Portal:United States/Anniversaries/May/May 16
- 1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
- 1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
- 1868 – President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
- 1910 – Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines (seal pictured).
- 1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.
- 1991 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
On this day for the United States
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Events
- 1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre–American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called "The Regulators" occurs in present–day Alamance County, North Carolina.
- 1777 – Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies three days later.
- 1836 – Edgar Allan Poe marries his 13–year–old cousin Virginia.
- 1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Northwest sets out with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri on the Oregon Trail.
- 1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
- 1866 – Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.
- 1868 – President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during his impeachment trial, by one vote in the United States Senate.
- 1874 – A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroyed much of four villages and killed 139 people.
- 1910 – The U.S. Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.
- 1914 – The first ever National Challenge Cup final is played. Brooklyn Field Club beat Brooklyn Celtic 2–1.
- 1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government a jailable offense.
- 1919 – US Navy Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
- 1929 – In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.
- 1951 – The first regularly–scheduled transatlantic flights begin between New York and London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
- 1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
- 1965 – Campbell Soup Company introduces SpaghettiOs under its Franco–American brand.
- 1988 – A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
- 1992 – STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage.