Dec. 23 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1620, construction began on the first permanent European settlement in New England. It was one week after the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Harbor in present-day Massachusetts. Advertisement In 1783, Gen. George Washington resigned his commission with the U.S. Army and retired to Mount Vernon, Va. He became the new nation's first president in 1789. In 1913, the U.S. Federal Reserve System was established . In 1947, the transistor was invented,