On Dec. 8, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction for the South.

In 1941, the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Imperial Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty at the White House calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

In 1998, The Supreme Court ruled that police cannot search people and their cars after merely ticketing them for routine traffic violations.

In 2001, the U.S. Capitol was reopened to tourists after a two-month security shutdown.

In 2003, President George W. Bush signed a $400 billion Medicare overhaul bill that included a prescription drug plan.