COUNTDOWN TO NOVEMBER 6TH

November 6th

A date that shaped America and beyond — from Lincoln's election in 1860 to the first college football game and the birthday of the saxophone's inventor.

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Next: Friday, November 6, 2026.

What Makes This Day Special

November 6th
Significance

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Abraham Lincoln Elected President (1860)

Abraham Lincoln won the presidency on November 6, 1860, with about 40% of the popular vote in a four-way race, becoming the first Republican president. His election on a platform opposing the spread of slavery prompted South Carolina to secede the following month, followed by six more states before his inauguration. Lincoln led the Union through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation and pushed the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery through Congress.

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National Saxophone Day

National Saxophone Day marks the birthday of Adolphe Sax, the Belgian instrument maker born in Dinant on November 6, 1814. Sax developed the saxophone in the early 1840s and patented it in Paris in 1846. Although usually made of brass, the saxophone is classed as a woodwind because its sound comes from a single reed. It found early homes in military bands before becoming central to jazz.

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Gustavus Adolphus Day

In Sweden, November 6 is Gustavus Adolphus Day, marking the death of King Gustav II Adolf at the Battle of Lützen in 1632 during the Thirty Years' War (the date follows the Julian calendar Sweden used at the time). It is an official flag day, and bakeries sell Gustavus Adolphus pastries topped with a chocolate or marzipan portrait of the king. Swedish speakers in Finland celebrate the same day as Svenska dagen, Finnish Swedish Heritage Day.

Historical Events

This Day
in History

2012

Tammy Baldwin Elected to U.S. Senate

On November 6, 2012 — the day Barack Obama won reelection — Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating former Governor Tommy Thompson. She had served in the House since 1999, having become in 1998 the first openly gay non-incumbent elected to Congress and the first woman elected to Congress from Wisconsin.

1947

Meet the Press Debuts on Television

Meet the Press made its television debut on NBC on November 6, 1947. Created by Martha Rountree and Lawrence Spivak, who had launched it on radio, it is the longest-running program on American television. Every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy has appeared on the program, though not always while in office.

1869

First College Football Game

Rutgers beat Princeton 6–4 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in what is widely recognized as the first intercollegiate football game. About 100 spectators watched 25 players per side kick and bat a round ball toward the goals, under rules closer to soccer than modern American football. The game is celebrated as the birth of college football.

1861

Jefferson Davis Elected Confederate President

Jefferson Davis, who had served as provisional president since February 1861, was elected to a six-year term as President of the Confederate States of America. A former U.S. senator from Mississippi and Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, he led the Confederacy until its collapse and was captured by Union troops in May 1865.