February 15
Today in America's Present Past
1726 | Founder Abraham Clark was born.
1763 | European countries signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg, ending the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Year’s War. This treaty, along with the Treaty of Paris (Feb 10), ended the Seven Years’ War.
1768 | Manufacturing of mustard in America began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1790 | SCOTUS: Justice John Rutledge was sworn in.
1799 | Pennsylvania printed the nation’s first paper ballots.
1804 | Civil Rights: New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery. New Jersey passed the “Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.” It was the last northern state to do so. It didn’t free existing slaves immediately but granted freedom to children born to enslaved women after July 4, 1804 (after they served an apprenticeship).
1809 | Entrepreneur Cyrus McCormick was born.
1812 | Entrepreneur Charles Lewis Tiffany was born.
1820 | Founder William Ellery died.
1820 | Suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony was born.
1835 | General Alexander Stuart Webb was born.
1845 | Diplomat Elihu Root was born.
1862 | Civil War: General Grant launched an attack on Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Following the fall of Fort Henry, Grant moved on Donelson. The battle resulted in the first major Union strategic victory, forcing the Confederates to give up Kentucky and much of West Tennessee.
1870 | The Northern Pacific Railway construction started. Building began at Carlton, Minnesota, near Duluth. This was the second transcontinental railroad, eventually linking the Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest.
1879 | Congress: Women are authorized to practice before the Supreme Court. President Hayes signed the law allowing female attorneys to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Belva Lockwood became the first to do so the following year.
1882 | Actor John Barrymore was born.
1884 | Entrepreneur Alfred Carlton Gilbert was born.
1898 | U.S.S. Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. The armored cruiser exploded killing 266 sailors. Although the cause was likely an internal coal bunker fire, “Yellow Journalism” blamed Spain, propelling the U.S. into the Spanish-American War with the cry, “Remember the Maine!”
1903 | Morris & Rose Michtom introduced America’s first “Teddy Bear” for sale. Inspired by a Clifford Berryman cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub, the Michtoms displayed two stuffed bears in their shop window on this day, with Roosevelt.’s permission.
1905 | Novelist and politician Lew Wallace died.
1907 | Actor Cesar Romero was born.
1918 | WWI: U.S. Army troop ship was sunk by Germany off of Ireland.
1919 | The American Legion was formed in Paris, France.
1922 | Politician John B. Anderson was born.
1928 | Cartoonist Norman Bridwell was born.
1933 | POTUS: An attempted assassination (Giuseppe Zangara )of President-elect Franklin Roosevelt missed but killing nearby Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in Miami, Florida.
1935 | Astronaut Roger B. Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1943 | WWII: Propaganda poster “We Can We Do It!” was published by J. Howard Miller is responsible for manufacturing plants in the Midwest. This was produced for Westinghouse Electric. While now known as “Rosie the Riveter,” it was actually intended as a private motivational poster to discourage strikes and absenteeism, only becoming a feminist icon in the 1980s.
1945 | Author Douglas Hofstadter was born.
1953 | The first successful use of a heart-lung machine on a human was performed by Dr. John Gibbon.
1954 | Cartoonist Matt Groening was born.
1964 | Actor Chris Farley was born.
1965 | Musician Nat King Cole died.
1972 | Copyright protection is extended to sound recordings in the U.S. Before this, federal copyright only protected the sheet music (composition). This act provided federal protection against the unauthorized duplication of the actual sounds captured on a recording.
1978 | Escaped murderer Ted Bundy was recaptured.
1984 | Ethel Merman died.
1992 | Murder Jeffrey Dahmer was found guilty.
1998 | Physicist Richard Feynman died.
2011 | Poet Maya Angelou was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
2022 | Columnist P.J. O’Rourke died.
2023 | Actress Raquel Welch died.