1721: Benjamin Franklin's older brother, James, launches the first independent American newspaper, the New-England Courant, in Boston.

1835: Samuel Morse invents the telegraph.

Today: The Internet makes news gathering and reporting almost instantaneous and open to individuals as well as to news organizations.

1754-1760: The French and Indian War is fought between the French and British over North American territory, specifically whether the Ohio River valley is a part of the British Empire and therefore open for trade and settlement to British colonists. Ultimately the war spreads to every part of the world where either of the two nations have territorial interests.

1846: The United States and Britain sign the Oregon Treaty, a compromise by which British navigation rights on the Columbia River are guaranteed and the land boundary is drawn along latitude 49° N. In 1859, Oregon enters the Union as a free state.

Today: The United...