United States Historical Events is a daily guide to the important events that shaped America to what it is today. It is a compilation of significant events for the month of January 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 January
| Day | Year | Event |
| 1 | 1776 | During the American Revolution, George Washington unveiled the first national flag in America, the Grand Union Flag. |
| 1 | 1863 | President Abraham Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95 changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. |
| 1 | 1899 | US Secretary of State John Hay issued and circulated the Open Door Note to prevent the major European powers from “carving of China like a melon,”. The note is now historically called the Open Door Policy to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis. |
| 1 | 1979 | The United States established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and recognized it as the sole legitimate government of China. |
| 1 | 1994 | The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, United States and Mexico took effect. |
| 2 | 1788 | Georgia became the 4th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 3 | 1959 | Alaska became the 49th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 4 | 1821 | Death: Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, the founder of the first American congregation of religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity. She would later be canonized as a Catholic saint. |
| 4 | 1896 | Utah became the 45th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 5 | 1929 | Birthday: Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the most visible spokesperson and leader of the n the American civil rights movement. |
| 5 | 1933 | Death: Calvin Coolidge, the 30th US president, died in Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S. at age 60. |
| 5 | 1948 | George Washington Carver, an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion, died at the age of 79 from complications. |
| 6 | 1912 | New Mexico became the 47th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 6 | 1919 | Death: Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th US president, died in Oyster Bay, New York at age 60. |
| 7 | 1800 | Birthday: Millard Fillmore, the 13th US president, was born in Moravia, New York. |
| 8 | 1815 | Andrew Jackson leads American forces to victory over the British in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. |
| 8 | 1828 | The Democratic Party was founded. |
| 9 | 1913 | Birthday: Richard Nixon, the 37th US president, was born in Yorba Linda, California. |
| 10 | 1776 | Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense which advocated independence from Great Britain using persuasive moral and political arguments. |
| 10 | 1870 | John D. Rockefeller and other co-founders incorporated Standard Oil Company which will become the largest petroleum company in the world until its break-up in 1911. |
| 10 | 1984 | Diplomatic relations with the Vatican was re-established. |
| 11 | 1755 | Birth: Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father of the United States who served as the first secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 |
| 11 | 1759 | The first American life insurance company is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was called the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers and it is now part of Unum Group. |
| 11 | 1943 | The Sino-American Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights was signed by the United States and the Republic of China. |
| 12 | 1792 | Thomas Pinckney is appointed first U.S. minister to Britain. |
| 13 | 1847 | The Mexican–American War in California formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga. |
| 13 | 1888 | The National Geographic Society was founded “to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge”. |
| 14 | 1784 | US Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain |
| 15 | 1782 | Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris addresses the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage. |
| 15 | 1943 | Dedication of the Pentagon as as the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world’s largest office building with 6.5 million square feet (150 acres; 60 ha) of floor space. |
| 16 | 1786 | The State of Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom as authored by Thomas Jefferson.[ |
| 17 | 1893 | Death: Rutherford Hayes, the 19th US president, died in Fremont, Ohio at age 70. |
| 17 | 1991 | The United States led Operation Desert Storm which began with the aerial bombing campaign against Iraq for invading Kuwait. |
| 18 | 1862 | Death: John Tyler, the 10th US president, died in Richmond, Virginia at age 71. |
| 19 | 1807 | Birthday: Robert Edward Lee, a Confederate general during the American Civil War who later became the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. |
| 19 | 1883 | The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service in Roselle, New Jersey. |
| 19 | 1975 | The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy, began its operation. |
| 20 | 1887 | The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. |
| 21 | 1861 | Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. Later, he became president of the confederate states. |
| 22 | 1973 | Death: Lyndon Johnson, the 36th US president, died in Stonewall, Texas at age 64. |
| 23 | 1789 | Founding of Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.) |
| 23 | 1964 | The Twenty-fourth Amendment (Amendment XXIV) of the United States Constitution which prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax was ratified by the states. |
| 24 | 1848 | James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento giving impetus to what is termed as California Gold Rush. |
| 24 | 1860 | Birthday: Bernard Kroger, founder of The Kroger Company, the largest supermarket operator in the US. |
| 25 | 1819 | Commonwealth of Virginia grants charter to University of Virginia with Thomas Jefferson one of its founders. |
| 26 | 1837 | Michigan became the 26th State to be admitted to the union. |
| 26 | 1880 | Birthday: Douglas MacArthur, an American military leader who played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. |
| 27 | 1785 | Founding of the University of Georgia, the first public university in the United States. |
| 27 | 1850 | Birth: Samuel Gompers, a key figure in American labor history who founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization’s president. |
| 27 | 1973 | Direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War officially ended with the signing of Paris Peace Accords. |
| 28 | 1851 | Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois. |
| 28 | 1915 | Establishment of the United States Coast Guard as the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces. |
| 29 | 1843 | Birthday: William McKinley, the 25th US president, was born in Niles, Ohio. |
| 29 | 1861 | Kansas became the 34th State to be admitted to the union. |
| 30 | 1882 | Birthday: Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd US president, was born in Hyde Park, New York. |
| 31 | 1865 | The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish slavery and submits it to the states for ratification. |
| 31 | 1868 | Birth: Theodore William Richards, the first American scientist to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
RELATED: United States Historical Events in February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
