TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 9
1431 Judges’ investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government.
1719 Philip V of Spain declares war on France.
1768 Philip Astley opens the world’s first modern circus
1776 Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense, a scathing attack on King George III’s reign over the colonies and a call for complete independence.
1788 Connecticut became the 5th state in the United States.
1793 Jean Pierre Blanchard makes the first balloon flight in North America.
1799 British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.
1861 Mississippi secedes from the Union.
1861 The first shots of the American Civil War are fired The steamer, Star of the West, was fired upon by the Confederates as it attempted to enter Charleston Harbor
1902 New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.
1905 A strike in St. Petersburg and Peaceful protesters go to the Winter Palace to give the Tsar a petition and the Imperial Guard fires on the crowd, killing two-hundred people
1908 Count Zeppelin announces plans for his airship to carry 100 passengers.
1912 Colonel Theodore Roosevelt announces that he will run for president if asked.
1915 Pancho Villa signs a treaty with the United States, halting border conflicts.
1929 The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville, TN. The company’s purpose was to train dogs to guide the blind.
1936 The United States Army adopted the semi-automatic rifle.
1941 6,000 Jews exterminated in pogrom in Bucharest, Romania
1958 Toyota and Datsun make their first appearances in the United States at the Imported Motor Car Show in Los Angeles, California.
1964 U.S. forces kill six Panamanian students protesting in the canal zone.
1991 – U.S. secretary of state Baker and Iraqi foreign minister Aziz met for 61/2 hours in Geneva, but failed to reach any agreement that would forestall war in the Persian Gulf.
1996 A raid by Chechen separatists in the city of Kizlyar turns into a hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
2002 The U.S. Justice Department announced that it was pursuing a criminal investigation of Enron Corp. The company had filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.
2007 Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, unveils the first iPhone.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
