Alexander Graham Bell
BELL, Alexander Graham, physicist,
born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 3 March 1847. He is a son of Alexander Melville
Bell, mentioned below, and was educated at the Edinburgh high school and
Edinburgh University, receiving special training in his father's system for
removing impediments in speech. He removed to London in 1867, and entered the
University there, but left on account of his health, and went to Canada with his
father in 1870. In 1872 he took up his residence in the United States,
introducing with success his father's system of deaf-mute instruction, and
became professor of vocal physiology in Boston University. He had been
interested for many years in the transmission of sound by electricity, and had
devised many forms of apparatus for the purpose, but the first public exhibition
of his invention was at Philadelphia in 1876. Its complete success has made him
wealthy.
His invention of the "photophone," in which a vibratory beam of light is substituted for a wire in conveying speech, has also attracted much attention, but has never been practically used. It was first described by him before the American association for the advancement of science in Boston, 27 August 1880.
His invention of the "photophone," in which a vibratory beam of light is substituted for a wire in conveying speech, has also attracted much attention, but has never been practically used. It was first described by him before the American association for the advancement of science in Boston, 27 August 1880.
After the shooting of President
Garfield, Professor Bell, together with Sumner Tainter, experimented with a a metal detector, which was an improved form of Hughes's induction balance. They endeavored to find the exact
location of the mini-ball, but failed. It is believed that the metal bed frame on which President Garfield was laying caused the instrument to malfunction.
Professor Bell has put forth the theory that
the present system of educating deaf-mutes is wrong, as it tends to restrict
them to one another's society, so that marriages between the deaf are common,
and therefore the number of deaf-mute children born is on the increase. His
latest experiments relate to the recording of speech by means of photographing
the vibrations of a jet of water. Many other inventions marked Bell's later
life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils
and aeronautics. In 1888, Bell became one of the founding members of the
National Geographic Society. He has been described as one of the most
influential figures in human history.
Bell died of complications arising
from diabetes on August 2, 1922, at his private estate, Beinn Bhreagh, Nova
Scotia, at age 75. Bell had also been afflicted with pernicious anemia.
Students and Teachers of US History this is a video of Stanley and Christopher Klos presenting America's Four United Republics Curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. The December 2015 video was an impromptu capture by a member of the audience of Penn students, professors and guests that numbered about 200. - Click Here for more information
Alexander Graham Bell Family Tree from Library of Congress |
1847
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3-Mar
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Alexander Bell is born to Alexander
Melville and Eliza Symonds Bell in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the second of
three sons; his siblings are Melville (b. 1845) and Edward (b. 1848).
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1858
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Bell adopts the name Graham out of admiration for Alexander
Graham, a family friend, and becomes known as Alexander Graham Bell.
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1862
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October
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Bell arrives in
London to spend a year with his grandfather, Alexander Bell. Letter to Bell
from his father
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1863
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August
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Bell begins teaching music and elocution at Weston House Academy
in Elgin, Scotland, and receives instruction in Latin and Greek for a year.
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Chart, Circa 1860s Box 196, "Subject File: The Deaf--Visible Speech--Nature & Uses." Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Manuscript Division , Library of Congress |
Alexander Graham Bell at the Pemberton Square School in 1871 |
1864
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April
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Alexander Melville Bell develops Visible Speech, a kind of
universal alphabet that reduces all sounds made by the human voice into a
series of symbols. Visible Speech chart
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Fall
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Bell attends the University of Edinburgh.
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1865-66
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Bell returns to
Elgin to teach and experiments with vowel pitches and tuning forks. Letter
from Bell to his father
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1866-67
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Bell teaches at Somersetshire College in Bath.
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1867
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17-May
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Younger brother
Edward Bell dies of tuberculosis at the age of 19.
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Summer
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Alexander Melville Bell publishes his definitive work on Visible
Speech, Visible Speech: The Science of Universal Alphabetics.
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1868
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21-May
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Bell begins
teaching speech to the deaf at Susanna Hull's school for deaf children in
London. Bell attends University College in London.
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1870
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28-May
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Older brother Melville Bell dies of tuberculosis at the age of
25.
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July-August
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Bell, his
parents, and his sister-in-law, Carrie Bell, emigrate to Canada and settle in
Brantford, Ontario.
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1871
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April
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Moving to Boston, Bell begins teaching at the Boston School for
Deaf Mutes.
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1872
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March-June
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Bell teaches at
the Clarke School for the Deaf in Boston and at the American Asylum for the
Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.
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8-Apr
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Bell meets Boston attorney Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who will
become one of his financial backers and his father-in-law.
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Fall
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Bell opens his
School of Vocal Physiology in Boston and starts experimenting with the
multiple telegraph. Brochure for Bell's School of Vocal Physiology
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1873
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Boston University appoints Bell Professor of Vocal Physiology
and Elocution at its School of Oratory. Mabel Hubbard, his future wife,
becomes one of his private pupils.
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1874
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Spring
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Bell conducts acoustics experiments at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. He and Clarence Blake, a Boston ear specialist,
begin experimenting with the mechanics of the human ear and the
phonautograph, a device that could translate sound vibrations into visible
tracings.
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Summer
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In Brantford,
Ontario, Bell first conceives of the idea for the telephone. Bell's original
sketch of the telephone Bell meets Thomas Watson, a young electrician who
would become his assistant, at Charles Williams's electrician shop in Boston.
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1875
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January
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Watson begins working with Bell more regularly.
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February
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Thomas Sanders, a
wealthy leather merchant whose deaf son studied with Bell, and Gardiner
Greene Hubbard enter into a formal partnership with Bell in which they
provide financial backing for his inventions.
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March 1-2
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Bell visits noted scientist Joseph Henry at the Smithsonian
Institution and explains to him his idea for the telephone. Henry recognizes
the significance of Bell's work and offers him encouragement.
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25-Nov
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Mabel Hubbard and
Bell become engaged to be married. Letter from Bell to Mabel Hubbard Bell
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1876
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14-Feb
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Bell's telephone patent application is filed at the United
States Patent Office; Elisha Gray's attorney files a caveat for a telephone
just a few hours later.
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7-Mar
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United States
Patent No. 174,465 is officially issued for Bell's telephone.
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10-Mar
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Intelligible human speech is heard over the telephone for the
first time when Bell calls to Watson, "Mr. Watson -- Come here -- I want
to see you." Page from Bell's notebook
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25-Jun
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Bell demonstrates
the telephone for Sir William Thomson (Baron Kelvin) and Emperor Pedro II of
Brazil at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Letter from Bell to
Mabel Hubbard Bell
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1877
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9-Jul
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Bell, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Thomas Sanders, and Thomas Watson
form the Bell Telephone Company.
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11-Jul
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Mabel Hubbard and
Bell are married.
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4-Aug
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Bell and his wife leave for England and remain there for a year.
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1878
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14-Jan
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Bell demonstrates
the telephone for Queen Victoria.
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8-May
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Elsie May Bell, a daughter, is born.
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12-Sep
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Patent litigation
involving the Bell Telephone Company against Western Union Telegraph Company
and Elisha Gray begins.
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1879
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February-March
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The Bell Telephone Company merges with the New England Telephone
Company to become the National Bell Telephone Company.
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10-Nov
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Western Union and
the National Bell Telephone Company reach a settlement. Newspaper article
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Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone Patent Oath, 3/7/1876. Courtesy The National Archives |
The telephone had several inventors, all of whom built upon the innovations of their predecessors. Bell's patent No. 174,465 both credited him with the invention of the telephone and created a controversy that continues to provoke historians, scientists, and scholars. This controversy centers on the fact that, on the very day Bell filed his patent application, a caveat for a similar invention was filed by Elisha Gray. The caveat is no longer used today, but at the time it was a preliminary document that would have been filed to describe an invention that would eventually be the subject of a formal patent application.
The key similarity between Bell's patent and Gray's is that each describes a "principle of variable resistance," and details a liquid contact transmitter. Bell used such a liquid transmitter to demonstrate his invention at the 1876 exposition in Philadelphia, held in honor of America's centennial year. He also describes both the transmitter and the "principle of varying resistance" in his patent. This transmitter consists of a diaphragm, a needle, and a small cup of water. The cup of water is able to conduct electricity with the addition of a little acid. Speech is projected on the diaphragm, causing the diaphragm to vibrate. The attached needle is thus caused to vibrate in accordance with the speech. The vibrating action causes the needle to dip in and out of the cut of water, thus varying the resistance of the battery circuit. This variation creates the undulating current necessary for the electrical transmission of articulate speech.
The most serious charge against Bell was leveled after his patent officer admitted to having shown Bell the caveat submitted by Elisha Gray. This caveat described the "principle of variable resistance," which Bell had yet to develop on his own. The evidence suggests that Bell was able to incorporate Gray's principle into his own patent application before filing it: the variable resistance claim is written in on the margin of Bell's original patent application. Though the courts did sustain Bell's claims and named him the rightful inventor of the telephone, the evidence remains and the controversy lives on.
The electromagnetic receiver described by Bell in patent No. 174,465 is essentially the same as the telephone receivers in use today, and this feature is unique to his patent. Bell was accused of stealing Gray's "principle of variable resistance," a principle that was vital to the development of later electrical transmitters of speech. Though liquid is not used in current receivers, the "principle of variable resistance" played (and continues to play) a key role in the success of the telephone. - the Franklin Institute
Bell's Experimental Notebook, 10 March 1876, Box 271, "Subject File: Scientific Notebooks, 1876." Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. |
1880
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The National Bell Telephone Company becomes the American Bell
Telephone Company.
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15-Feb
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Marian (Daisy) Bell, a daughter, is born.
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Fall
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The French
government awards the Volta Prize for scientific achievement in electricity
to Bell. He uses the prize money to set up the Volta Laboratory as a
permanent, self-supporting experimental laboratory devoted to invention.
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1881
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At the Volta Laboratory, Bell, his cousin, Chichester Bell, and
Charles Sumner Tainter invent a wax cylinder for Thomas Edison's phonograph.
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July-August
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When President
Garfield is shot, Bell attempts unsuccessfully to locate the bullet inside
his body by using an electromagnetic device called an induction balance.
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15-Aug
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Death in infancy of Bell's son, Edward (b. 1881).
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1882
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November
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Bell is granted
American citizenship.
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1883
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At Scott Circle in Washington, D.C., Bell starts a day school
for deaf children. Bell is elected to the National Academy of Sciences. With
Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Bell funds the publication of Science, a journal
that would communicate new research to the American scientific community.
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17-Nov
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Death in infancy
of Bell's son, Robert (b. 1883).
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1885
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3-Mar
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The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is formed to
manage the expanding long-distance business of the American Bell Telephone
Company.
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1886
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Bell establishes
the Volta Bureau as a center for studies on the deaf.
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Summer
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Bell begins buying land on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
There he eventually builds his summer home, Beinn Bhreagh.
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Helen Keller, Annie Sullivan and Alexander Graham Bell, full-length portrait, seated outdoors. Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection, Prints and Photographs, Library of Congress. |
1887
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February
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Bell meets six-year-old blind and deaf Helen Keller in
Washington, D.C. He helps her family find a private teacher by recommending
that her father seek help from Michael Anagnos, director of the Perkins
Institution for the Blind.
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1890
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August-September
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Bell and his supporters form the American Association to Promote
the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf.
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27-Dec
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Letter from Mark Twain to Gardiner G.
Hubbard, "The Father-in-law of the Telephone"
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1892
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October
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Bell participates in the formal opening of long-distance
telephone service between New York and Chicago. Photograph
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1897
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Death of Gardiner
Greene Hubbard; Bell is elected President of the National Geographic Society
in his stead.
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1898
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Bell is elected a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
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Fourth summer meeting of the American Association for the Promotion of Teaching Speech to the Deaf. Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. |
1899
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30-Dec
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Acquiring the American Bell Telephone Company's business and
property, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company becomes the parent
company of the Bell System.
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1900
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October
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Elsie Bell marries Gilbert Grosvenor, the National Geographic
Magazine editor.
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1901
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Winter
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Bell invents the
tetrahedral kite, whose shape of four triangular sides would prove to be
light, strong, and rigid.
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1905
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April
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Daisy Bell marries botanist David Fairchild.
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1907
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1-Oct
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Glenn Curtiss,
Thomas Selfridge, Casey Baldwin, J.A.D. McCurdy, and Bell form the Aerial
Experiment Association (AEA), which is funded by Mabel Hubbard Bell.
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1909
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23-Feb
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The AEA's Silver Dart makes the first flight of a
heavier-than-air machine in Canada.
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1915
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25-Jan
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Bell takes part in the formal opening of the transcontinental
telephone line by talking on the telephone in New York to Watson in San
Francisco. Invitation from Theodore Vail to Bell
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1919
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9-Sep
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Bell and Casey Baldwin's HD-4, a hydrofoil craft, sets a world
marine speed record.
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1922
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2-Aug
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Bell dies and is
buried at Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia.
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Library of Congress on Bell
The Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers: Collection Highlights
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The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America
Continental Congress of the United Colonies Presidents
Sept. 5, 1774 to July 1, 1776
September 5, 1774
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October 22, 1774
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October 22, 1774
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October 26, 1774
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May 20, 1775
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May 24, 1775
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May 25, 1775
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July 1, 1776
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Commander-in-Chief United Colonies & States of America
George Washington: June 15, 1775 - December 23, 1783
Continental Congress of the United States Presidents
July 2, 1776 to February 28, 1781
July 2, 1776
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October 29, 1777
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November 1, 1777
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December 9, 1778
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December 10, 1778
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September 28, 1779
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September 29, 1779
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February 28, 1781
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Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to March 3, 1789
March 1, 1781
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July 6, 1781
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July 10, 1781
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Declined Office
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July 10, 1781
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November 4, 1781
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November 5, 1781
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November 3, 1782
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November 4, 1782
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November 2, 1783
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November 3, 1783
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June 3, 1784
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November 30, 1784
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November 22, 1785
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November 23, 1785
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June 5, 1786
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June 6, 1786
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February 1, 1787
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February 2, 1787
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January 21, 1788
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January 22, 1788
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January 21, 1789
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Presidents of the United States of America
D-Democratic Party, F-Federalist Party, I-Independent, R-Republican Party, R* Republican Party of Jefferson & W-Whig Party
(1789-1797)
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(1933-1945)
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(1865-1869)
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(1797-1801)
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(1945-1953)
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(1869-1877)
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(1801-1809)
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(1953-1961)
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(1877-1881)
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(1809-1817)
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(1961-1963)
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(1881 - 1881)
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(1817-1825)
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(1963-1969)
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(1881-1885)
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(1825-1829)
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(1969-1974)
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(1885-1889)
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(1829-1837)
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(1973-1974)
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(1889-1893)
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(1837-1841)
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(1977-1981)
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(1893-1897)
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(1841-1841)
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(1981-1989)
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(1897-1901)
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(1841-1845)
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(1989-1993)
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(1901-1909)
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(1845-1849)
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(1993-2001)
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(1909-1913)
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(1849-1850)
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(2001-2009)
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(1913-1921)
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(1850-1853)
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(2009-2017)
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(1921-1923)
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(1853-1857)
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(20017-Present)
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(1923-1929)
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*Confederate States of America
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(1857-1861)
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(1929-1933)
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(1861-1865)
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United Colonies Continental Congress
|
President
|
18th Century Term
|
Age
|
Elizabeth "Betty" Harrison Randolph (1745-1783)
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09/05/74 – 10/22/74
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29
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Mary Williams Middleton (1741- 1761) Deceased
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Henry Middleton
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10/22–26/74
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n/a
|
Elizabeth "Betty" Harrison Randolph (1745–1783)
|
05/20/ 75 - 05/24/75
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30
| |
Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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05/25/75 – 07/01/76
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28
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United States Continental Congress
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President
|
Term
|
Age
|
Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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07/02/76 – 10/29/77
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29
| |
Eleanor Ball Laurens (1731- 1770) Deceased
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Henry Laurens
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11/01/77 – 12/09/78
|
n/a
|
Sarah Livingston Jay (1756-1802)
|
12/ 10/78 – 09/28/78
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21
| |
Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
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09/29/79 – 02/28/81
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41
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United States in Congress Assembled
|
President
|
Term
|
Age
|
Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
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03/01/81 – 07/06/81
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42
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Sarah Armitage McKean (1756-1820)
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07/10/81 – 11/04/81
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25
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Jane Contee Hanson (1726-1812)
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11/05/81 - 11/03/82
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55
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Hannah Stockton Boudinot (1736-1808)
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11/03/82 - 11/02/83
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46
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Sarah Morris Mifflin (1747-1790)
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11/03/83 - 11/02/84
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36
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Anne Gaskins Pinkard Lee (1738-1796)
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11/20/84 - 11/19/85
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46
| |
Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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11/23/85 – 06/06/86
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38
| |
Rebecca Call Gorham (1744-1812)
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06/06/86 - 02/01/87
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42
| |
Phoebe Bayard St. Clair (1743-1818)
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02/02/87 - 01/21/88
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43
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Christina Stuart Griffin (1751-1807)
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01/22/88 - 01/29/89
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36
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Constitution of 1787
First Ladies |
President
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Term
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Age
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April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
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57
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March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
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52
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Martha Wayles Jefferson Deceased
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September 6, 1782 (Aged 33)
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n/a
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March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817
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40
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March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825
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48
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March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
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50
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December 22, 1828 (aged 61)
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n/a
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February 5, 1819 (aged 35)
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n/a
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March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841
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65
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April 4, 1841 – September 10, 1842
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50
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June 26, 1844 – March 4, 1845
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23
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March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849
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41
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March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850
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60
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July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853
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52
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March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857
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46
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n/a
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n/a
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March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
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42
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February 22, 1862 – May 10, 1865
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April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869
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54
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March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877
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43
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March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881
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45
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March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881
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48
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January 12, 1880 (Aged 43)
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n/a
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June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
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21
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March 4, 1889 – October 25, 1892
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56
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June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
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28
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March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901
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49
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September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909
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40
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March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913
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47
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March 4, 1913 – August 6, 1914
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52
| ||
December 18, 1915 – March 4, 1921
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43
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March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923
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60
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August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929
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44
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March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933
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54
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March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
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48
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April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953
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60
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January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
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56
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January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
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31
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November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
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50
| ||
January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974
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56
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August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977
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56
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January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
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49
| ||
January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
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59
| ||
January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993
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63
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January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
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45
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January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009
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54
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January 20, 2009 to date
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45
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Capitals of the United Colonies and States of America
Philadelphia
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Sept. 5, 1774 to Oct. 24, 1774
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Philadelphia
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May 10, 1775 to Dec. 12, 1776
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Baltimore
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Dec. 20, 1776 to Feb. 27, 1777
| |
Philadelphia
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March 4, 1777 to Sept. 18, 1777
| |
Lancaster
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September 27, 1777
| |
York
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Sept. 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778
| |
Philadelphia
|
July 2, 1778 to June 21, 1783
| |
Princeton
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June 30, 1783 to Nov. 4, 1783
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Annapolis
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Nov. 26, 1783 to Aug. 19, 1784
| |
Trenton
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Nov. 1, 1784 to Dec. 24, 1784
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New York City
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Jan. 11, 1785 to Nov. 13, 1788
| |
New York City
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October 6, 1788 to March 3,1789
| |
New York City
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March 3,1789 to August 12, 1790
| |
Philadelphia
|
Dec. 6,1790 to May 14, 1800
| |
Washington DC
|
November 17,1800 to Present
|
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The United States of America in Congress Assembled Presidents (1781-1789)
The United States of America Presidents and Commanders-in-Chiefs (1789-Present)
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