November 16

November 16 is the 321st day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1776 to 2020 — a span of 244 years. The entry that anchors it: U.S. president Richard Nixon signed an act authorizing the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to transport oil from the Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of Alaska, 1973.

In the founding decades, the date sat close to the business of building a republic. In 1776, American Revolutionary War — Fort Washington on Manhattan was captured from the Patriots by British and Hessian units. The same year, American Revolutionary War — a Dutch fort on Sint Eustatius fired The First Salute to an American brig, marking the first international recognition of the American flag.

Through the nineteenth century the date gathered the tensions that would define the era. In 1822, American Old West — Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail. Then, in 1863, American Civil War — in the Battle of Campbell's Station, Confederate troops unsuccessfully attack Union forces which allows General Ambrose Burnside to secure Knoxville, Tennessee.

As the country moved into the modern age, the date accumulated new kinds of firsts. In 1907, Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory join to form Oklahoma, which is admitted as the 46th U.S. state.

In the postwar decades the date belonged to a nation of enormous reach and unfinished arguments. In 1973, U.S. president Richard Nixon signed an act authorizing the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to transport oil from the Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of Alaska. The same year, Skylab program — NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.

In living memory, the date has kept adding to the record. In 2020, the El Dorado Fire in California, United States, was extinguished after 71 days, having destroyed 20 structures and killed one firefighter.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on November 16: James McHenry (1753), Irish-American surgeon and politician; Mary Tyler Peabody Mann (1806), American author and educator; Minnie Hauk (1851), American-Swiss soprano and actress; W. C. Handy (1873), American trumpet player and composer; and Emil Breitkreutz (1883), American runner and coach.

November 16 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer (1790), American politician; Moses Cleaveland (1806), American general, lawyer, and politician, founded Cleveland, Ohio; A. A. Ames (1911), American physician and politician, 9th Mayor of Minneapolis; and Lawrence Feuerbach (1911), American shot putter.

The date carries formal observance as well — International Day for Tolerance (United Nations) and Intergenerational Fairness Day (International day of action for rights of younger and future generations). Taken together, the 8 entries on November 16 span 244 years of American life. A date is an arbitrary container, but what fills it is not arbitrary at all.