The First Fugitive Slave Act was enacted in 1793, making it a crime to harbor and escaped slave or to interfere with a slave's arrest.

On Aug. 9, 1974, Richard M. Nixon became the first American president in history to resign from office, and Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumed the office. Ford was the only person to serve as both vice president and president without being elected to either office.

In 1811, while Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was away making alliances with other tribal leaders, Indiana Gov. William Henry Harriosn and 1,000 men destroyed his settlement in the Battle of Tippecanoe, thwarting plans for and Indian confederacy.

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Benjamin Franklin published the first "Poor Richard's Almanac" in 1732.

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