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Today in History, November 15th

On November 15, 1777, Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation. Plus Sherman's March to the Sea and NBC's first broadcast.

By Today in History Updated November 9, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published November 15, 2025 · Last updated November 9, 2026

November 15 is best known as the day in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. The date also saw Sherman’s army leave Atlanta on its March to the Sea in 1864 and NBC make its first network radio broadcast in 1926.

The big story: Congress Adopts the Articles of Confederation (1777)

A year and a half after declaring independence, the 13 states still had no agreed-upon national government. On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress fixed that, at least on paper, by adopting the Articles of Confederation. Two days later, the document went out to the states for approval, and that took a long time: the Articles were not ratified until March 1, 1781. The arrangement they created was deliberately weak. Congress could not tax, could not force states to pay their share, and often could not even get enough delegates to show up to do business. The Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War sat waiting for months because members skipped sessions. George Washington complained about it in his letters. By 1786, the Annapolis Convention was calling for a fix, and in February 1787 Congress endorsed a meeting to revise the Articles. That meeting wrote the Constitution instead.

More events on November 15

Year	What happened
1855	Elizabeth Keckley’s deed of emancipation was signed. She went on to become Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker and wrote a memoir of life in the Lincoln White House.
1864	General William T. Sherman left Atlanta with about 60,000 men on his March to the Sea, bound for Savannah, Georgia.
1889	A military revolt led by Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca toppled Emperor Pedro II and proclaimed Brazil a republic.
1920	The League of Nations held the first meeting of its Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
1926	NBC made its first network broadcast, a four-hour radio gala from the ballroom of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
1971	The first advertisement for a microprocessor, Intel’s 4004, appeared in the trade paper Electronic News.
2001	Microsoft’s Xbox game console went on sale in North America, with Halo: Combat Evolved as a launch title.
2022	The United Nations marked this as the day the world’s population reached 8 billion people.

Born on November 15

1708: William Pitt the Elder, British statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years’ War.
1738: William Herschel, German-born British astronomer who discovered Uranus.
1887: Georgia O’Keeffe, American painter known for her flowers and New Mexico landscapes.
1887: Marianne Moore, American poet and editor of The Dial.