TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: MAY 24
1543 Nicolaus Copernicus publishes proof of a sun-centered solar system. He dies just after publication
1595 Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library
1610 Sir Thomas Gates institutes “laws divine moral and marshal, ” a harsh civil code for Jamestown
1689 The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration, protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics are specifically excluded from exemption
1726 People’s revolt due to increase in gin/brandy tax
1738 The Methodist Church is established.
1764 Bostonian lawyer James Otis denounced “taxation without representation” and called for the colonies to unite in demonstrating their opposition to Britain’s new tax measures.
1830 Mary had a little lamb is published
1844 Samuel Morse taps out “What hath God wrought” in the world’s first telegraph message
1856 Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas
1883 The Brooklyn Bridge, linking Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City, opened to traffic.
1884 Anti-Monopoly party & Greenback Party form People’s Party in the US
1915 Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations
1941 The British battleship Hood is sunk by the German battleship Bismarck. There are only three survivors.
1958 The United Press and the International News Service merged to form United Press International (UPI).
1965 Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
1970 Engineers begin drilling the world’s deepest hole. The Kola Superdeep Borehole had reached the unsurpassed depth of 12,262 meters (40,230 feet)
1980 The International Court of Justice issued a final decision calling for the release of the hostages taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.
1983 Supreme Court rules government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students
1988 Section 28 passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality. Repealed 2001/2004
2000 The U.S. House of Representatives approved permanent normal trade relations with China. China was not happy about some of the human rights conditions that had been attached by the U.S. lawmakers.
2000 Israeli troops pulled out of Lebanon after 18 consecutive years of occupation.
2001 23 die in the Jerusalem wedding hall disaster
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
