Browse Historical Events by Month: What Happened in June?

Marquis De Lafayette accompanied by Baron De Kalb arrive on North Island, Georgetown County, S.C. to serve alongside General Washington. Lafayette was 19 at the time. He and George Washington went on to develop a strong bond. More

The Second Continental Congress issues a resolution adopting the Flag of the United States. It wasn't until 1949, that Congress approved the national observance, and President Harry Truman signed it into law. There have been twenty-seven official versions of the flag to date. The current version of the flag dates to August 21, 1959, after Hawaii became the fiftieth state. More

The Iceland Laki volcanic eruption starts, lasting eight months. Haze from the eruption was reported from Iceland to Syria. The long eruption caused the death of 10,000 or bout one-quarter of the human residents by famine. It also caused widespread famines throughout Asia and Europe. In Iceland, the haze lead to the loss of most of the island's livestock from eating fluorine contaminated grass), and crop failure cused by acid rain. More

The Constitution became the official framework of the government of the United States of America when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it, thus replacing the post-Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation. More

New Hampshire ratifies the Articles of Confederation becoming the 9th State and the last necessary State of the original 13 colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution. More

Virginia ratifies the Articles of Confederation becoming the 10th State. More

Kentucky was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 15th State. More

Tennessee was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 16th State. More

The War of 1812 begins. President James Madison signed into law a resolution passed by Congress declaring war with Great Britain. The War of 1812 ended December 24, 1814 when the two nations met in Belgium and signed the Treaty of Ghent. ending the war and restoring the previously recognized boundaries between the United States and British territory in North America. The Senate unanimously ratified the Treaty of Ghent on February 16, 1815. More

The Congress of Vienna ends after 18 moths of work having made decisions designed  to reshape the political map of Europe and the establishment of a new political and legal order after more than two decades of turmoil and war following the French Revolution. Among the changes were France's return to its 1789 borders, the creation of the Kingdom of Poland under Russian rule, expansion of the Austrian Empire, creation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Prussia gaining new territories as well as the establishment of a framework for future international diplomacy. More

Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, ending the Napoleonic Wars. More

Arkansas was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 25th State. More

Queen Victoria ascends to the British throne at the age of 18. More

Sir George Williams founded the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in London. He, along with a group of eleven other young men, established the first YMCA in the living quarters of Hitchcock & Rogers, a drapers shop in St Paul’s Churchyard. In August 1855, 99 young delegates from nine countries held the first World meeting in Paris affirming the YMCA's mission and purpose, and created the Central International Committee. More

The capture of Retired Mexican General Vallejo at his home in Sonoma by ragtag group of about 30 armed Americans, marks the start of the short lived, California Republic or Bear Flag Republic, an unrecognized breakaway from Mexico, that for 25 days militarily controlled an area in and around what is now Sonoma County in California, north of San Francisco. Three weeks later, on July 5, 1846, the Republic's military of 100 to 200 men was subsumed into the California Battalion commanded by Captain John C. Frémont, who had encouraged the revolt. The battalion officially became the U.S. Army’s California Battalion, and went on to fight — this time officially, in the battle for California. More

The Oregon Treaty is signed, establishing the U.S.-Canadian border at the 49th parallel. Tribes are not consulted as the 49th Parallel becomes the boundary. Many Native people on either side of the line wake up in a different country, living under different laws than those they knew the night before. More

Denmark transitions into a constitutional monarchy as King Frederik VII signs the first constitution which had been approved by the Constitutional Assembly on May 25. This event, known as Constitution Day (Grundlovsdag), marked the end of Denmark's absolute monarchy and the establishment of a parliament (Rigsdagen).

500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) depart from Iowa City, Iowa, traveling westward to Salt Lake City, Utah where in 1847, Brigham Young, the secular and religious leader of the group, had established the center of a new Utah sanctuary for the Latter-day Saints. They embarked on their more than 1,000-mile journey, carrying their belongings in two-wheeled handcarts, with a maximum load of of 500 pounds. Each family usually had one cart, and the father and mother took turns pulling while any children old enough helped by pushing.   Expand +

Senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln addresses more than 1,000 delegates at the Illinois Republican Convention in Springfield, delivering a warning that the nation was facing a crisis that could destroy the Union. Paraphrasing a passage from the New Testament: “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” The issue dividing the nation was slavery and the extent of federal power over individual states’ rights. More

West Virginia Is Born. Residents of the western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the 35th State .