1. On November 23, 1783, during the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army to the Continental Congress in the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland, officially ending his military service and beginning his retirement.

2. On November 23, 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first American explorers to cross the continent to the west coast. The expedition had set out from St. Louis, Missouri over two years earlier, in May 1804.

3. On November 23, 1835, William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist and editor of The Liberator, gave a lecture at the First Presbyterian Church in Newark, New Jersey, on the subject of slavery and the importance of immediate emancipation. Garrison's outspoken opposition to slavery and his demands for full and immediate equality for African Americans earned him both praise and criticism across the country.

4. On November 23, 1867, the first intercollegiate football game in New Jersey was played between Princeton University and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The game ended in a 6-4 victory for Rutgers, and marked the beginning of a longstanding rivalry between the two schools.

5. On November 23, 1903, the newly-formed New Jersey State Board of Education held its first meeting in Trenton, New Jersey. The board was established to oversee the state's system of public education and to promote educational standards and policies throughout the state. Today, the New Jersey Department of Education continues to carry out this mission.