… in 1776 the Continental Congress approved a resolution declaring independence. Twelve of the 13 colonies voted in favor. (New York did not approve independence until July 9th.)
Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.
That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.
That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.
The Declaration of Independence stating the reasons for independence was approved two days later (and most likely not signed until August).
… in 1863 the second day of battle was fought at Gettysburg.
… in 1877 the Noble laureate Hermann Hesse was born.
… in 1881 Charles J. Guiteau assassinated President James A. Garfield.
On July 2, 1881 … President James A. Garfield was shot at the Baltimore & Potomac station in Washington by a failed lawyer named Charles Guiteau. The President took two months to die, and the trial of his assassin raised issues of criminal responsibility and the insanity defense that American jurisprudence struggles with to this day.
So begins a solid summary of the event and its legal aftermath at AmericanHeritage.com. Be the first kid on your block to know the details of the second presidential assassination in American history. Of course, if you’ve read Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation
… in 1908 Thurgood Marshall was born.
He applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but he was rejected on the basis of race, so he enrolled at Howard University instead. The first thing he did, upon graduation, was use his law degree to sue the University of Maryland for racial discrimination, and he almost couldn’t believe it when he won. Thanks to his efforts, the University of Maryland Law School admitted its first black student in 1935. It was the first time that a black student had ever been admitted to any state law school south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Marshall became the legal director of the NAACP, and of the thirty-two cases he argued for that organization, he won twenty-nine. His biggest case was the landmark Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. He went on to serve as an appeals court judge under Kennedy, and Johnson appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1967.
Thurgood Marshall said, “None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody—a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns—bent down and helped us pick up our boots.”
… in 1925 Medgar Wiley Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi. In 1963 Evers, a civil rights activist, was assassinated by fertilizer salesman and White Citizens’ Council member Byron De La Beckwith. Beckwith was tried in 1964 but juries of white men deadlocked twice. In 1994 Beckwith was found guilty.
… in 1937 Amelia Earhart was lost.
Coast Guard headquarters here received information that Miss Earhart probably overshot tiny Howland Island because she was blinded by the glare of an ascending sun. The message from the Coast Guard cutter Itasca said it it was believed Miss Earhart passed northwest of Howland Island about 3:20 P.M. [E.D.T.], or about 8 A.M., Howland Island time. The Itasca reported that heavy smoke was bellowing from its funnels at the time, to serve as a signal for the flyer. The cutter’s skipper expressed belief the Earhart plane had descended into the sea within 100 miles of Howland.
The New York Times (1937)
American Heritage has a lengthy essay on Earhart: Searching for Amelia Earhart.
… in 1946 the Air Force says a weather balloon crashed near Roswell, New Mexico.
… in 1961 Ernest Hemingway committed suicide at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
… in 1962 Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart Discount City store (719 Walnut Ave., Rogers, Arkansas). Walton had operated Walton’s Five and Dime in Bentonville, but the Rogers store was the beginning of Wal-Mart.
… in 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.
Today is the day Richard Petty turns 74.
Today is the day Luci Baines Johnson, the younger daughter of President Lyndon Johnson, turns 64.
Larry David turns 64 today as well.
Lindsay Lohan is 25 today.
The year 2010 is half over today at 1PM (noon if you’re not on daylight saving time). How are those New Year’s resolutions working out for you?