|
March in History
March
1, 1642
- York (now in Maine) became the first incorporated American city.
March
1, 1692
- Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and Tituba were arrested for the supposed
practice of witchcraft in Salem MA.
March
1, 1780
- Pennsylvania became the first US state to abolish slavery.
March
1, 1781
- Formal ratification of the Articles of Confederation was
announced by Congress. Under the Articles, Congress was the sole governing
body of the new American national government, consisting of the 13
original states. The Articles remained in effect through the
Revolutionary War
until 1789, when the current U.S. Constitution was adopted.
March
1, 1932
- The 20-month-old son of aviation pioneer Charles A. Lindbergh was
kidnapped from his home in Hopewell, New Jersey. The Lindbergh’s then paid
a $50,000 ransom. However, on May 12, the boy's body was found in a wooded
area a few miles from the house.
March
1, 1961
- President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps, an organization
sending young American volunteers to developing countries to assist with
health care, education and other basic human needs.
March
1, 1974
- Seven former high-ranking officials of the Nixon White House were
indicted for conspiring to obstruct the investigation into the Watergate
break-in. Among those indicted; H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and former
attorney general John Mitchell.
March
2, 1943
- During World War II in the Pacific, a Japanese convoy was attacked by
137 American bombers as the Battle of Bismarck Sea began. The convoy
included eight destroyers and eight transports carrying 7,000 Japanese
soldiers heading toward New Guinea. Four destroyers and all eight
transports were sunk, resulting in 3,500 Japanese drowned, ending Japanese
efforts to send reinforcements to New Guinea.
March
3, 1820
- Maine entered the Union as a free state to counteract the impending
entrance of Missouri as slave state.
*
March 3, 1913
- A women's suffrage march in Washington D.C. was attacked by angry
onlookers while police stood by. The march occurred the day before Woodrow
Wilson's inauguration. Many of the 5,000 women participating were spat
upon and struck in the face as a near riot ensued. Secretary of War Henry
Stimson then ordered soldiers from Fort Myer to restore order.
March
3, 1931
- 'The Star-Spangled Banner' was adopted as the US national anthem.
March
4, 1681
- King Charles II of England granted a huge tract of land in the New World
to William Penn to settle an outstanding debt. The area later became
Pennsylvania.
March
4, 1789
- The first meeting of the new Congress under the new U.S. Constitution
took place in New York City.
March
4, 1830
- Former President John Quincy Adams returned to Congress as a
representative from Massachusetts. He was the first ex-president ever to
return to the House and served eight consecutive terms.
March
4, 1933
- Newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office and delivered
his first inaugural address attempting to restore public confidence during
the Great Depression, stating, "...let me assert my firm belief that the
only thing we have to fear is fear itself..." His cabinet appointments
included the first woman to a Cabinet post, Secretary of Labor, Frances
Perkins.
*
March 5, 1770
- The Boston Massacre occurred as a group of rowdy Americans harassed
British soldiers who then opened fire, killing five and injuring six. The
first man killed was Crispus Attucks, an African American. British Captain
Thomas Preston and eight of his men were arrested and charged with murder.
Their trial took place in October, with colonial lawyer John Adams
defending the British. Captain Preston and six of his men were acquitted.
Two others were found guilty of manslaughter, branded and then released.
March
5, 1868
- The U.S. Senate convened as a court to hear charges against President
Andrew Johnson during impeachment proceedings. The House of
Representatives had already voted to impeach the President. 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 and he remained in
office.
March
5, 1933
- Amid a worsening economic depression, newly elected President Franklin
D. Roosevelt proclaimed a four-day "Bank Holiday" to stop panic
withdrawals by the public and the possible collapse of the American
banking system.
March
5, 1946
- The "Iron Curtain" speech was delivered by Winston Churchill at
Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. Churchill used the term to
describe the boundary in Europe between free countries of the West and
nations of Eastern Europe under Soviet control.
March
6, 1836
- Fort Alamo fell to Mexican troops led by General Santa Anna. The
Mexicans began the siege of the Texas fort on February 23, ending it with
the killing of the last defender. "Remember the Alamo" became a rallying
cry for Texans who went on to defeat Santa Anna in the Battle of San
Jacinto in April.
March
9, 1831
- The French Foreign Legion was founded in Algeria. Its headquarters moved
to France in 1962.
March
10, 1862
- The first issue of U.S. government paper money occurred as $5, $10 and
$20 bills began circulation.
*
March 10, 1880
- The Salvation Army was founded in the United States. The social service
organization was first founded in England by William Booth and operates
today in 90 countries.
March
11, 1702
- The first successful English daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was
published in London (until 1735).
March
11, 1918
- The 'Spanish' influenza first reached America as 107 soldiers become
sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. One quarter of the U.S. population eventually
became ill from the deadly virus, resulting in 500,000 deaths. The death
toll worldwide approached 22 million by the end of 1920.
March
11, 1941
- The Lend-Lease program began allowing Britain to receive American
weapons, machines, raw materials, training and repair services. Ships,
planes, guns and shells, along with food, clothing and metals went to the
embattled British while American
warships began patrolling the North Atlantic and U.S troops were stationed
in Greenland and Iceland. "We must be the great arsenal of democracy,"
President Roosevelt stated concerning the fight against Hitler's Germany.
The initial appropriation was $7 Billion, but by 1946 the figure reached
$50 Billion in aid from the U.S. to its Allies.
March
12, 1609
- The island of Bermuda was colonized by the British after a ship on its
way to Virginia was wrecked on the reefs.
March
12, 1888
- The Great Blizzard of '88 struck the northeastern U.S. The storm lasted
36 hours with snowfall totaling over 40 inches in New York City where over
400 persons died from the surprise storm.
March
12, 1938
- Nazis invaded Austria, then absorbed the country into Hitler's Reich.
March
12, 1999
- Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic became full-fledged members of
NATO, less than ten years after exchanging communist rule for democracy
and ending their Cold War military alliance with the Soviet Union.
March
13, 1781
- Astronomer William Herschel discovered a new planet, which he named "Georgium
Sidus" (the Georgian Planet), in honor of King George III. Today we know
it as the planet Uranus, the third largest (by diameter) in the solar
system.
March 13, 1894
- The first public striptease act was performed in Paris.
March
13, 1943
- A plot to kill Hitler by German army officers failed as a bomb planted
aboard his plane failed to explode due to a faulty detonator.
March
14, 1629
- A Royal charter was granted to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
*
March 14, 1743
- The first American town meeting was held at Faneuil Hall.
*
March 14, 1794
- Cotton was a valuable commodity but it had one major drawback: the seeds
had to be removed from the cotton fibers by hand. Eli Whitney was a
brilliant mechanical engineer who decided to invent a machine to perform
that difficult task. Once he had perfected the machine, he filed for a
patent, which he received on 14 March 1794. As a commercial venture, it
was a failure. Because the machine was fairly simple, other manufacturers
easily pirated the design. Whitney's company folded in 1797.
Once
the cleaning process was mechanized, cotton became an extremely profitable
crop. The cotton boom not only brought great prosperity to the South, but
also created a huge demand for slaves to pick the crop on the gigantic
cotton plantations that rapidly emerged. Thus, the cotton gin revitalized
both the Southern economy and the institution of slavery, which had been
dying out economically. In this sense, the invention of the cotton gin has
been seen as a major, although consequential cause of the Civil War.
March
14, 1837
- Wheatstone & Cooke sent the first British telegraph message
March
15, 44 B.C.
- Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate chamber in Rome by Brutus
and fellow conspirators. After first trying to defend himself against the
murderous onslaught, Caesar saw Brutus with a knife and asked "Et tu,
Brute?" (You too, Brutus?) Caesar then gave up the struggle and was
stabbed to death.
March
16, 1802
- The US Military Academy was established at West Point, New York State by
Gen Sylvanus Thayer of Braintree, MA.
March
16, 1968
- During the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre occurred as American
soldiers of Charlie Company murdered 504 Vietnamese men, women, and
children. Twenty-five U.S. Army officers were later charged with
complicity in the massacre and subsequent coverup, but only one was
convicted, and later pardoned by President Richard Nixon.
March
16, 1968
- New York Senator Robert Kennedy announced his intention to run for the
Democratic presidential nomination.
March
17, 1776
-The end of the Siege of Boston (Evacuation Day). For almost a year (since
April 19, 1775) the siege of Boston remained a stalemate. When General
Knox brought heavy cannon from Fort Ticonderoga the tide quickly turned in
the Americans' favor, and Boston was reclaimed in a bloodless surrender.
The British forces and many Tories departed for Halifax NS.
*
March 17
- Celebrated as Saint Patrick's day commemorating the patron saint of
Ireland.
March 18, 1662
- The first public bus service began operating, in Paris.
March 18, 1891
- First telephone link between London & Paris was inaugurated.
March
18, 1974
- The five-month-old Arab oil embargo against the U.S. was lifted. The
embargo was in retaliation for American support of Israel during the Yom
Kipper War of 1973 in which Egypt and Syria suffered a crushing defeat. In
the U.S., the resulting embargo had caused long lines at gas stations as
prices soared 300 percent amid shortages and a government ban on Sunday
gas sales.
March
19, 721 BC
- The first-ever recorded solar eclipse was seen from Babylon
March
19, 2003
- The United States launched an attack against Iraq to topple dictator
Saddam Hussein from power. The attack commenced with aerial strikes
against military sites, followed the next day by an invasion of southern
Iraq by U.S. and British ground troops. The troops made rapid progress
northward and conquered the country's capital, Baghdad, just 21 days
later, ending the rule of Saddam.
March
20, 1852
- Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was published.
March
21, 1943
- A suicide/assassination plot by German Army officers against Hitler
failed as the conspirators were unable to locate a short fuse for the bomb
which was to be carried in the coat pocket of General von Gersdorff to
ceremonies Hitler was attending.
March
22, 1622
- Algonquian Indians led by Opechancanough, chief of the Pamunkey,
massacred settlers around Jamestown, Virginia. This was the first major
massacre of European colonists by Native Americans, and left 347 settlers
dead: more than 30% of the Jamestown population.
*
March 22, 1895
- First public showing of film on screen, in Paris by the Lumičre
brothers.
March
22, 1972
- The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the
U.S. Senate and then sent to the states for ratification. The ERA, as it
became known, prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender, stating,
"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any State on account of sex," and that "the Congress
shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of This article." Although 22 of the required 38 states quickly
ratified the Amendment, opposition arose over concerns that women would be
subject to the draft and combat duty, along with other legal concerns. The
ERA eventually failed (by 3 states) to achieve ratification despite an
extension of the deadline to June 1982.
March
23, 1765
- The British parliament passed the Stamp Act, imposing a tax on all
publications and official documents in America.
March
23, 1775
- Patrick Henry, US revolutionary and lawyer, delivered a moving speech
for arming the Virginia militia against the English in Richmond, Virginia.
During his speech he said, "I know not what course others may take; but as
for me, give me liberty or give me death."
March
24, 1989
- The largest oil spill in U.S. History occurred as the oil tanker
Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound off Alaska, resulting
in 11 million gallons of oil leaking into the natural habitat over a
stretch of 45 miles.
March
25, 1609
- English explorer Henry Hudson set off from Amsterdam, on behalf of the
Dutch East India Company, in search of the Northwest Passage.
March 25, 1807 - The English Parliament abolished the slave trade
following a long campaign against it by Quakers and others.
March
25, 1843
- A pedestrian tunnel was opened beneath the Thames in London, linking
Wapping with Rotherhithe.
March
26, 1979
- The Camp David Accord ended 30 years of warfare between Israel and
Egypt. Prime Minster Menachem Begin of Israel and Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat signed the treaty of mutual recognition and peace, fostered by U.S.
President Jimmy Carter.
March
26, 1992
- Soviet Cosmonaut Serge Krikalev returned to a new country (Russia) after
spending 313 days on board the Mir Space Station. During his stay in
space, the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed and became the Commonwealth of
Independent States.
March
27, 1794
- The United States Navy was formed.
March
27, 1977
- The worst accident in the history of civil aviation occurred as two
Boeing 747 jets collided on the ground in the Canary Islands, resulting in
570 deaths.
March
28, 1979
- Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant
accident occurred in which uranium in the reactor core overheated due to
the failure of a cooling valve. A pressure relief valve then stuck causing
the water level to plummet, threatening a catastrophic nuclear meltdown.
The accident resulted in the release of radioactive steam into the
atmosphere, and created a storm of controversy over the necessity and
safety of nuclear power plants.
March
29, 1979
- In the U.S. Congress, the House Select Committee on Assassinations
released its final report regarding the killings of John F. Kennedy,
Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy.
March
30, 1775
- The British parliament passed an act forbidding its North American
colonies to trade with any other country than Britain.
March
30, 1842
- Ether was first used as an anesthetic during surgery, by US doctor
Crawford Long.
"The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera. It is absurd to go on
seeking it. 'Knife' and 'pain' are two words in surgery that must live
forever in the consciousness of the patient." Dr Alfred Velpeau of the
Paris Faculty of Medicine was an old-school physician who was unimpressed.
March
30, 1981
- Newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest while
walking toward his limousine in Washington D.C., following a speech inside
a hotel. The president was then rushed into surgery to remove a 22-caliber
bullet from his left lung. "I should have ducked," Reagan joked. Three
others were also hit including Reagan's Press Secretary, James Brady, who
was shot in the forehead but survived. The president soon recovered from
the surgery and returned to his duties.
*March
31, 1889
- The Eiffel Tower, built for the Universal Exhibition, was inaugurated.
March
31, 1933
- The Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, was founded. Unemployed men
and youths were organized into quasi-military formations and worked
outdoors in national parks and forests.
March
31, 1968
- President Lyndon Johnson made a surprise announcement that he would not
seek re-election as a result of the Vietnam conflict.
March
31, 1991
- The Soviet Republic of Georgia, birthplace of Joseph Stalin, voted to
declare its independence from the Soviet Union, after similar votes by
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Following the vote in Georgia, Soviet
troops were dispatched from Moscow under a state of emergency.
Back to top |
