North Carolina ratifies the Articles of Confederation becoming the12th State.
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What Happened in November?
Wars, expanding empires, and critical deaths. Explore significant events and milestones from November that have helped shape the world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair’s Defeat, named after the expedition’s leader, Major General Arthur St. Clair, takes place against a multitribal confederation of Native Americans formed to resist colonial expansion into their historical homelands. The battle ends with the defeat of the large contingent of U.S. troops along the Wabash River in western Ohio. Of the 1,400 U.S. army and support personnel , 918 were killed and 276 wounded. More
The first U.S. Catholic college, Georgetown University, is founded in Washington, D.C.
French revolutionary Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne becomes Prime Minister, marking a phase of the French Revolution.
John Jay, on behalf of the United States, signs the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in London, on November 19, 1794, resolving disputes, easing tensions and avoiding war between the two countries.
The Treaty, officially the "Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation" was intended to resolve post-Revolutionary War issues like British forts in the Northwest, U.S. debt repayment, and trade disputes, ultimately preventing war but was very unpopular at home.
Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup d'état, establishing himself as First Consul of France.
American astronomer, Andrew Ellicott sees the Leonid meteor shower and records and reports the event in what it is believed to be the first time a meteor shower was recorded in North America.
The Leonids are a prolific annual meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle . They occur between 15 and 20 November each year and are also known for their spectacular meteor storms that occur about every 33 years.res They enter the atmosphere at 44 miles per second, and begin to glow at an altitude of around 96 miles. More
President John Adams moves into a nearly completed, White House, during the last year of his only term as President. He sent a note to his wife Abigail, expected to arrive in Washington later that month, closing his letter to her saying “Before I end my letter, I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.”
The United States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C., marking the city's official establishment as the nation's capital.
The U.S. Congress holds its first session in the partially completed Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, exploring the western portion of the United States, reaches the Pacific Ocean after a journey of about 18 months, arriving at the mouth of the Columbia River and sighted the immense blue ocean they had been searching for. They had reached the Pacific near Chinook Point, which is in present-day Washington, close to where the Columbia River meets the ocean.
The Battle of Lübeck takes place during the War of the Fifth Coalition, with French forces defeating the Austrians.
Lieutenant Zebulon Pike first lays eyes on Pikes Peak, which he described as a "small blue cloud" on the horizon. Pike was leading an expedition searching for the source of the Arkansas and Red Rivers in the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, when they crossed the plains and reached the borderlands between the United States and Spain. Pike's writings about the mountain were published in several languages and were widely distributed. In the 1840s, explorer John C. Frémont renamed the mountain after Pike.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mohawk Chief Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) dies. He was a Mohawk military and political leader who rose to prominence due to his education, abilities and his personal connections.
Brant fought in various wars throughout his life time. He participated in French and Indian War, allied with the British he fought with Mohawk and Iroquois allies. He received the silver medal from the British for service. He was fluent in English as well as at least three of the Six Nations’ Iroquoian languages. Brant led Mohawk and colonial Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. More
The Portuguese Royal Family, D João VI and its court of over 10,000 people, leave Lisbon for their colony of Brazil aboard 36 vessels to escape the invading Napoleonic troops.
The travelers arrived in Rio on March 7, 1808. The stay lasted until 1820 when D João VI went back to Portugal leaving his eldest son Pedro in charge. Pedro remain in Brazil and in 1822 led the move for Brazilian independence from Portugal and declared himself Emperor. More
The Osage, were the largest tribe of the Southern Sioux people occupying what would later become the states of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Several treaties starting in 1808 between the Osages and the United States resulted in the Osage leaving their tribal lands and to settled in southeast Kansas on the Cherokee Strip.
Later in 1865, in a decision that would eventually make them one of the wealthiest surviving Native American nations, the Osage tribe agreed to abandon their lands again, and move from Missouri and Arkansas to a reservation in Indian Territory in Oklahoma, site of present-day Osage County. More
The United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Amiens, ending hostilities during the Napoleonic Wars.
The first modern parachute is tested by André-Jacques Garnerin in France.
The Hidalgo Revolt, a precursor to the Mexican War of Independence, begins in Mexico.