TODAY HISTORY LESSON: MARCH 9
141 BC Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years
1497 Nicolaus Copernicus 1st recorded astronomical observation
1522 Martin Luther begins preaching his “Invocavit Sermons” in the German city of Wittenberg, reminding citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence and thus helping bring to a close the revolutionary stage of the Reformation
1562 Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
1617 The Treaty of Stolbovo ends the occupation of Northern Russia by Swedish troops.
1776 Adam Smith publishes the influential economics book “The Wealth of Nations”
1788 Connecticut becomes the 5th state.
1820 Congress passes the Land Act, paving the way for westward expansion.
1832 Abraham Lincoln announced that he would run for a political office for the first time. He was unsuccessful in his run for a seat in the Illinois state legislature.
1841 The rebel slaves who seized a Spanish slave ship, the Amistad, in 1839 are freed by the Supreme Court despite Spanish demands for extradition.
1864 General Ulysses Grant is appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces.
1907 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana
1914 US Senator Albert Fall (Teapot Dome) demands “Cubanisation of Mexico”
1916 Mexican bandit Pancho Villa leads 1,500 horsemen on a raid of Columbus, N.M. killing 17 U.S. soldiers and citizens.
1931 The electron microscope is invented
1933 The special session of Congress known as the “100 days” opened, launching FDR’s New Deal.
1936 The German press warns that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections will be arrested.
1943 Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps
1954 Edward R Murrow criticizes Senator Joseph McCarthy (See it Now)
1957 Egyptian leader Nasser bars U.N. plans to share the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.
1959 The Barbie doll is unveiled at a toy fair in New York City.
1964 The first Ford Mustang rolls off the Ford assembly line.
1964 Supreme Court issues New York Times vs Sullivan decision, public officials must prove malice to claim libel & recover damages
1967 Svetlana Alliluyeva, Josef Stalin’s daughter defects to the United States.
1968 General William Westmoreland asks for 206,000 more troops in Vietnam.
1974 Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended
1975 Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.
1977 About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, DC. They killed one person and took more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later.
1987 Chrysler Corp offered to buy American Motors Corp for $1 billion
1989 In the U.S., President George H.W. Bush urged for a mandatory death penalty in drug-related killings.
1990 Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as both the first Hispanic and woman to be U.S. surgeon general.
2011 Space Shuttle Discovery completes its final mission
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
