1. AP US History This Day in American History August 12 1809 – Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, who has organized a confederacy to resist the westward push of settlers, begins a series of fruitless meetings with the governor of Indian Territory, William Henry Harrison. Harrison calls Tecumseh a “Moses” but refuses to grant concessions.

2. AP US History This Day in American History August 12 1851 – Isaac M. Singer receives a patent for the first continuous-stitch sewing machine. Singer is hit with protracted and successful lawsuits brought by Elis Howe, inventor of the first sewing machine. Nevertheless, so successful is Singer’s machine, which has many improvements over Howe’s,that the penalty payments are soon recovered, and business booms.

3. AP US History This Day in American History August 12 1945 – Edward R. Murrow, whose wartime radio broadcasts from Europe gave many Americans their most immediate sense of World War II, speaks of the mood in Europe now that it is over: “Seldom, if ever, has a war ended leaving the victors with such a sense of uncertainty and fear, with such a realization that the future is obscure and that survival is not assured.”