Category: History

was handed down by the Supreme Court on this date in 1857.

The Missouri State Archives has an extensive report on Dred Scott, from which the following is taken:

[Chief Justice] Taney’s “Opinion of the Court” stated that Negroes were not citizens of the United States and had no right to bring suit in a federal court. In addition, Dred Scott had not become a free man as a result of his residence at Fort Snelling because the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional; Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in the federal territories. Furthermore, Dred Scott did not become free based on his residence at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island), because his status, upon return to Missouri, depended upon Missouri law as determined in Scott v. Emerson. Because Dred Scott was not free under either the provisions of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 or the 1820 Missouri Compromise, he was still a slave, not a citizen with the right to bring suit in the federal court system. According to Taney’s opinion, African Americans were “beings of an inferior order so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”… Taney returned the case to the circuit court with instructions to dismiss it for want of jurisdiction.

was born on this date in 1475.

Detail from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

It fell to Mexican forces on this date in 1836.

was on this date in 1770. The Boston Massacre Historical Society has contemporary news reports and drawings, as well as historical background from which the following was extracted:

By 1770 Boston was an occupied town. It had been compelled to accept the presence of four regiments of British regulars. For eighteen months they had treated the inhabitants with insolence, posted sentries in front of public offices, engaged in street fights with the town boys, and used the Boston Common for flogging unruly soldiers and exercising troops (then acting governor, Lt. Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, refuted these allegations).

It began when a young barber’s apprentice by the name of Edward Garrick shouted an insult at Hugh White, a soldier of the 29th Regiment on sentry duty in front of the Customs House (a symbol of royal authority). White gave the apprentice a knock on the ear with the butt of his rifle. The boy howled for help, and returned with a sizable and unruly crowd, cheifly boys and youths, and, pointing at White, said, “There’s the son of a bitch that knocked me down!” Someone rang the bells in a nearby church. This action drew more people into the street. The sentry found himself confronting an angry mob. He stood his ground and called for the main guard. Six men, led by a corporal, responded. They were soon joined by the officer on duty, Captain John Preston of the “29th,” with guns unloaded but with fixed bayonets, to White’s relief.

The crowd soon swelled to almost 400 men. They began pelting the soldiers with snowballs and chunks of ice. Led by a huge mulatto, Crispus Attucks, they surged to within inches of the fixed bayonets and dared the soldiers to fire. The soldiers loaded their guns, but the crowd, far from drawing back, came close, calling out, “Come on you rascals, you bloody backs, you lobster scoundrels, fire if you dare, God damn you, fire and be damned, we know you dare not,” and striking at the soldiers with clubs and a cutlass.

Whereupon the soldiers fired, killing three men outright and mortally wounding two others. The mob fled. As the gunsmoke cleared, Crispus Attucks (left) and four others lay dead or dying. Six more men were wounded but survived.

Captain Preston, the soldiers, and four men in the Customs House alleged to have fired shots from it were promptly arrested, indicted for murder, and held in prison pending trial for murder in the Massachusetts Superior Court, which prudently postponed the trial until the fall, thus giving the people of Boston and vicinity from whom the jury would be drawn, time to cool off.

All troops were immediately withdrawn from town. John Adams defended the soldiers at their trials (Oct. 24-30 and Nov. 27-Dec. 5, 1770); Preston and four men were acquitted, while two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and released after being branded on the hand.

The calm with which the outcome of the trials was accepted doubtless was attributable in large measure to the evidence at the trials that the soldiers had not fired until they were attacked. But another important factor was the withdrawl of the troops from Boston immediately after the “Massacre.” The sending of British warships and troops to Boston for the protection of the American Customs Board and the “Massacre” resulting from the prescence of troops there were, however, ultimately of great significance in the movement toward the revolution.

In a post earlier today NewMexiKen noted that the Presidential inauguration occurred on March 4th 36 times. Not exactly.

In 1849, March 4 happened to be a Sunday. James Polk’s term ended at noon that Sunday, but President-elect Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn in on the Sabbath.

So who was President? Some have claimed it was Missouri senator David Rice Atchison. Atchison was President Pro-Tempore of the Senate and, as such, third in line to the presidency. Atchison must have been President for a day.

The Urban Legends Reference Pages has a good summary of the background and argues persuasively that Atchison was never President.

The Constitution says that before “he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation . . .” It doesn’t say he has to take the oath before becoming President; merely that he must take the oath before executing the duties of the Presidency. Whether there is a real distinction here is something that has never been tested, but we suspect that if, for example, the President were killed during a nuclear attack by a hostile foreign power, the cabinet and the military wouldn’t stand around waiting for the Vice-President to be sworn in before accepting his orders. If that sounds like still more semantic trickery, then keep in mind that David Rice Atchison was never sworn in, either. If Zachary Taylor wasn’t President because he hadn’t been sworn in, then how can Atchison, who wasn’t sworn in either, claim to have been President?

Take a look at Atchison’s grave marker.

In 1877 and 1917 the inauguration was also deferred because of Sunday. Rutherford B. Hayes took the oath of office privately on March 3. Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated for his second term on March 5.

UPDATE March 5: James Monroe’s second inauguration was on March 5, 1821.

Fourteen of the 46 Vice Presidents of the U.S. have become President. Can you name the only one of the 14 who did not immediately succeed the President under whom he served?

Vermont, as noted below, was the 14th state, joining the Union on March 4, 1791. Can you name the 13th and 15th states?

March 4th is among the most significant days of the year in the history of the United States Government.

The Constitution was approved on September 17, 1787. The required ninth state, New Hampshire, ratified the Constitution on June 21, 1788. On September 13, 1788, the Confederation Congress approved an act that called for “the first Wednesday in March next to be the time for commencing proceedings under the Constitution.”

The first Wednesday the following March was the 4th day of March, and hence the terms of the President and Vice President and members of Congress began on March 4, 1789. As it turned out, the first Congress convened on March 4, but did not actually have a quorum in either house until early April. Washington did not take the oath of office until April 30, 1789.

But officially it all began on March 4, 1789.

Thirty-six times — every fourth year for 144 years — March 4th was inauguration day. The 20th Amendment changed it to January 20, and Congress to January 3, effective October 15, 1933.

was admitted to the Union as the 14th state on this date in 1791.

was established on this date in 1849.

The Mission of the Department of the Interior is to protect and provide access to our Nation’s natural and cultural heritage and honor our trust responsibilities to Indian Tribes and our commitments to island communities.

DOI manages 507 million acres of surface land, or about one-fifth of the land in the United States, including:

• 262 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management
• 95 million acres managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service
• 84 million acres managed by the National Park Service
• 8.6 million acres managed by the Bureau of Reclamation
• 55.7 million acres managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs

officially became the national anthem of the United States on this date in 1931.

The inspiration for the song.

entered the Union as the 27th state the on this date in 1845.

Once again NewMexiKen is reminded of Lincoln’s words in his Second Inaugural Address. Surely Lincoln didn’t think God was taking sides.

Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.

It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged.

The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.

“Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.”

If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Would that presidential candidates were thoughtful enough to quote Lincoln.

[The paragraph breaks in Lincoln’s text inserted by NewMexiKen.]

The examination of witnesses at the Salem Meeting House began on this date in 1692. Before the 17-month ordeal was over, 25 had died — nineteen executed by hanging, one man tortured to death, and five who succumbed to conditions while in jail. More than 160 people were accused, most jailed and many deprived of property and legal rights. Those who confessed and accused others were saved; those who maintained their innocence were executed.

Ohio became the 17th state on this date in 1803.

Nebraska became the 37th state on this date in 1867.

The Writer’s Almanac has a informative discussion of leap years and calendars. It begins with:

Today is Leap Day, the extra day that we tack on to February every four years to keep the calendar in time with the seasons. We do this because the earth does not orbit the sun in a nice round 365 days, but rather in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds.

And includes this:

When Great Britain finally accepted the Gregorian calendar in 1751, eleven days had to be deleted from the year. The change led to antipapal riots, because people believed the Pope had shortened their lives. Mobs gathered in the streets, chanting, “Give us back our eleven days!” When the British colonies in America made the change the following year, Ben Franklin wrote in an editorial, “Be not astonished, nor look with scorn, dear reader, at . . . the loss of so much time. . . . What an indulgence is here, for those who love their pillow, to lie down in peace on the second [day] of this month and not awake till the morning of the fourteenth.”

was delivered on this date in 1860. Abraham Lincoln Online.org provides the background.

An eyewitness that evening said, “When Lincoln rose to speak, I was greatly disappointed. He was tall, tall, – oh, how tall! and so angular and awkward that I had, for an instant, a feeling of pity for so ungainly a man.” However, once Lincoln warmed up, “his face lighted up as with an inward fire; the whole man was transfigured. I forgot his clothes, his personal appearance, and his individual peculiarities. Presently, forgetting myself, I was on my feet like the rest, yelling like a wild Indian, cheering this wonderful man.”

Herndon, who knew the speech but was not present, said it was “devoid of all rhetorical imagry.” Rather, “it was constructed with a view to accuracy of statement, simplicity of language, and unity of thought. In some respects like a lawyer’s brief, it was logical, temperate in tone, powerful – irresistibly driving conviction home to men’s reasons and their souls.”

The speech electrified Lincoln’s hearers and gained him important political support in Seward’s home territory. Said a New York writer, “No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience.” After being printed by New York newspapers, the speech was widely circulated as campaign literature.

Easily one of Lincoln’s best efforts, it revealed his singular mastery of ideas and issues in a way that justified loyal support. Here we can see him pursuing facts, forming them into meaningful patterns, pressing relentlessly toward his conclusion.

With a deft touch, Lincoln exposed the roots of sectional strife and the inconsistent positions of Senator Stephen Douglas and Chief Justice Roger Taney. He urged fellow Republicans not to capitulate to Southern demands to recognize slavery as being right, but to “stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively.”

Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address was the first sign that he was a serious and viable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

Matthew Brady took Lincoln’s photo before the speech.

The U.S. Marines raised the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on this date in 1945.

The Adams Onis Treaty was concluded on this date in 1819.

His Catholic Majesty cedes to the United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida.

The boundary-line between the two countries, west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulph of Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches, or Red River; then following the course of the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then, crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a line due north, to the river Arkansas; thence, following the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea.

The Avalon Project has the complete text of the Treaty.

Two Marine divisions landed on Iwo Jima on this date in 1945; 30,000 troops came ashore that first day. Their first objective was Mt. Suribachi.

Thomas Edison received a patent for the phonograph on this date in 1878.

The phonograph was developed as a result of Thomas Edison’s work on two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone. In 1877, Edison was working on a machine that would transcribe telegraphic messages through indentations on paper tape…This development led Edison to speculate that a telephone message could also be recorded in a similar fashion. He experimented with a diaphragm which had an embossing point and was held against rapidly-moving paraffin paper. The speaking vibrations made indentations in the paper. Edison later changed the paper to a metal cylinder with tin foil wrapped around it. The machine had two diaphragm-and-needle units, one for recording, and one for playback. When one would speak into a mouthpiece, the sound vibrations would be indented onto the cylinder by the recording needle in a vertical (or hill and dale) groove pattern. Edison gave a sketch of the machine to his mechanic, John Kreusi, to build, which Kreusi supposedly did within 30 hours. Edison immediately tested the machine by speaking the nursery rhyme into the mouthpiece, “Mary had a little lamb.” To his amazement, the machine played his words back to him. …

The invention was highly original. The only other recorded evidence of such an invention was in a paper by French scientist Charles Cros, written on April 18, 1877. There were some differences, however, between the two men’s ideas, and Cros’s work remained only a theory, since he did not produce a working model of it.

Source: Library of Congress

Didn’t look much like an iPod.

This from an article on Squaw Peak in The Arizona Republic last spring:

In December 1944, during World War II, 25 German soldiers escaped from a POW camp set up in Papago Park [Phoenix]. Some of the escapees intended to float a boat down the Salt River, which they had seen only on maps. They were sorely disappointed when they discovered that the river was dry. All the prisoners were quickly captured, except for their leader, a U-boat captain, who hid for a month in a cave on Squaw Peak before he was recaptured.

On February 15, 1898, a mysterious explosion destroyed the American battleship Maine in Havana Harbor and helped propel the United States into a war with Spain. The USS Maine was in Cuba, officially, on a mission of friendly courtesy and, incidentally, to protect American lives and property in the event that Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain might escalate into full-blown warfare. “Yet,” writes author Tom Miller, “the visit was neither spontaneous nor altruistic; the United States had been eyeing Cuba for almost a century.”

On board the Maine that sultry Tuesday night were 350 crew and officers. Shortly after 9 p.m. the ship’s bugler, C. H. Newton, blew taps. The ship bobbed listlessly, its imposing 100-yard length visible from stem to stern. “At 9:40 p.m.,” writes Miller, “the ship’s forward end abruptly lifted itself from the water. Along the pier, passersby could hear a rumbling explosion. Within seconds, another eruption–this one deafening and massive–splintered the bow, sending anything that wasn’t battened down, and most that was, flying more than 200 feet into the air…. In all, 266 of the 350 men aboard the Maine were killed.”

The American press was quick to point to an external explosion–a mine or torpedo–as the cause of the tragedy. An official U.S. investigation agreed. On April 25, 1898, Congress formally declared war on Spain. By summer’s end, Spain had ceded Cuba, along with the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam, to the United States.

In 1976, Adm. Hyman Rickover of the U.S. Navy mounted yet another investigation into the cause of the Maine disaster. His team of experts found that the ship’s demise was self- inflicted–likely the result of a coal bunker fire. There are those, however, who still maintain that an external blast was to blame. Some people, it seems, just won’t let you forget the Maine.

–Source: Smithsonian Magazine, February 1998.

was admitted to the Union as the 48th state on this date in 1912.