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Chicago And North Western Railway

Chicago and North Western Railway

The Chicago and North Western Railway (AAR reporting marks: CNW, CNWS, CNWZ; unofficial abbreviation: C&NW) was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the North Western. United States

History

The Chicago and North Western Railway was chartered on June 7, 1859. It had purchased the assets of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad five days earlier. On February 15, 1865, it officially merged with the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, which had been chartered on January 16, 1836. Since the Galena & Chicago Union started operating in December, 1848, and the Fond du Lac railroad started in March, 1855, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad is considered to be the origin of the North Western railroad system. The North Western had owned a majority of the stock of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway (Omaha Road) since 1882. On January 1, 1957, it officially leased the company, and merged it into the North Western in 1972. The Omaha Road's main line ran from an interchange with the North Western at Elroy, Wisconsin, to the Twin Cities, down to Sioux City, Iowa, and then finally to Omaha, Nebraska. The North Western picked up several important short railroads during its later years. It finalized acquisition of the Litchfield and Madison railroad on January 1, 1958. The Litchfield and Madison railroad was a 44-mile bridge road from East St. Louis to Litchfield, Illinois. On July 30, 1968, the North Western acquired two former interurbans – the 36-mile Des Moines and Central Iowa Railway (DM&CI), and the 110-mile Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railway (FDDM&S). The DM&CI gave access to the Firestone plant in Des Moines, Iowa, and the FDDM&S provided access to gypsum mills in Fort Dodge, Iowa. On November 1, 1960, the North Western acquired the rail properties of the 1,500-mile Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway. In spite of its name, it ran only from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Peoria, Illinois. This acquisition provided traffic and modern rolling stock, and eliminated competition. On July 1, 1968, the 1,500 mile (2,400 km) Chicago Great Western Railway was merged into the North Western. This railroad went from Chicago to Oelwein, Iowa. From there, separate lines went to the Twin Cities, Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri. A connection from Hayfield, Minnesota, to Clarion, Iowa, provided a Twin Cities to Omaha main line. The Chicago Great Western duplicated the North Western's routes from Chicago to the Twin Cities and Omaha, but went the long way. This merger provided access to Kansas City, Missouri, and eliminated competition. After abandoning a plan to merge with the Milwaukee Road in 1970, Benjamin W. Heineman, who had headed the CNW and parent Northwest Industries since 1956, arranged the sale of the railroad to its employees in 1972. The words "Employee Owned" were part of the company logo in the ensuing period. After the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (Rock Island) stopped operating on March 31, 1980, the North Western took over operations of about 800 miles (1,300 km) of the Rock Island, including the "Spine Line." This was a well-engineered line from the Twin Cities to Kansas City, Missouri, via Des Moines, Iowa. Because of deferred maintenance, though, slow orders plagued the line. Nevertheless, the North Western started to abandon ex-Chicago Great Western trackage north of Oelwein, which duplicated Spine Line service. The North Western won a bidding war with the Soo Line for purchase of the Spine Line when on June 20, 1983, the ICC approved the North Western's bid of $93 million. After a major rehabilitation of the Spine Line in 1984, the North Western started to abandon the Oelwein to Kansas City section of the former Chicago Great Western Railway, which also duplicated Spine Line service. In April, 1995, the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad. Chicago and North Western locomotives continued to operate in their paint schemes for several years after the merger. As of October 16th, 2005, only three engines were left in full C&NW paint, but many others were wearing "patch" Union Pacific numbers over their C&NW scheme.

Named routes

Chicago and Northwestern operated some notable passenger trains, including the City of Los Angeles and City of Denver. Both of those lines were jointly operated by CNW and the Union Pacific Railroad from 1936 until Amtrak was created in 1971. The CNW's most famous train, the Chicago-Twin Cities 400 was introduced in 1935 to compete with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy's Zephyrs and the Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas. This train was named because it traveled the 400 miles between the cities in 400 minutes. CNW was the first system to start a high-speed Chicago-Twin Cities schedule because it used refurbished instead of new equipment, but in 1939, modernized the 400 with new E3A diesel locomotive pairs and streamlined cars. CNW eventually renamed the first 400 to the Twin Cities 400 as the CNW stuck almost all of its passenger trains with the 400 moniker, including the Flambeau 400, Rochester 400, and the Kate Shelley 400. CNW ceased running the Twin Cities 400 in 1963, and all intercity passenger service on CNW ended with the formation of Amtrak in 1971.

Additional notes

The CNW was known for running "left-hand main" on double track mainlines. In other words, traffic was routed by default to the track on the left rather than the track on the right. In the United States, most railroads followed the "right-hand main" operating practice, while "left-hand main" running was more common in countries where automobile traffic drove on the left as well. According to a display in the Lake Forest station, the reason for this was a combination of chance and inertia. When originally built as single-line trackage, the C&NW arbitrarily placed its stations on the left-hand side of the tracks (when headed inbound toward Chicago). Later, when a second track was added, it was placed on the side away from the stations so as not to force them to relocate. Since most passengers waiting at the stations were headed toward Chicago, the inbound track remained the one closest to the station platforms. The expense of reconfiguring signals and switches has prevented a conversion to right-hand operation ever since. The railroad also purchased a great deal of its equipment second-hand. CNW shop forces economized wherever possible, earning the railroad the nickname Cheap and Nothing Wasted.

References


-
-
- The Trains staff (November, 1990). Timeline. Trains, pp. 21-47.
- (1973). Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States. Rand McNally & Co. p.53.

External links


- [http://www.cnwhs.org/capsulehistory.htm Chicago & North Western Historical Society – capsule histories]

Association of American Railroads

right right The Association of American Railroads is an industry trade group representing the freight railroads of North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States). Amtrak and some regional commuter railroads are also members. AAR was created October 12, 1934 by the merger of five industry-related groups:
- the American Railway Association,
- the Association of Railway Executives,
- the Bureau of Railroad Economics,
- the Railway Accounting Officers Association, and
- the Railway Treasury Officers Association. One of the AAR's duties is to oversee the assignment of reporting marks – two to four letter codes that uniquely identify the owner of any piece of railroad rolling stock or intermodal freight transport equipment (trailers, containers, etc.) that can be carried on a railroad. The current president of AAR is Edward R. Hamberger.

References

# Association of American Railroads (2005), [http://www.aar.org/About_AAR/about_biog.asp Biography: Edward R. Hamberger]. Retrieved November 17 2005.

External links


- [http://www.aar.org/ Association of American Railroads website] Category:Rail transport Category:Industry trade groups

Class I railroad

A Class I railroad in the United States, or a Class I railway (also Class I rail carrier) in Canada, is one of the largest freight railroads, as classified based on operating revenue. Smaller railroads are classified as Class II and Class III. The exact revenues required to be in each class have varied through the years, and they are now continuously adjusted for inflation.

Current criteria

As of 2004, a Class I railroad, as defined by the Surface Transportation Board, has an operating revenue exceeding $277.7 million. The exact setting of the cut-off figure has always been as much a political decision as anything else, as different rules apply to the different classes. For instance, in early 1991, Montana Rail Link and Wisconsin Central asked the Interstate Commerce Commission to raise the bar, then set at $93.5 million, to avoid being redesignated as Class I, due to extra costs and paperwork. The cutoff was raised at the end of 1992 to $250 million, dropping the Florida East Coast Railway to Class II (the Class II/III line stayed at $20 million). In Canada, a Class I railway is defined (as of 2004) as a company that has earned gross revenues exceeding $250 million for each of the previous two years. Currently seven United States railroads are classified as Class I. The two major players east of the Mississippi River are CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway (the latter called "Norfolk Southern Combined Railroad Subsidiaries" by the AAR). West of the Mississippi, the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad cover roughly the same territory. The Kansas City Southern Railway is a smaller system, mainly forming part of the NAFTA Railway corridor from the Midwest into Mexico, and two subsidiaries of Canadian companies - the Grand Trunk Corporation, controlled by the Canadian National Railway, and the Soo Line Railroad, controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway - are also considered Class I. The Grand Trunk Corporation includes two former Class I railroads - the Illinois Central Railroad and Grand Trunk Western Railroad - which still operate separately, but are reported as one unit. Two Canadian railways are currently Class I - the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway. Those companies would be Class I by the U.S. definition. Two Mexican railroads would fit the definition if they were U.S. companies - Ferrocarril Mexicano and Grupo Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana; the latter is controlled by the Kansas City Southern Railway. Amtrak and VIA Rail provide intercity passenger service in the U.S. and Canada, but as they are not typical freight carriers, they are not classified.

History

The classification of U.S. railroads as Class I, II, or III was started by the Interstate Commerce Commission in the 1930s. Initially Class I railroads were defined as railroads with operating revenue of at least $1 million. There were 132 Class I railroads in 1939. The $1 million figure was used until 1956 (at which time there were 113 ); however, since that time, it has increased faster than inflation. In 1956 it was increased to $3 million. By 1963 the number of Class I railroads had dropped to 102. By 1965 the cut-off had increased to $5 million, to $10 million in 1976 and to $50 million in 1978, at which point only 41 railroads were still Class I. The Class III category was dropped in 1956, but reinstated in 1978. In 1979 all switching and terminal railroads, even those with Class I or Class II revenues, were redesignated as Class III. Nowadays, the Class II and Class III designations are rarely used. The Association of American Railroads instead splits non-Class I companies into three categories:
- Regional railroads operate at least 350 miles or make at least $40 million per year.
- Local railroads are non-regional railroads that engage in line-haul service.
- Switching and terminal railroads mainly switch cars between other railroads or provide service from other liens to a common terminal. The Surface Transportation Board continues to use Class II and Class III, as labor regulations are different for the two classes.

Consolidations

Over the years, many Class I railroads have merged to stave off bankruptcy or simply to increase profits. The following is a list of consolidations that have merged at least one Class I railroad into a larger one:
- July 1, 1967: Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad into Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
- 1968: New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad merge to become Penn Central
- 1970: Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railway and Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway all merge into Burlington Northern Railroad
- 1976: Central Railroad of New Jersey, Erie Lackawanna Railroad, Lehigh and Hudson River Railway, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Penn Central and Reading Railroad all merge into Conrail
- 1982: Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Seaboard Coast Line Railroad into Seaboard System Railroad
- 1982: Norfolk and Western Railroad and Southern Railway merge to form Norfolk Southern
- 1985: Milwaukee Road merged into Soo Line Railroad
- 1986: Seaboard System Railroad renamed CSX Transportation
- 1987: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Chesapeake and Ohio Railway merged into CSX Transportation
- 1988: Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad merge, keeps Southern Pacific name
- 1995: Chicago and North Western Railway merges into Union Pacific Railroad
- 1995: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Burlington Northern Railroad merge to become Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway
- 1996: Southern Pacific Railroad merges into Union Pacific Railroad
- 1998: Conrail's main operations divided between CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern; Conrail continues as a CSX-NS joint venture for switching purposes

Table of Class I railroads by year

See also


- List of U.S. Class I railroads
- Timeline of U.S. Class I railroads

References

# Arrivals and Departures, Trains March 1991 # Arrivals and Departures, Trains November 1992 # Profiles of the regionals, Trains December 1991
- [http://www.aar.org/PubCommon/Documents/AboutTheIndustry/Statistics.pdf AAR - Class I Railroad Statistics] (PDF)
- [http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/fmly_tre.html The Family Tree of North American Railroads]
- [http://www.cta-otc.gc.ca/rail-ferro/finance/uca/1100_e.html Uniform Classification of Accounts and Related Railway Records (UCA)]. Retrieved April 24, 2005.
- Category:Former Class I railroads in the United States

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

June 7

June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining.

Events


- 1099 - The Siege of Jerusalem begins.
- 1494 - Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.
- 1654 - Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
- 1692 - Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1600 people are killed and 3000 are seriously injured.
- 1776 - Richard Henry Lee presents the "Lee Resolution" to the Continental Congress. See United States Declaration of Independence.
  - American invaders skirmish with British at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
- 1800 - David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
- 1832 - Asian cholera brought to Quebec by Irish immigrants kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
- 1862 - The United States and United Kingdom agree to suppress the slave trade.
- 1863 - Mexico City is captured by French troops.
- 1866 - 1800 Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after they loot and plunder around St-Armand and Frelighsburg, Quebec.
- 1880 - Assault and Take of Morro de Arica (Arica Tall Hill),it meant the end of the Campaign of Tacna and Arica during the War of the Pacific.
- 1905 - Norway dissolves its union with Sweden.
- 1914 - The first vessel passes through the locks of the Panama Canal.
- 1917 - World War I: Allied ammonal mines underneath German trenches in Mesen Ridge are detonated, killing 10,000 German troops.
- 1919 - Sette Giugno: Riot in Malta; four people killed.
- 1929 - Vatican City becomes a sovereign state.
- 1935 - Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1938 - The Douglas DC-4 makes its first test flight.
- 1940 - King Haakon VII of Norway, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London.
- 1942 - World War II: The Battle of Midway ends.
  - Japanese troops land on the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.
- 1944 - Nazi Panzer SS troops execute 23 Canadian prisoners of war in Normandy.
- 1945 - King Haakon VII of Norway returns with his family to Oslo after five years in exile.
- 1948 - Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than signing a Constitution making his nation a Communist state.
- 1965 - The US Supreme Court decides Griswold v. Connecticut effectivly legalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
- 1977 - 500 million people watch on television as the high day of Jubilee gets underway for Queen Elizabeth II.
- 1981 - The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor.
- 1982 - Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.
- 1989 - A Suriname DC-8 Super 62 crashes near Paramaribo Airport, Suriname, killing 168.
- 1993 - Prince changes his name to a symbol and comes to be referred to as "The Artist formerly known as Prince".
- 2004 - The Sikh leader Prem Singh Chandumajra launches the political party Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal).

Births

1529 to 1899


- 1529 - Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and man of letters (d. 1615)
- 1761 - John Rennie, Scottish engineer (d. 1821)
- 1778 - Beau Brummell, English fashion leader (d. 1840)
- 1811 - James Young Simpson, British obstetrician (d. 1870)
- 1831 - Amelia Edwards, English author and Egyptologist (d. 1892)
- 1845 - Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1930)
- 1848 - Paul Gauguin, French painter (d. 1903)
- 1862 - Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
- 1868 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect, designer, and illustrator (d. 1928)
- 1877 - Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
- 1879 - Knut Rasmussen, Greenland-born explorer (d. 1933)
- 1883 - Sylvanus Morley, U.S. archaeologist and spy (d. 1948)
- 1886 - Henri Coanda, Romanian aerodynamics pioneer (d. 1972)
- 1896 - Robert S. Mulliken, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1896 - Imre Nagy, Hungarian politician (d. 1958)
- 1896 - Douglas Campbell, American World War I flying ace (d. 1990)
- 1897 - George Szell, Hungarian conductor (d. 1970)
- 1899 - Elizabeth Bowen, Irish novelist (d. 1973)

1900 to 1999


- 1909 - Virginia Apgar, American physician and childbirth specialist (d. 1974)
- 1909 - Jessica Tandy, English-born actress (d. 1994)
- 1911 - Brooks Stevens, automotive designer (d. 1995)
- 1917 - Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000)
- 1917 - Dean Martin, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1920 - Georges Marchais, French politician (d. 1997)
- 1928 - James Ivory, American film director
- 1929 - John Turner, seventeenth Prime Minister of Canada
- 1931 - Malcolm Morley, English-born painter
- 1937 - Neeme Järvi, Estonian conductor
- 1938 - Goose Gonsoulin, American football player
- 1940 - Tom Jones, Welsh singer
- 1943 - Nikki Giovanni, American poet
- 1945 - Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of Austria
- 1946 - Jenny Jones, Palestinian-born comedienne and talk show host
- 1952 - Liam Neeson, Irish actor
- 1954 - Louise Erdrich, American author
- 1955 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
- 1956 - L.A. Reid, American music producer
- 1958 - Prince, American musician
- 1961 - Peter Sterling, Australian rugby player
- 1964 - Judie Aronson, American actress
- 1965 - Mick Foley, American professional wrestler and author
- 1972 - Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
- 1974 - Mahesh Bhupathi, Indian tennis player
- 1975 - Allen Iverson, American basketball player
- 1981 - Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
- 1981 - Larisa Oleynik, Ukrainian-born actress
- 1985 - Charlie Simpson, Busted,Fightstar

Deaths

1329 to 1899


- 1329 - Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (b. 1274)
- 1358 - Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shogun (b. 1305)
- 1394 - Anne of Bohemia, queen of Richard II of England (plague) (b. 1367)
- 1618 - Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English Governor of Virginia (b. 1577)
- 1676 - Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist
- 1711 - Henry Dodwell, Irish theologian (b. 1641)
- 1779 - William Warburton, English critic and Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1698)
- 1810 - Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver (b. 1765)
- 1821 - Tudor Vladimirescu, Romanian rebellion-leader (b. cca. 1780)
- 1826 - Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist (b. 1787)
- 1854 - Charles Baudin, French admiral (b. 1792)
- 1859 - David Cox, English artist (b. 1783)
- 1866 - Chief Seattle, Native American leader

1900 to 1999


- 1911 - Maurice Rouvier, French statesman (b. 1842)
- 1936 - Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (b. 1875)
- 1937 - Jean Harlow, American actress (b. 1911)
- 1942 - Alan Blumlein, English electronics engineer (b. 1903)
- 1954 - Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist (b. 1912)
- 1963 - Zasu Pitts, American actress (b. 1894)
- 1965 - Judy Holliday, American actress (b. 1921)
- 1966 - Jean Arp, Alsatian sculptor, painter, and poet (b. 1886)
- 1967 - Dorothy Parker, American writer (b. 1893)
- 1970 - E. M. Forster, English author (b. 1879)
- 1978 - Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1979 - Forrest Carter, American author (b. 1925)
- 1980 - Henry Miller, American writer (b. 1891)
- 1988 - Vernon Washington, American actor (b. 1927)
- 1993 - Dražen Petrović, Croatian basketball player (b. 1964)

2000 onwards


- 2002 - Mary Lilian Baels, Belgian princess (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Trevor Goddard, English actor (b. 1962)
- 2004 - Quorthon, Swedish musician (b. 1966)

Holidays and observances


- Roman Empire - first day of the Vestalia (penus vestae) in honor of Vesta
- Norway - Union Dissolution Day, observing the 1905 decision to dissolve the Union between Sweden and Norway
- Malta- Sette Giugno - Riot in Malta that began the road to self government and then independence.

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 6 - June 8 - May 7 - July 7 – listing of all days ko:6월 7일 ms:7 Jun ja:6月7日 simple:June 7 th:7 มิถุนายน

1859

1859 is a common year starting on Saturday.

Events

January


- January 2 - Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
- January 24 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania (see December 1 1918 for the final unification, Transylvania and other regions were still missing at this time).

February


- February 14 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
- February 27 - US congressman Dan Sickles shoots Philip Barton Key for having an affair with his wife

March


- March 9 - The army of Piedmont-Sardinia mobilizes against Austria, beginning the crisis which will lead to the Austro-Sardinian War.
- March 26 - French amateur astronomer claims to have noticed a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury - later named Vulcan

April


- April 9 - The Austrian army in Italy mobilizes against Piedmont.
- April 23 - The Austrians send an ultimatum to Piedmont, demanding demobilization. This puts Austria in the position of an aggressor, and leads to French intervention. Piedmont rejects the ultimatum, and war breaks out.
- April 25 - Ground is broken for the Suez Canal
- April 26 - Austro-Sardinian War - Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps confront Austrian forces led by Field Marshal-Lieutenant Carl Baron Urban at Varese.
- April 29 - Austrian troops begin to cross the Ticino River to Piedmont

May


- May 21 - The bell of Big Ben activated
- May 22 - Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies is succeeded by his 23-year-old son Francis II of the Two Sicilies
- May 30 - Sardinians defeat the Austrian army at Battle of Palestro

June


- June 4 - Battle of Magenta in Austro-Sardinian War - French and Sardinians defeat Austrians
- June 6 - The British Crown colony of Queensland in Australia is created by devolving part of the territory of New South Wales
- June 8 - French and Piedmontese forces enter Milan.
- June 8 - Battle of Marignaro (1859) French victory over Austrians
- June 24 - Battle of Solferino: Kingdom of Sardinia and Napoleon III of France armies defeat Franz Josef I of Austria in northern Italy. Battle also reputedly inspires Henri Dunant to found the Red Cross

July


- July 6 - Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales.
- July 8 - Charles XV succeeds his father Oscar I King of Sweden and Norway (as Charl