TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 25
1570 Pope Pius V issues the bull Regnans in Excelsis which excommunicates Queen Elizabeth of England.
1601 Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex and former favorite of Elizabeth I, is beheaded in the Tower of London for high treason.
1642 Dutch settlers slaughter lower Hudson Valley Indians in New Netherland, North America, who sought refuge from Mohawk attackers.
1791 President George Washington signs a bill creating the Bank of the United States.
1793 1st US cabinet meeting, held at George Washington’s home
1836 Samuel Colt patents the first revolving cylinder multi-shot firearm
1870 Hiram Revels became the first black United States senator, taking over the term of Jefferson Davis.
1901 J.P. Morgan formed U.S. Steel Corporation, the first billion-dollar corporation in the world.
1910 The 13th Dalai Lama flees from the Chinese and takes refuge in India.
1913 The 16th Amendment to the constitution is adopted, setting the legal basis for the income tax.
1919 Oregon introduces the first state tax on gasoline at one cent per gallon, to be used for road construction.
1956 Stalin is secretly disavowed by Khrushchev at a party congress for promoting the “cult of the individual.”
1964 Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) became world heavyweight boxing champion for the first time by knocking out Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
1976 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states may ban the hiring of illegal aliens.
1977 Oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spills 31 million gallons
1987 US Supreme Court upholds (5-4) affirmative action
1991 The Warsaw Pact is disbanded
1991 US, barracks in Dhahran Saudi Arabia, hit by SCUD missile, kills 28
1994 An Israeli doctor kills 30 unarmed Palestinians in the Mosque of Abraham
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
