inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates of the Continental Congress.

In 1846, the United States annexed New Mexico.

In 1893, author, poet, critic and wit Dorothy Parker was born in West Bend, N.J.

August 23

1541 -- Explorer Jacques Cartier reached Stadacona (Quebec) on his third trip to Canada.

In 1754, France's King Louis XVI was born at Versailles.

August 24

The British Parliament passed the Constitutional Act 210 years ago today, in 1791, which divided Canada into two provinces, Upper and Lower, each with its own lieutenant-governor and legislature. The act was made necessary with the great influx of United Empire Loyalists after the American Revolution. The English-speaking settlers did not want to live under French law or the Roman Catholic Church.

In A.D. 79, long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash. An estimated 20,000 people died.

In 1572, the slaughter of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics began in Paris.

In 1814, British forces invaded Washington D.C., setting fire to the Capitol and the White House.

August 25

In 1825, Uruguay declared independence from Brazil.

In 1875, Capt. Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, getting from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.

August 26

In 55 B.C., Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain.

In 1847, Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic.

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa began erupting with increasingly large explosions.

August 27

On Aug. 27, 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa blew up; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia's Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

In 1770, German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in Stuttgart.

In 1892, fire seriously damaged New York's original Metropolitan Opera House.

In 1894, Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which contained a provision for a graduated income tax that was later struck down by the Supreme Court.

August 28

In 1609, Henry Hudson discovered Delaware Bay.

In 1749, German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt.

In 1828, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy was born near Tula.

August 29

1883 -- The first Salvation Army service in Canada was held at London, Ont.

In 1533, the last Incan king of Peru, Atahualpa, was murdered on orders from Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro.

In 1632, English philosopher John Locke was born in Somerset.

In 1877, the second president of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young, died in Salt Lake City, Utah.

August 30

On Aug. 30, 1862, Union forces were defeated by the Confederates at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Va.

In 30 B.C. (on Aug. 30, by some estimates), the seventh and most famous queen of ancient Egypt known as Cleopatra committed suicide.

August 31

On Aug. 31, 1887, Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his "kinetoscope," a device which produced moving pictures.

In 1886, an earthquake rocked Charleston, S.C., killing up to 110 people.

In 1888, Mary Ann Nicholls was found murdered in London's East End in what is generally regarded as the first slaying committed by Jack the Ripper.