There shall be initially 410 Mirabilis Members. Mirabilis is latin for miracle.
The Mirabilis Members will each be unique in that they will adopt a year in the great American story beginning with 1607 through to the inaugural year – 2017.
Each year on July 4th the Club will add a new Mirabilis Member for the new year.
“Democratic-Republican” Thomas Jefferson elected President of the United States.
War with the Barbary Pirates began with unprovoked attacks on American merchant ships.
John Marshall became Chief Justice of the United States. He would increase the authority and power of the third branch of government in many ways not anticipated by the founders.
Congress created the United States Military Academy at West Point in Orange County, New York.
The United States purchased New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory, 828,000 square miles, from France for 15 million dollars.
Ohio became the 17th State in the Union
The Corps of Discovery Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, explored the Louisiana Territory, recently acquired from France.
United States Marines attacked the “shores of Tripoli.” First Barbary War ended with Treaty signed by Youssef Karamanli.
Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, the first Americans to cross the continent.
Henry Knox, hero of the Revolutionary War died in Thomaston, Maine.
Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived back in St. Louis, having lost only one man in the two year trek.
Congress passed a law prohibiting the importation of slaves to the United States.
English warship HMS Leopard attacked and boarded American ship the Chesapeake, looking for British deserters. Four Americans killed, 17 wounded.
Robert Morison, first American missionary to China arrived in Guangzhou
American Congress enacted Embargo Act against Britain and France, resulting in economic disaster for the economy.
“Democrat-Republican” James Madison elected 4th President of the United States
Robert Fulton patented the steamboat. Future President Abraham Lincoln born in Kentucky
United States annexes The Republic of West Florida
General William Henry Harrison defeated the Shawnee at the Battle of Tippecanoe.
The United States declared war on Great Britain for impressment of American sailors, Britain’s support of rebellious Indian tribes in the American Midwest, and outrage over insults to national honor.
United States Naval Captain Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British naval squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie. It is the first total defeat of a British naval squadron in history.
British forces burned Washington D. C. but were rebuffed in Baltimore Harbor.
Andrew Jackson fought and won the Battle of New Orleans with a cobbled-together force of regular army, militia, pirates, local volunteers, Indians, and Africans against a superior veteran British army commanded by General Packenham.
“Democrat-Republican James Monroe elected 5th President of the United States and fourth Virginian to hold that office.
President James Madison vetoed the Bonus Bill, though in favor of internal improvements, he saw no warrant in the Constitution to spend federal money on roads, bridges, etc.
General Andrew Jackson led an army into Florida in response to raids in Alabama and Georgia, in the First Seminole War.
Paul Revere and Abigail Adams, died, two stalwarts of the founding of the United States.
The Panic of 1819 created the first serious financial panic of the century.
Spain ceded Florida to the United States in the Adams-Onis Treaty
In order to deflect contention over the expansion of slavery westward, Congress passed the “Missouri Compromise” bill establishing the southern boundary of Missouri as the line between slave and free states.
Mexico permitted Moses Austin to bring 300 American families to settle in Texas; his son Stephen leads the immigrants upon his father’s death the same year.
The first group of freed slaves, under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, arrived in Africa. By 1847 they established the nation of Liberia, with Monrovia as the capitol, and English as the national language. Eventually, 13,000 Americans will settle there, the organization having been supported by John Randolph, Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln and other prominent white men.
President James Monroe stated his foreign policy principles before Congress, a view which will prevail till the end of the century. The policy becomes known as “the Monroe Doctrine” though it was set down by John Quincy Adams.
John Quincy Adams son of former President John Adams elected President of the United States, perhaps the most experienced statesman ever to hold the office.
American Tract Society founded
Scotsman Robert Owen’s utopian colony of New Harmony founded in Indiana. It failed.
Sequoyah’s syllabary adopted by the Cherokee nation
Former Presidents and personal friends, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, die on the Fourth of July in their respective homes in Virginia and Massachusetts.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first to offer commercial transportation for goods and people.
Andrew Jackson elected President of the United States
Noah Webster published the great dictionary that defined American English for many generations and is still in use today.
First gold rush in America occurred in North Georgia. A U. S. Mint was established in the town of Dahlonega.
Joseph Smith of New York published The Book of Mormon, claiming its divine origins. He becomes the founder of the Mormon religion.
Sioux, Fox, and Sauk tribes signed the Treaty of Prairie du Chien, ceding to the United States most of the land that would become Missouri, Minnesota and Iowa.
Bloodiest slave rebellion in American history took place in Southampton County, Virginia when an African American slave and preacher, Nat Turner, and about seventy followers began the systematic murder of white people across the county. Fifty-five whites, men, women, and children were slaughtered. The rebellion was crushed and everyone associated with Turner executed. The rising sent shock waves through the South and emancipation debate ended abruptly in that region.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton died at age 95; the Marylander was the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence.
City of Chicago established by 350 settlers
American Anti-Slavery Society founded by William Garrison and Lewis Tappan. Garrison’s anti-slavery publication The Liberator already had a large and growing readership.
Senator Henry Clay officially named the Anti-Andrew Jackson Party the “Whigs.”
Anti-abolitionist riots occurred in New York City.
Under President Andrew Jackson, the National Debt was paid off for the first and only time in history.
Texas declared independence
Second Seminole War broke out in Florida.
Martin Van Buren elected President of the United States, Andrew Jackson’s hand-picked choice for successor.
The Republic of Texas created after a successful war of secession from Mexico.
Abolitionist printer, Elijah P. Lovejoy, murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, as he tried to protect the destruction of his business for the third time.
Birth of Dwight L. Moody, America’s most famous evangelical evangelist of the second half of the century.
Cherokee tribes from the Carolinas and Georgia forge the “trail of tears” as they are removed to new reservations in Oklahoma Territory.
The Virginia Military Institute was founded in Lexington, Virginia to train young men for military service as officers. The Institute will provide hundreds of graduates to the Confederate army in the War Between the States. One of the professors, General Thomas Jackson will become one of the most famous American officers in history, as will later graduate, George C. Marshall.
War hero and Whig Party President William Henry Harrison elected President; party leader Henry Clay finally in the majority.
President Harrison died and Vice President John Tyler became President. He was a strict constitutionalist and thwarted his own party’s big government plans.
Texas became the 28th State.
Webster-Ashburton Treaty settled the northern boundary dispute with Great Britain, east of the Rockies.
The University of Notre-Dame founded in South Bend, Indiana.
Ulysses .S Grant graduated from West Point, 21st in his class.
Dark horse Democratic Presidential candidate James Polk won the election, made four promises, which included not running for a second term. He accomplished all four and died the same year.
Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith shot to death by a mob while jailed for polygamy and treason.
The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Maryland.
American journalist John L. O’Sullivan mentioned in a newspaper article that the United States has a “manifest destiny” to expand its borders from shore to shore.
The United States went to war with Mexico over Texas boundary disputes.
General Zachery Taylor defeated Mexican Army at Buena Vista though outnumbered three to one. General Winfield Scott captures Vera Cruz.
Samuel Colt sold his first revolver to the United State government.
The war with Mexico ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; the United States acquired California and New Mexico Territories. The War costed about 40,000 lives combined.
California gold rush began with discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill
Mexican War hero General Zachery Taylor inaugurated as 12th President of the United States
The last great legislative battle among the three most politically powerful Senators, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay resulted in “The Compromise of 1850,” barely stalling secession and possibly war, for ten more years.
Vice-President Millard Fillmore became President upon the untimely death of Zachery Taylor.
Great American classic novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville published in serial form.
Blockbuster novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin published by Harriet Beecher Stowe, daughter of anti-slavery preacher Lyman Beecher and sister of seven preachers including abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher and wife of anti-slavery college professor Calvin Stowe. The book was banned in the South but inflamed anti-slavery passions in the North.
Franklin Pierce inaugurated as 14th President with the party slogan of “We Polked them in ’44, We’ll Pierce them in 52.”
Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill applying the principle of “popular sovereignty” to the creation of new states. The unpopular measure led immediately to the creation of the Republican Party, a coalition of Northern Whigs, Free Soil Party, abolitionists, and others.
Ambassador James Gadsden closed the deal with Mexico for another 30,000 square miles to round out the acquisition from the Mexican War.
James Buchanan, “Old Buck,” won the Presidency for the Democrats over the upstart Republican Party, which did remarkably well with the “The Pathfinder,” John C. Fremont.
Bloody civil war raged in Kansas between pro and anti-slavery settlers.
Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts half to death over a public insult to Brooks’ uncle, Senator Butler. Brooks resigned and was accorded a hero’s welcome at home. Sumner recovered to become the foremost Northern leader of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Pro and anti-slavery passions heated to red-hot over the incident.
Abolitionist John Brown and his gang massacre five settlers in Pottawatomie, Kansas.
The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott vs. Sanford decision declared that slaves were not citizens and could not sue in federal court and, therefore, Scott had to remain enslaved though he lived in free territory for a number of years.
Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech in Springfield, Illinois after accepting the Republican nomination to run for Senate against Stephen A. Douglas the “Little Giant” of the United States Senate.
Abolitionist leader and wanted murderer John Brown raided Harpers Ferry, Virginia with his gang in a failed attempt to raise a slave rebellion. After barricading themselves in the fire engine house, the raiders are attacked by a platoon of Marines who kill or capture most of the gang. Brown was charged with treason and hanged by the state of Virginia.
Republican Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States with a minority of the popular vote, and no votes south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
11 Southern States seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America
President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to “suppress the rebellion” and help restore the Union. The War Between the States ensued, usually known as “The Civil War.”
The Battle of First Bull Run ended in Union defeat. It was the first major clash between the opposing amateur armies.
Several major Confederate victories under General Robert E. Lee seemed to indicate the South might win the war, but at great cost in blood and treasure.
President Lincoln added the abolition of slavery as a goal of the Union war effort.
The Fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi to Union General Ulysses S. Grant and the Union victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania together set back the fortunes of the Confederacy.
Overpowering and relentless offensives against the thinning Confederate armies brought huge casualties to both sides, as the war hung in the balance, with the election of the President looming.
The Confederacy falls when General Robert E. Lee surrenders his army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia to General Ulysses Grant, and General Joseph Johnston surrenders his army to William T. Sherman in North Carolina.
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by actor, John Wilkes Booth, and Vice-President, Tennesseean, Andrew Johnson, becomes President.
13th Amendment to the Constitution added, officially freeing the slaves and prohibiting slavery.
The Republican Party moved to impeach President Johnson, but failed conviction by one vote
The Radical Republicans took over the “reconstruction” of the former Confederate States by creating military districts and running the political life at the point of the bayonet.
Secretary of State William H. Seward engineered the purchase of Alaska from Russia for about two cents per acre.
War hero Ulysses S. Grant was elected President of the United States; he served two terms and oversaw a scandal-plagued end, though he himself escaped censure.
14th Amendment to the Constitution added, granting citizenship to former slaves.
The golden spike was driven, and the first transcontinental railroad is completed.
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution ratified, granting freedmen the right to vote.
John D. Rockefeller created the “South Improvement Company” and railroad interests to organize and control the petroleum industry.
The New York Sun breaks the Credit Moblier scandal of the Grant administration.
Modoc Indian War ended with the capture of “Captain Jack” and the Sioux War began when George Custer began the chase with the 7th U.S. Cavalry.
Future President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry born.
Scottish-born engineer, inventor, and scientist Alexander Graham Bell made first sound transmission on his “acoustic telegraph,” secured a patent and eventually invents the telephone.
Republican Governor of Ohio and war hero, Rutherford B. Hayes elected President, though the outcome hung in the balance for several months. A whiff of scandal was in the air as the two parties sat down and worked out the result, with Florida holding the key to the outcome.
Reconstruction of the South is ended.
George Armstrong Custer and several companies of the 7th Cavalry, while chasing Sioux and Cheyanne warriors, bit off more than they could chew and were wiped out at the Little Big Horn River.
Battles with Indians in the Indian wars continue in many places. Crazy Horse is murdered by soldier while in captivity.
Phonograph patented by Thomas Alva Edison of Milam, Ohio.
Thomas Edison demonstrates first practical light bulb.
Mary Baker Eddy founded the “Church of Christ, Scientist” in Boston.
Former Union General and Ohioan James Garfield elected President of the United States, serving less than a year before being assassinated by a disgruntled office-seeker, Charles Guiteau. He is succeeded by Vice-President Chester Arthur.
Author, educator, and orator Booker T. Washington opened the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
The Personal Liberty League was founded to oppose the Temperance Societies. Vermont, Kansas, and Iowa were already “dry.”
First rodeo held in Pecos, Texas
First Steel-wire suspension bridge is opened between Brooklyn and Manhattan, after 13 years of construction.
New York Governor, “Honest Grover” Cleveland elected President on a reform-Democratic ticket. He will be the only Democrat, and the only non-Civil War veteran till 1900, elected to that office between Presidents Grant and Wilson.
The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City, a gift from France; some assembly required.
Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the White House, the only President to do so.
The United States Navy leased Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for naval base.
Republican Benjamin Harrison, Brevet Brigadier General in the Civil War, from Indiana, elected 23rd President.
The Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood kills 2,200 people
The First issue of the Wall Street Journal hits the streets
Sequoia and Yellowstone national Parks created by Congress.
The 7th Cavalry kill more than 150 Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
United Mine Workers Union organized.
Striking workers marching in Chicago turned into Haymarket Riot which results from bomb thrown at police, killing seven. Four anarchists hanged for throwing the dynamite and inciting the riot.
Grover Cleveland became the first and only President to be elected twice in non-concurrent terms.
Carnegie Steel Company launched, producing more steel in one year than in the entire United Kingdom.
Economic panic caused large downturn in economy.
“World’s Fair” in Chicago showcased new inventions, architecture, and industrial arts. One pundit exclaimed that “everything man is capable of inventing has been done!”
Organized by Socialist Eugene V. Debs, national railroad strike of Pullman car operators began in Chicago with 4,000 employees and spread across the country. President Cleveland took national action against the strikers. In the course of the strike thirty were killed and fifty-seven injured and millions of dollars in property were destroyed.
J.P. Morgan and the Rothschilds banks sold the United States government enough gold to survive the depletion in the treasury.
Ohio Republican Civil War hero, William McKinley elected President over populist Democrat candidate William Jennings Bryan, who will be the party nominee two more elections and lose them all.
Klondike gold rush began.
The “yellow journalism” of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst in the United States covered the unrest in Cuba, favorable to the rebels, and agitated for retaliation against Spain
The United States went to war with Spain over oppression in the island of Cuba. The war lasted three months and three weeks at the cost of about 3,000 American and 16,000 Spanish lives, more than 90% of them from disease.
The United States received the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba as a result of the War with Spain.
War with the United States broke out in the Philippines because the U.S. refused to grant independence.
Vice President Garret Hobart died in office, opening the way for a new candidate in the upcoming Presidential election. The reluctant choice will be Spanish-American War hero Theodore Roosevelt.