1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
The Continental Congress ratified preliminary articles of peace ending the Revolutionary War with Great Britain on this day in 1783. The June 1, 1781, entry in the Journals of the Continental Congress notes “that Congress have received undoubted intelligence … that the Courts of Vienna and Petersburg have offered their mediation to the belligerent powers for the re-establishment of peace…” A few days later the Congress instructed John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens and Thomas Jefferson to negotiate a treaty, although Jefferson did not ultimately go. France, who had been allied with the U.S. since 1778, along with Spain and the Netherlands also sought to end hostilities with Great Britain and pressured the U.S. to seek peace only in alliance. But the Americans were determined that a separate preliminary treaty with Great Britain was better for their own long-term stability. The treaty’s main terms guaranteed U.S. independence from Britain and acquisition of territory that lay between the thirteen colonies and the Mississippi River, which became known as the Northwest Territory.
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