United States Historical Events is a daily guide to the important events that shaped America to what it is today. This is a compilation of significant events for the month of April including the birth and death of famous Americans as well as laws promulgated by authorities. The list is constantly updated to incorporate the most recent events.
United States Historical Events in April
| Day | Year | Event |
| 1 | 1778 | Oliver Pollack invents the dollar sign $. |
| 1 | 1976 | Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne organized Apple Computer Company to produce and market Apple I personal computer. It was later renamed Apple, Inc., now one the biggest technology companies in the world. |
| 2 | 1792 | Congress passes the Coinage Act and the United States Mint is born. |
| 2 | 1900 | President McKinley signed Organic Act of 1900, also known as Foraker Act in honor of its sponsor Joseph Benson Foraker of Ohio that established a civilian government in Puerto Rico. |
| 3 | 1892 | Birth: Henry Luce, founder of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazine. He has been called “the most influential private citizen in the America of his day”. |
| 3 | 1948 | President Harry S. Truman signed the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan, intended to restore the economies of European countries devastated by World War II. |
| 4 | 1841 | Death: William Henry Harrison, the 9th US president, died in Washington, D.C. |
| 4 | 1949 | The United States and Canada, together with other 10 European countries, signed the North Atlantic Treaty that created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a military alliance. NATO has 30 members at present with 5 countries with pending application. |
| 4 | 1968 | Death: Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. |
| 5 | 1964 | Death: General Douglas MacArthur in Washington, D.C. at the age of 84. |
| 6 | 1830 | The Church of Christ, the precursor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) was established by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York. |
| 6 | 1893 | Dedication of the Salt Lake Temple which has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece. |
| 6 | 1917 | The United States formally enters World War I by declaring war against Germany. |
| 9 | 1865 | General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant following the Battle of Appomattox Court House in Virginia, setting in motion the end of the war. |
| 10 | 1794 | Birthday: Matthew Perry – a commodore of the United States Navy who played a leading role in the opening of Japan to the West. |
| 10 | 1816 | The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was established in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
| 10 | 1887 | The Catholic University of America (CUA), a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. Catholic bishops, was established in Washington, D.C. |
| 11 | 1899 | The Treaty of Paris became effective. Spain relinquished control over Cuba and also ceded Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the United States. |
| 12 | 1861 | Start of the American Civil War. |
| 12 | 1945 | Death: Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd US president, died in Warm Springs, Georgia at age 63. |
| 13 | 1743 | Birthday: Thomas Jefferson, the third US president, was born in Virginia, United States. |
| 14 | 1865 | Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. |
| 15 | 1865 | Death: Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president, died in Washington, D.C. |
| 15 | 1892 | General Electric Company (GE), an American multinational conglomerate was founded in Schenectady, New York, US. |
| 17 | 1837 | Birth: John Pierpont Morgan Sr., an American financier and investment banker who founded J.P. Morgan and Co. |
| 18 | 1906 | The deadliest earthquake in the United States with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 happened in the northern California, killing more than 3,000 people. |
| 20 | 1898 | US President McKinley signed a joint Congressional resolution demanding Spanish withdrawal and authorizing the President to use military force to help Cuba gain independence. |
| 21 | 1898 | The United States declared war against Spain to protect its interests in the Americas and the Pacific including the Philippines. |
| 22 | 1904 | Birth: J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb” for his role in the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear weapons. |
| 22 | 1994 | Death: Richard Nixon, the 37th US president, died in New York City at age 81. |
| 23 | 1791 | Birthday: James Buchanan, the 15th US president, was born in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania. |
| 23 | 1908 | US Congress created the Medical Reserve Corps, the official predecessor of the Army Reserve. |
| 26 | 1718 | Birthday: Esek Hopkins, only commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy. |
| 26 | 1922 | Death: John Simon Guggenheim, the first son of Olga and Simon Guggenheim who established John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to give Guggenheim Fellowship awards to professionals who have demonstrated exceptional ability in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the creative arts, excluding the performing arts. |
| 27 | 1822 | Birthday: Ulysses Grant, the 18th US president, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. |
| 27 | 1865 | Cornell University was founded by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. |
| 28 | 1758 | Birthday: James Monroe, the 5th US president, was born in Virginia. |
| 28 | 1788 | Maryland was admitted to the Union. |
| 30 | 1789 | President George Washington was inaugurated. |
| 30 | 1803 | Robert Livingston and James Monroe signed in behalf of the United States the Louisiana Purchase Treaty. |
| 30 | 1812 | Louisiana became the 18th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 30 | 1854 | Father William Matthews, the first American-born Catholic priest, died in Washington, D. C. |
RELATED: United States Historical Events in January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
