TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 18
1219 Jerusalem re-taken by the Christian Crusader kingdom in a peace treaty between Holy Roman Emperor Frederik II and Egyptian ruler Al-Kamil
1478 George, the Duke of Clarence, who had opposed his brother Edward IV, is murdered in the Tower of London.
1519 Hernán Cortés leaves Cuba for the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico with 11 ships and 500 men
1688 Quakers in Germantown, Pa. adopt the first formal antislavery resolution in America.
1804 1st US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens Ohio, chartered
1841 The first continuous filibuster in the U.S. Senate began. It lasted until March 11th.
1856 The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate its first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
1861 Jefferson F. Davis is inaugurated as the Confederacy’s provisional president at a ceremony held in Montgomery, Ala.
1878 The bitter and bloody Lincoln County War begins with the murder of Billy the Kid’s mentor, Englishman rancher John Tunstall.
1885 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is published in New York.
1930 Pluto, the ninth planet in the solar system, was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.
1945 U.S. Marines storm ashore at Iwo Jima.
1965 Church deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson is beaten and shot during a peaceful march in Marion, Alabama. His death 8 days later inspires the Selma to Montgomery marches.
1970 The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.
1972 The California Supreme Court voids the death penalty.
1986 Anti-smoking ad airs for 1st time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner: he died of smoking-induced lung cancer on 10th October 1985
1988 Anthony Kennedy, sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice
1998 Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.
2001 NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.
2001 FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and charged with spying for Russia.
2014 Ukrainian Revolution of 2014 begins as protesters, riot police and unknown shooters take part in violent events in the capital, Kiev, culminating after five days in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
