Vermont is admitted to the United States Union as the 14th State.
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What Happened in March?
The first Olympic games, the founding of dynasties, and legendary battles. Explore historic milestones from March that influenced today's world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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King Gustav III of Sweden is shot by Count Jacob Johan Anckarström on March 16, 1792 during a masked ball at the Opera; motivated by political opposition to the King. He died on March 29.
On February 1, 1793, the French National Convention declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic (Netherlands), following the execution of King Louis XVI on January 21, 1793 and the formation of the First Coalition against France.
George Washington’s is inaugurated for his second term in office, on March 4, 1793, in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, PA. then the nation's capital, in a simple and brief ceremony featuring the shortest inaugural address in U.S. history at only 135 words.
Eli Whitney was granted a U.S. patent on March 14, 1794 for the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the American cotton industry. The machine was developed to speed up the removal of seeds from raw cotton, dramatically increasing production efficiency, and transforming the South’s economy.
The cotton gin, mechanically separated seeds from fiber, increasing the daily processing from one pound to roughly 50–55 pounds per person., massively speeding cotton production and intensifying demand for enslaved labor. Patent laws were difficult to enforce at the time, and unauthorized versions spread quickly. Whitney filed a number of lawsuits against those who copied their design. but he struggled to win his cases. Eventually Whitney shifted to a licensing system, collecting fees from states and manufacturers.
Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais in a civil ceremony on March 9, 1796, in Paris. Napoleon was an up-and-coming general at the time, while Josephine was a wealthy widow with two children.
John Adams was inaugurated as the second President of the United States on March 4, 1797, in the House of Representatives Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, PA. George Washington attended the ceremony, providing a significant symbol of peaceful, democratic transition.
Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with British troops during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with British troops during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Napoleon's French revolutionary troops invaded Switzerland and occupied Bern, dissolving the Old Swiss Confederacy of Thirteen Cantons. This action replaced the aristocratic, decentralized structure with the centralized Helvetic Republic. The intervention created instability, leading to the the Act of Mediation in 1803, bringing back a modified cantonal system.
The British Royal Navy defeats the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson.
Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third President of the United States on March 4, 1801, in Washington, D.C. Jefferson’s address called for unity with the famous phrase, "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists".
The U.S. Military Academy is established by Congress at West Point on March 16, 1802, at the site of a Revolutionary-era fort built to protect the Hudson River Valley from British attack.
The Treaty of Amiens is signed on March 25, 1802, by France and Britain and representatives from Spain and the Batavian Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars It temporarily end hostilities between France and the United Kingdom; however the peace ended on May 18, 1803, when Britain declared war again, starting the Napoleonic Wars.
Ohio is admitted to the United States Union, on March 1, 1803, becoming the 17th State.
The importation of slaves into the United States is banned on March 2, 1807 by an act of Congress, taking effect on January 1, 1808, banning the importation of enslaved people into the United States. The law, signed by President Thomas Jefferson, did not end slavery in the U.S. and allowed for the continuation of the domestic slave trade, which increased as the enslaved population grew through natural reproduction.
The British Parliament abolishes the slave trade throughout the British Empire; establishing a penalty of £120 per slave for ship captains violating the law. However, slaves in the colonies (excluding areas ruled by the East India Company) were not freed until 1838 – and only after slave-owners, rather than the slaves themselves, received compensation. More
Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son Ferdinand VII.
The Kingdom of Bavaria becomes the first German state to adopt a constitution.
Percy Bysshe Shelley and a fellow student Thomas Jefferson Hogg are s expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing "The Necessity of Atheism and for their refusal to disavow authorship and responsibility for distribution led to their expulsion from the university.