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February in History
February 1, 1884
- The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
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February 1, 1893
- Thomas Edison opened the first film studio to produce films for peepshow
machines in New Jersey.
February 1, 1960
- In Greensboro, North Carolina, four African American students sat down
and ordered coffee at a lunch counter in Woolworths. They were refused
service, but did not leave. Instead, they waited all day. The scene was
repeated over the next few days, with protests spreading to other southern
states, resulting in the eventual arrest of over 1,600 persons for
participating in sit-ins.
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February 1, 2003
- Sixteen minutes before it was scheduled to land, the Space Shuttle
Columbia broke apart in flight over west Texas, killing all seven crew
members. The accident may have resulted from damage caused during liftoff
when a piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank broke off,
piercing a hole in the shuttle's left wing that allowed hot gases to
penetrate the wing upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. This was the
second space shuttle lost in flight. In January 1986, Challenger
exploded during liftoff.
February 2, 1801
- The first parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
assembled.
February 2, 1848
- The war between the U.S. and Mexico ended with the signing of the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In exchange for $15 million, the U.S. acquired the
areas encompassing parts or all of present day California, Nevada, Utah,
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas. The treaty was ratified
on March 10, 1848.
February 2, 1852
- Britain's first men's public flushing toilets opened on Fleet Street,
London.
Summer 2001: Boston's first public flushing toilets opened.
February 2, 1990
- In South Africa, the 30-year-old ban on the African National Congress
was lifted by President F.W. de Klerk, who also promised to free Nelson
Mandela and remove restrictions on political opposition groups.
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February 3, 1690
- The first paper money in America was issued in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony.
February 3, 1865
- A four-hour peace conference occurred between President Abraham Lincoln
and Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens at Hampton Roads,
Virginia. The meeting was unsuccessful as President Lincoln insisted there
could be no armistice until the Confederates acknowledged Federal
authority. The Confederates wanted an armistice first. Thus the U.S. Civil
War continued.
February 3, 1870
- The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing
the right of citizens to vote, regardless of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.
February 3, 1913
- The 16th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, authorizing the
power to impose and collect income tax.
February 3, 1919
- The League of Nations held its first meeting in Paris, with US President
Wilson chairing.
February 4, 1861
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Apache Chief Chochise was arrested in Arizona by the U.S. Army for raiding
a ranch. Chochise then escaped and declared war, beginning the period
known as the Apache Wars, which lasted 25 years.
February 4, 1985
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Twenty countries in the United Nations signed a document entitled
"Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment."
February 5, 1972
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After many hijacking incidents, airlines in the United States began
mandatory inspection of passengers and luggage.
February 6, 1788
- Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the new U.S.
Constitution, by a vote of 187 to 168.
February 6, 1933
- The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted. It set the date
for the Presidential Inauguration as Jan. 20, instead of the old date of
March 4. It also sets Jan. 3 as the official opening date of Congress,
eliminating 'lame-duck' sessions of Congress.
February 7, 1795
- The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting the
powers of the Federal Judiciary over the states by prohibiting Federal
lawsuits against individual states.
February 8, 1740
- The 'Great Frost' of London ended (began 25 Dec 1739) in which the
Thames was solidly frozen over: stalls were erected and fairs were held on
the ice. The phenomenon is depicted in many contemporary paintings.
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February 8, 1910
- The Boy Scouts of America was founded by William Boyce in Washington,
DC, modeled after the British Boy Scouts.
February 8, 1924
- The gas chamber was used in the USA for the first time, in the Nevada
State Prison.
February 9, 1540
- The first recorded horse racing event in Britain took place at Chester.
February 9, 1825
- The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams sixth President
February 9, 1943
- During World War II in the Pacific, U.S. troops captured Guadalcanal in
the Solomon Islands after six months of battle, with 9,000 Japanese and
2,000 Americans killed.
February 10, 1763
- The Treaty of Paris ended the French-Indian War. France gave up all her
territories in the New World except New Orleans and a few scattered
islands.
February 10, 1774
- Andrew Becker demonstrated his practical diving suit in the River
Thames.
February 10, 1967
- The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, clarifying the
procedures for presidential succession in the event of the disability of a
sitting president.
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February 11, 1805
- Sixteen-year-old Sacagawea, the Shoshone guide for Lewis & Clark, gave
birth to a son, with Meriwether Lewis serving as midwife.
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February 11, 1809
- Robert Fulton patented the steamboat.
February 11, 1990
- In South Africa, Nelson Mandela, at age 71, was released from prison
after serving 27 years of a life sentence on charges of attempting to
overthrow the apartheid government. In April 1994, he was elected
president in the first all-race elections.
February 12, 1831
- Rubber galoshes first went on sale, in Boston.
February 12, 1999
- The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in the U.S. Senate
ended. With the whole world watching via television, senators stood up one
by one during the final role call to vote "guilty" or "not guilty." On
Article 1, the charge of perjury, 55 senators, including 10 Republicans
and all 45 Democrats voted not guilty. On Article 2, obstruction of
justice, the Senate split evenly, 50 for and 50 against the President.
With the necessary two-thirds majority not having been achieved, the
President was thus acquitted on both charges and would serve out the
remainder of his term of office lasting through January 20, 2001.
February 13, 1635
- Boston Latin School, the first public school in America was established
in Boston, Mass.
February 13, 1741
- The first magazine in the New World was published. Because newspapers
and books were considered necessities, they appeared very early in
colonial America. Magazines, on the other hand, were luxury items: not
enough people had extra money to buy them or extra leisure time to read
them. Thus the magazine was the last of the print media to appear in
America. Benjamin Franklin and another Philadelphia printer, Andrew
Bradford, had the same idea at the same time. On 13 February 1741, three
days before Franklin could produce the first issue of his "General
Magazine," Bradford and former Franklin editor John Webbe published the
first issue of their "American Magazine". Franklin is said to have felt
betrayed, and never mentioned the project in his autobiography. Neither
magazine was successful: Bradford's magazine ceased publication after
three issues; Franklin's folded after six. Still, magazine publication was
launched in America, and by the end of the 18th century several magazines
reflected the political and cultural energy of the new nation.
February 13, 1945
- The Allies began massive bombing raids on Dresden, Germany, starting a
four day firestorm visible for 200 miles that engulfed the historic old
city, killing an estimated 135,000 persons.
February 14
- Celebrated as Valentine's Day, one of the most widely observed
unofficial holidays in which romantic greeting cards and gifts are
exchanged.
February 14, 1778
- In 1778, the American ship Ranger' carried the recently adopted
Star and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in
France.
February 14, 1849
- Photographer Mathew Brady took the first photograph of a U.S. President
in office, James Polk.
February 14, 1929
- The St. Valentine's Day massacre occurred in Chicago as seven members of
the Bugs Moran gang were gunned down by five of Al Capone's mobsters
posing as police.
February 15, 1882
- The first shipment of frozen meat left New Zealand for England. This was
a significant event: NZ was to become a major exporter of meat, the
foundation of its new economy. It made lamb plentiful in Britain, and
marked the country as a net importer of meat.
February 15, 1898
- In Havana, the U.S. Battleship Maine sent to Cuba on a goodwill
tour, was blown up while at anchor and quickly sank with 260 crew members
lost. Although most likely an accidental explosion, the sensational
"yellow press" reported it as an enemy attack in order to stir enthusiasm
for war. The incident inflamed public opinion in the U.S., resulting in a
declaration of war against Spain on April 25, 1898, amid cries of
"Remember the Maine!"
February 15, 1933
- An assassination attempt on newly elected U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt occurred in Miami, Florida. A spectator deflected the gunman's
aim, as a result, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was shot and killed instead.
The gunman, an Italian immigrant, was captured and later sentenced to
death.
February 15, 1989
- The Soviets completed their military withdrawal from Afghanistan after
nine years of unsuccessful involvement in the civil war between Muslim
rebel groups and the Soviet backed government, with over 15,000 Soviet
soldiers killed.
February 16, 1659
- The first British check was written.
February 17, 1865
- During the U.S. Civil War, The South Carolina capital city, Columbia,
was destroyed by fire as Major General William Tecumseh Sherman marched
through Fort Sumter. South Carolina was returned to the Union after nearly
a year and a half under Confederate control. The fort had been the scene
of the first shots of the war.
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February 17, 1909
- Apache Chief Geronimo (1829-1909) died while in captivity at Fort Sill,
Oklahoma. He had led a small group of warriors on raids throughout Arizona
and New Mexico. Caught once, he escaped. The U.S. Army then sent 5,000 men
to recapture him.
February 18, 1861
- Jefferson F Davis was inaugurated as the Confederacy's provisional
president at a ceremony held in Montgomery AL.
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February 19, 1878
- US inventor Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.
February 19, 1942
- Internment of Japanese Americans began after President Roosevelt issued
an executive order requiring those living on the Pacific coast to report
for relocation. Over 110,000 persons shut down their businesses, sold off
their property, quit school and moved inland to relocation centers.
February 20, 1792
- The US Postal Service was created.
February 20, 1942
- Lt. Edward O'Hare downed five out of nine Japanese bombers that were
attacking the carrier Lexington. His portrait proudly hangs in the airport
that took his name: O'Hare, in Chicago.
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February 21, 1804
- British engineer Richard Trevithick demonstrated the first steam engine
to run on rails.
February 21, 1878
- The world's first telephone book was issued by the New Haven Telephone
Company in Connecticut, containing the names of its 50 subscribers.
February 21, 1965
- Former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X (1925-1965) was shot and killed
while delivering a speech in a ballroom in New York City.
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February 21, 1972
- President Richard Nixon arrived in China for historic meetings with
Chairman Mao Tse-tung and Premier Chou En-lai.
February 22, 1819
- Florida was ceded to the United States by Spain with the signing of the
Adams-Onis Treaty. Signed by John Quincy Adams and Spanish Minister to the
US Don Luis de Onis, the agreement included a payment of five million
dollars by the United States.
February 22, 1879
- US storekeeper FW Woolworth opened his first 'five-and-ten-cent' store
in Utica NY. It was the first chain store.
February 22, 1956
- In Montgomery, Alabama, 80 participants in the three month old bus
boycott voluntarily gave themselves up for arrest after an ultimatum from
white city leaders. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were among those
arrested. Later in 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court mandated desegregation of
the buses.
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February 23, 1815
- Death of steamship and warship pioneer Robert Fulton. As a result of
falling through the ice, Fulton suffered complications, and died in New
York City at age 50. He was buried at Trinity Church.
February 23, 1863
- Lake Victoria, in Africa, was proclaimed to be the source of the River
Nile by British explorers John Speke and JA Grant.
February 23, 1942
- The first attack on the U.S. mainland occurred as a Japanese submarine
shelled an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing minor
damage.
February 23, 1991
- In Desert Storm, the Allied ground offensive began after a devastating
month long air campaign targeting Iraqi troops in Iraq and Kuwait.
February 24, 1582
- Pope Gregory XIII issued a Papal Bull to drop ten days from the
calendar. In Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and other major Roman
Catholic countries, the day following October 4, 1582 was to be October
15, 1582. To better approximate the length of the astronomical year in
order to make more accurate calculation of saints' days and other
religious events, the Julian calendar, which had been in effect for 1600
years, it was to be replaced by the Gregorian calendar, the fruit of
careful research and calculation by a group of mathematicians and scholars
assembled by the Vatican. The removal of ten days was meant to correct the
error accumulated since AD 1, and to bring the date back in line with the
seasons. Most Roman Catholic countries quickly adopted the new calendar,
but Protestant countries at first refused to make the change decreed by a
pope. It wasn't until 1701 that the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, the
Netherlands, and the greater part of Protestant Germany made the switch,
and England didn't move to the Gregorian calendar until 1752, with Sweden
coming on board the following year. By that time, 11 days had to be added
instead of the original 10. Even more resistant than the Protestant
nations were the Eastern Orthodox countries. It took the Bolshevik
revolution of 1918 to make the change in Russia, and the Greeks didn't go
Gregorian until 1923. In London of 1752, crowds rioted, yelling "Give us
back our 11 days!"
February 24, 1867
- The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson.
The vote followed bitter opposition by the Radical Republicans in Congress
to Johnson's reconstruction policies in the South. However, the effort to
remove him failed in the Senate by just one vote.
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February 25, 1836
- From early childhood, Samuel Colt was fascinated by the mechanics of
firearms. At the age of 16, aboard a ship bound for India, he carved a
wooden model of a handgun with a revolving chamber. The idea was suggested
to him by the wheel of the ship.
February 25, 1862
- The ironclad Monitor was commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
February 26, 1797
- The first £ note was issued by the Bank of England.
February 26, 1848
- The Communist Manifesto pamphlet was published in London by two
young socialists, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, advocating the abolition
of all private property and a system in which workers own all the means of
production, land, factories and machinery.
February 26, 1994
- Political foes of Russian President Boris Yeltsin were freed by a
general amnesty granted by the new Russian Parliament.
February 27, 1557
- The first Russian Embassy opened in London; exactly one year later, the
first trade mission arrived.
February 27, 1827
- The first Mardi-Gras celebration was held in New Orleans.
February 27, 1950
- The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting the
president to two terms or a maximum of ten years in office.
February 27, 1991
- In Desert Storm, the 100 hour ground war ended as Allied troops entered
Kuwait just four days after launching their offensive against Iraqi
forces.
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February 28, 1066
- Westminster Abbey in London opened.
February 28, 1772
- The Boston assembly threatened secession from Britain unless rights of
colonies were maintained.
February 28, 1827
- The beginning of a new age. The Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company was
incorporated, the first railroad in America chartered to carry passengers
and freight. Investors hoped a railroad would allow Baltimore, the second
largest US city at that time, to successfully compete with New York for
western trade. New Yorkers were profiting from easy access to the Midwest
via the Erie Canal. Construction of track began the following July, and
the first 13 mile (21 km) section was opened in 1830.
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