South Carolina becomes the first Southern state to secede following the election of Abraham Lincoln. Ten other states would eventually join South Carolina to form the Confederate States of America.
President George H. W. Bush orders Operation Just Cause, the military invasion of Panama. Meeting its major objectives, American servicemen captured Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and overthrew his repressive military junta that had quashed electoral outcomes.
In New Orleans, French governor Pierre Clément de Laussat officially hands over Louisiana to the United States. New Orleans would fly the American flag for the first time under Governor William Claiborne
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