1628 | Britain’s King granted a royal charter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1681 | William Penn received a royal charter granting him sole proprietorship of the Pennsylvania territory.
1754 | Physician Benjamin Waterhouse was born.
1781 | Educator Rebecca Gratz was born.
1789 | The effective start of the U.S. Constitution with a new Congress of 8 Senators and 13 Representatives showing up, quorum failed, requiring a delay until April.
1791 | Statehood: Vermont was granted statehood.
1791 | POTUS: The first Special Session of Congress was called by President Washington.
1791 | Civil Rights: First Jewish member of US Congress, Israel Jacobs, took office.
1793 | POTUS: President George Washington was sworn in.
1797 | POTUS: President Adams was sworn in.
1798 | General John Joseph Abercrombie was born.
1801 | POTUS: President Jefferson was sworn in.
1805 | POTUS: President Jefferson was sworn in.
1809 | POTUS: President Madison was sworn in.
1813 | POTUS: President Madison was sworn in.
1817 | POTUS: President Monroe was sworn in.
1825 | POTUS: President Adams was sworn in.
1825 | Painter Raphaelle Peale died.
1826 | General John Buford was born.
1829 | POTUS: President Jackson was sworn in.
1833 | POTUS: President Jackson was sworn in.
1837 | POTUS: President Van Buren was sworn in.
1837 | Chicago incorporated as a city.
1841 | POTUS: President Harrison was sworn in.
1842 | Abolitionist James Forten died.
1845 | POTUS: President Polk was sworn in.
1849 | POTUS: President Taylor was sworn in. This is the official record, but there is evidence, Taylor refused to be sworn in on a Sunday, and that Senate Pro Temper David Rice Atchison was technically President for a day.
1853 | POTUS: President Pierce was sworn in.
1857 | POTUS: President Buchanan was sworn in.
1858 | Commodore of the Navy Matthew Perry died.
1861 | POTUS: President Lincoln was sworn in.
1863 | Civil Rights: Battle of Thomason’s Station, Tennessee.
1865 | POTUS: President Lincoln was sworn in. Frederick Douglass attended, the first invited African American.
1868 | Explorer Jesse Chisholm died.
1869 | POTUS: President Grant was sworn in.
1873 | POTUS: President Grant was sworn in.
1873 | Poet Guy Wetmore Carryl was born.
1877 | Inventor Garrett Morgan was born.
1881 | POTUS: President Garfield was sworn in.
1888 | Poet Amos Bronson Alcott died.
1881 | Author Thomas Sigismund Stribling was born.
1885 | POTUS: President Cleveland was sworn in.
1889 | POTUS: President Harrison was sworn in.
1891 | Al-Anon co-founder Lois Wilson (née Burnham) was born.
1893 | POTUS: President Cleveland was sworn in.
1897 | POTUS: President McKinley was sworn in.
1901 | POTUS: President McKinley was sworn in.
1902 | American Automobile Association (AAA) was incorporated.
1905 | POTUS: President Roosevelt was sworn in.
1906 | Entrepreneur Charles Rudolph Walgreen Jr. was born.
1909 | POTUS: President Taft was sworn in.
1909 | Entrepreneur Harry B. Helmsley was born.
1911 | Congress: Victor Berger becomes 1st socialist congressman.
1913 | POTUS: President Wilson was sworn in.
1913 | The U.S. Department of Commerce & Labor split into separate departments
1917 | Civil Rights: The first female Member of Congress was sworn-in, Jeannette Rankin, three years ahead of the 19th Amendment’s adoption.
1918 | U.S. Army mess cook Private Albert Gitchell of Fort Riley, Kansas, became the first documented case of Spanish flu, starting a worldwide pandemic.
1921 | Hot Springs National Park was created in Arkansas.
1921 | POTUS: President G. Harding was sworn in.
1924 | “Happy Birthday To You” song was published by Claydon Sunny for the first time.
1925 | POTUS: President Coolidge was sworn in.
1926 | Entrepreneur Richard DeVos was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1929 | POTUS: President Hoover was sworn in.
1931 | Economist Alive Rivlin was born.
1933 | POTUS: President Roosevelt was sworn in. Due to the 20th Amendment, this became the last March 4th inauguration.
1940 | Novelist Hamlin Garland died.
1944 | WWII: US begins bombing Berlin, Germany.
1948 | Author James Ellroy was born.
1954 | Civil Rights: James E. Wilkins was appointed the first black US sub-cabinet member by Republican Eisenhower.
1954 | A Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, announced the first successful kidney transplant.
1970 | University of Puerto Rico riot started in Rio Piedras.
1992 | Entrepreneur Christian K. Nelson died.
1996 | Entertainer Minnie Pearl died.
1997 | POTUS: Democrat President Clinton banned federal funding of human cloning research.
1999 | SCOTUS: Justice Harry Blackmun died.
2001 | Politician Harold Stassen died.
2017 | Politician Clayton Yeutter died.
2019 | Wrestler “King Kong Bundy” died.
2019 | Actor Luke Perry died.