WELCOME to the TORNADO TAVERN GALLERY version of a DAY in HISTORY

This blog covers the history from March 19 and the next couple of weeks. The publishing is a day late but it was a New Moon and I had to “redo” a couple of days. As always the events I include are my choice and what I say about the events are my informed opinion. One event involving the League of Nations caught my attention but I decided not to have a second blog on it.

The show in Milwaukee was somewhat of a disappointment but life goes on. We here at the TORNADO TAVERN GALLERY look forward to our next event. Our next event, March 24^th, is not a sales event. We will be at the “March for Our Lives” in Green Bay, I hope all of our friends find a way to support our future, and for many not far into the future, voting citizens. They are referred to as children in the news, but I see them as adolescents becoming adults. Adults are not magically made at 18 or 21, adulthood is a process.

3/19 to 4/01	NAME	HISTORY
3/19 to 3/22	OSTARA	High Feast of Ostara, summer finding. March/Lenting 20 High Feast of Ostara (Sacred to Ostara Freya Frigga). Ostara is one of 8 neopagan sabbats, or holidays, that make up the Wheel of the Year. The 8 neopagan sabbats, or holidays that many Wiccans and neopagans observe Imbolic, Ostara, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnasadh, Samhain, Yule and Imbolc.
3/20/2018	SPRING EQUINOX	An equinox is commonly regarded as the moment when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun's disk, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September. In other words, it is the point in which the center of the visible sun is directly over the equator. This simplified, but incorrect, understanding of Earth's orbital motion can lead to errors of up to 69 seconds from the actual time of equinox. On the day of an equinox, daytime and nighttime are of approximately equal duration all over the planet. They are not exactly equal, however, due to the angular size of the Sun and atmospheric refraction. The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, from aequus (equal) and nox (genitive noctis) (night). In the Northern Hemisphere, the Vernal (Spring) Equinox marks the first day of astronomical spring. There's also another, more common definition of when the seasons start, namely meteorological definitions, which are based on average temperatures rather that astronomical events. But for many ancient cultures across the World, equinoxes were something more: a time for celebration, sacrifice, and migration. For thousands of years, the spring equinox has long been celebrated as a time of rebirth and abundance by many countries and cultures around the world. Megalithic people in Europe calculated the date of the spring equinox using circular monuments constructed of huge stones; Germanic tribes associated it with the fertility goddess Ostara; the Mayans gathered at the pyramid at Chichen Itza which was designed to produce a serpent shadow on the day of the equinox; and the Ancient Saxons held a feast day for their version of the fertility goddess, Eostre, on the full moon following the Vernal Equinox.
4/1/2018	Easter	Easter, also called Pascha (Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday, is a festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial after his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as "Holy Week"—it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the fortieth day, the Feast of the Ascension. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages the feast called Easter in English is termed by the words for Passover in those languages and in the older English versions of the Bible the term Easter was the term used to translate Passover. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church, and decorating Easter eggs (symbols of the empty tomb). The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades. There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally. In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April inclusive, within about seven days after the astronomical full moon. The following day, Easter Monday, is a legal holiday in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions. Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian Calendar. Because of the 13-day difference between the calendars between 1900 and 2099, 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian Calendar. Easter therefore varies between 4 April and 8 May in the Gregorian calendar (the Julian calendar is no longer used as the civil calendar of the countries where Eastern Christian traditions predominate). Also, because the Julian "full moon" is always several days after the astronomical full moon, the eastern Easter is often later, relative to the visible moon's phases, than western Easter.
4/1/2018	LOKI'S DAY - Laugardagr	The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends and neighbors, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. In some countries, April Fools' jokes (also called "April Fools") are only made before noon on April 1st. It is also widely celebrated on the Internet.
4/1/1700	April Fools Day	On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools’ Day by playing practical jokes on each other. Although the day, also called All Fools’ Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person. Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.
3/31/2018	NEW MOON	In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the unaided eye, except when silhouetted during a solar eclipse. Daylight outshines the earthlight that dimly illuminates the dark side of the new Moon. The actual phase is usually a very thin crescent because the Moon rarely passes directly in front of the Sun, except in a solar eclipse. A lunation or synodic month is the average time from one new moon to the next. In the J2000.0 epoch, the average length of a lunation is 29.530588 days (or 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds). However, the length of any one synodic month can vary from 29.26 to 29.80 days due to the perturbing effects of the Sun's gravity on the Moon's eccentric orbit. In a lunar calendar, each month corresponds to a lunation. Each lunar cycle can be assigned a unique lunation number to identify it. The Lunation Number or Lunation Cycle is a number given to each lunation beginning from a certain one in history. Several conventions are in use. The most commonly used is the Brown Lunation Number (BLN), which defines lunation 1 as beginning at the first new moon of 1923, the year when Ernest William Brown's lunar theory was introduced in the major national astronomical almanacs. Lunation 1 occurred at approximately 02:41 UTC, January 17, 1923. New moons occur on Julian Dates, with the given uncertainty due to varying torques from the sun. In non-astronomical contexts, new moon refers to the first visible crescent of the Moon, after conjunction with the Sun. This takes place over the western horizon in a brief period between sunset and moonset, and therefore the precise time and even the date of the appearance of the new moon by this definition will be influenced by the geographical location of the observer. The astronomical new moon, sometimes known as the dark moon to avoid confusion, occurs by definition at the moment of conjunction in elliptical longitude with the Sun, when the Moon is invisible from the Earth. This moment is unique and does not depend on location, and in certain circumstances it coincides with a solar eclipse. In the above meaning, the first crescent marks the beginning of the month in the Islamic calendar, and in some lunisolar calendars such as the Hebrew calendar. In the Chinese calendar, the beginning of the month is marked by the dark moon. The new moon is also important in astrology, as is the full moon. The original meaning of the term new moon, which is still sometimes used in non-astronomical contexts, was the first visible crescent of the Moon, after conjunction with the Sun. This crescent Moon is briefly visible when low above the western horizon shortly after sunset and before moonset. Spiritually a new moon symbolizes beginnings when you look at old goals and set new ones. The meaning of a new moon is the opportunity to start anew and refresh your dreams and desires. It is a time of magic! Think of it this way: The new moon is a birth. As the waxing phase journeys on, the moon grows and matures until its reaches its ripest point: the full moon. As the waning phase recedes our moon, turning it into a thin crescent, then dissolving it completely, that birth has become a death. Each lunar cycle, we are continually reincarnated. Our spirits are filled with strength, ideas, power, and courage as the full moon builds and then as it dissipates, we are relieved of that power. It's during a new moon that we can ruminate on our decisions, on our experiences, and rejuvenate ourselves so that we can start all over again. The new moon is symbolic of the second chance we are given over and over again. If everything went wrong by the time of the full moon and we made every mistake we could have possibly made, the new moon gifts us with a clean slate. This is why the new moon is the perfect time to meditate, journal, organize, and plan our next move. The new moon's purifying energy is there to aid us in our reflection.
3/21/2018	First Nations month - Falon	Falcon - 21st March - 19th April. The Awakening Time. Direction: North East. Element: Fire. Plant: Dandelion Mineral: Opal Function: To start things off.
3/22/1908	Louis L’Amour	Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work 'frontier stories'); however, he also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), as well as poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. L'Amour's books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".
4/1/1961	Susan Boyle	Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer who came to international attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. Her first album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released in November 2009 and became the UK's best-selling debut album of all time, beating the previous record held by Spirit by Leona Lewis. I Dreamed a Dream set a record for biggest first week sales by a debut album, according to the Official Chart Company in the United Kingdom. Topping the Billboard 200 for six weeks, it was the second best-selling album of 2009 in the US. In her first year of fame, Boyle made £5 million (£6.2 million today) with the release of I Dreamed a Dream and its lead-off singles, "I Dreamed a Dream" and "Wild Horses". The success was continued with her second album, The Gift (2010), where she became only the third act ever to top both the UK and US album charts twice in the same year, and was followed by Boyle's third album, Someone to Watch Over Me (debuted at #1 on UK charts, #4 on US charts), released on 31 October 2011. Boyle subsequently released her fourth album Standing Ovation: The Greatest Songs from the Stage (reached #7 in UK, #12 in US) in 2012, her fifth album Home for Christmas (fifth consecutive top ten on UK charts) in 2013, and her sixth album Hope (sixth consecutive top twenty on UK and US charts) in 2014.
3/19/2018	Thomas McKean is born	On this day in 1734, Patriot politician Thomas McKean is born to Scots-Irish Presbyterian parents in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He will eventually serve as president of the state of Delaware, president of the U.S. Congress under the Articles of Confederation and chief justice of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court.
3/19/1848	Wyatt Earp	Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American Old West gambler, a deputy sheriff in Pima County, and deputy town marshal in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, who took part in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. He is often mistakenly regarded as the central figure in the shootout in Tombstone, although his brother Virgil was Tombstone city marshal and deputy U.S. marshal that day, and had far more experience as a sheriff, constable, marshal, and soldier in combat. Earp lived a restless life. He was at different times a constable, city policeman, county sheriff, deputy U.S. marshal, teamster, buffalo hunter, bouncer, saloon-keeper, gambler, brothel keeper, miner, and boxing referee. Earp spent his early life in Pella, Iowa. In 1870, he married his first wife, Urilla Sutherland Earp, who contracted typhoid fever and died shortly before their first child was to be born. During the next two years, Earp was arrested for stealing a horse, escaped from jail, sued twice, and was arrested and fined three times during the course of 1872 for "keeping and being found in a house of ill-fame". His third arrest was subject of a lengthy account in the Daily Transcript, which referred to him as an "old offender" and nicknamed him the "Peoria Bummer", another name for loafer or tramp.
3/20/1823	Ned Buntline born	Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr., known as E. Z. C. Judson and by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, writer, and publicist. Ned Buntline, the “dime millionaire” and discoverer of Buffalo Bill, is born in Stamford, New York. Perhaps more than any single writer, Ned Buntline was responsible for creating a highly romanticized and somewhat misleading image of the American West as the setting for great adventure and excitement. Born Edward Zane Carroll Judson, in 1845 he founded a sensationalistic magazine, called Ned Buntline’s Own, in Nashville, Tennessee. Ned Buntline became the best known of several pseudonyms he used during his career.
3/21/1882	“Broncho Billy” Anderson born	Gilbert M. Anderson, the first western movie star, is born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Better known as “Broncho Billy,” the name of the western hero he played in over 300 short films, Anderson was the first western movie star. Furthermore, he played several small parts in one of the first movies ever made, The Great Train Robbery. In 1903, Anderson won a role as a bandit in the film after telling the director he could ride like a Texas Ranger. When it became clear that Anderson could hardly get onto a horse, he was made an “extra” and played several minor parts. Later that year, the 10-minute movie received an enthusiastic reception from the public, and Anderson decided to make a career in the promising new business of telling stories in moving pictures.
3/24/1905	Jules Verne	Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. Verne was born in the seaport of Nantes (France), where he was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early in life to write for magazines and the stage. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires, a widely popular series of scrupulously researched adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne is generally considered a major literary author in France and most of Europe, where he has had a wide influence on the literary avant-garde and on surrealism. His reputation is markedly different in Anglophone regions, where he has often been labeled a writer of genre fiction or children's books, largely because of the highly abridged and altered translations in which his novels are often reprinted. Verne has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979, ranking between Agatha Christie and William Shakespeare. He has sometimes been called the "Father of Science Fiction", a title that has also been given to H. G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback.
4/1/1917	Scott Joplin	Scott Joplin was an African American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime". During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first, and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.
3/31/1931	Knute Rockne, Studebaker namesake, dies	Knute Kenneth Rockne was a Norwegian-American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame and namesake of the Studebaker Rockne line of autos, is killed in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas, at the age of 43. Rockne is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history. His biography at the College Football Hall of Fame identifies him as "without question, American football's most-renowned coach". Rockne helped to popularize the forward pass and made the Notre Dame Fighting Irish a major factor in college football.
3/28/1958	W.C. Handy - “Father of the Blues”, dies	“With all their differences, my forebears had one thing in common: if they had any musical talent, it remained buried.” So wrote William Christopher Handy in his autobiography in discussing the absence of music in his home life as a child. Born in northern Alabama in 1873, Handy was raised in a middle-class African-American family that intended for him a career in the church. To them and to his teachers, W.C. Handy wrote, “Becoming a musician would be like selling my soul to the devil.” It was a risk that the young Handy decided to take. He was internationally famous by the time he wrote his 1941 memoir, Father of the Blues, although “Stepfather” might have been a more accurate label for the role he played in bringing Blues into the musical mainstream. The significance of his role is not to be underestimated, however. W.C. Handy, one of the most important figures in 20th-century American popular music history, died in New York City on March 28, 1958.
3/28/1969	Eisenhower dies	Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower , born in Denison, Texas, in 1890, Eisenhower graduated from the United States Military Academy bin 1915, and after World War I he steadily rose in the peacetime ranks of the U.S. Army. Eisenhower became an American Army general and statesman who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II,  he was a five-star general in the United States Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, although had never commanded troops in the field. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front. He was also the first American President to be bound by the 22nd Amendment, which limits the number of times one can be elected to the office of President of the United States.
3/27/2002	Billy Wilder	Samuel "Billy" Wilder  was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist whose career spanned more than five decades. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. With The Apartment, Wilder became the first person to win Academy Awards as producer, director, and screenwriter for the same film.
3/19/2008	Arthur C. Clarke	Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), FRAS (Royal Astronomical Society), was a British science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He is famous for being co-writer of the screenplay for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, widely considered to be one of the most influential films of all time. Clarke was a science writer, who was both an avid populariser of space travel and a futurist of uncanny ability. On these subjects he wrote over a dozen books and many essays, which appeared in various popular magazines. In 1961 he was awarded the Kalinga Prize, an award which is given by UNESCO for popularising science. These along with his science fiction writings eventually earned him the moniker "Prophet of the Space Age". His other science fiction writings earned him a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, which along with a large readership made him one of the towering figures of science fiction. For many years Clarke, Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction.
3/19/1702	William III of Orange	In 1702, William died of pneumonia, a complication from a broken collarbone following a fall from his horse, Sorrel. The horse had been confiscated from Sir John Fenwick, one of the Jacobites who had conspired against William. Because his horse had stumbled into a mole's burrow, many Jacobites toasted "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat". Years later, Winston Churchill, in his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, stated that the fall "opened the door to a troop of lurking foes". William was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside his wife. His sister-in-law, Anne Stuart, became queen regnant of England, Scotland and Ireland. William's death brought an end to the Dutch House of Orange, members of which had served as stadtholder of Holland and the majority of the other provinces of the Dutch Republic since the time of William the Silent (William I). The five provinces of which William III was stadtholder; Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel—all suspended the office after his death. Thus, he was the last patrilineal descendant of William I to be named stadtholder for the majority of the provinces. Under William III's will, John William Friso stood to inherit the Principality of Orange as well as several lordships in the Netherlands. He was William's closest agnatic relative, as well as son of William's aunt Albertine Agnes. However, King Frederick I of Prussia also claimed the Principality as the senior cognatic heir, his mother Louise Henriette being Albertine Agnes's older sister. Under the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Frederick I's successor, Frederick William I of Prussia, ceded his territorial claim to King Louis XIV of France, keeping only a claim to the title. Friso's posthumous son, William IV, succeeded to the title at his birth in 1711; in the Treaty of Partition (1732) he agreed to share the title "Prince of Orange" with Frederick William. The College of William & Mary in Virginia (also known as William & Mary, or W&M) is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Royally founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, after Harvard University. William and Mary is the oldest college in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the oldest institution of higher education in the American South. In his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, Richard Moll categorized William & Mary as one of eight "Public Ivies". The Loyal Orange Institution, more commonly known as the Orange Order, is a Protestant fraternal organization based primarily in Northern Ireland. It also has a significant presence in the Scottish Lowlands and lodges throughout the Commonwealth, as well as in the United States and Togo. The Orange Order was founded in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict as a Masonic-style brotherhood sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy. It is headed by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, which was established in 1798. Its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated the army of Catholic King James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1688–1691). Its members wear orange sashes and are referred to as Orangemen. The Order is best known for its yearly marches, the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July ('The Twelfth').
3/20/1727	Sir Isaac Newton	Sir Isaac Newton PRS (President of the Royal Society) was an English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, author and physicist (described in his own day as a "natural philosopher") who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), first published in 1687, laid the foundations of classical mechanics. Newton also made path breaking contributions to optics, and he shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.
3/24/1603	Elizabeth I of England	Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603, after ruling England for more than 40 years. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last monarch of the House of Tudor. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two-and-a-half years after Elizabeth's birth. Anne's marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her half-brother, Edward VI, ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, Elizabeth and the Roman Catholic Mary, in spite of statute law to the contrary. Edward's will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Mary's reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships. As she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.
3/19/1916	Albert Einstein presents his general theory of relativity	The revolutionary theory describes the interdependency of matter on the one hand and space and time on the other. It is one of the most influential theories in Physics.
3/31/1918	The United States switch to DST for the first time	Most areas in the U.S. change the clocks twice a year. Exceptions include Hawaii and most of Arizona. The first country to ever use DST was Germany in 1916.
3/23/1920	Great Britain denounces the United States because of its delay in joining the League of Nations.	Although the League of Nations was much of the work of President Woodrow Wilson America never joined the League of Nations. This was for several reasons, firstly America had suffered casualties in the war, and many people in the USA wanted to keep America out of European affairs. This policy was called isolationism. Joining the league meant that this might involve having to do things that might set back the economy or damage America otherwise. America had had enough of wars and dealing with other countries problems. They also had little or no support for British or French policies or the Treaty of Versailles, which they refused to accept. Wilson embarked on nationwide tour of the United States to campaign for ratification of the treaty and U.S. entrance into the League of Nations, but he suffered a severe stroke in October 1919. In his final year in office, Wilson secluded himself in the White House, disability having diminished his power and influence. The Treaty of Versailles was rejected by the Senate, and the U.S. remained outside of the League of Nations.
3/20/1922	USS Langley	The USS Langley is commissioned as the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. Converted in 1920 from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3), it is the Navy’s first turbo-electric-powered ship. [From MHQ—The Quarterly Journal of Military History]
4/1/1929	Yo-Yo come to US	In 1928, Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant to the United States, opened the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California. The business started with a dozen handmade toys; by November 1929, Flores was operating two additional factories in Los Angeles and Hollywood, which altogether employed 600 workers and produced 300,000 units daily. The principal distinction between the Filipino design popularized by Flores and more primitive yo-yos is in the way the yo-yo is strung. In older (and some remaining inexpensive) yo-yo designs, the string is tied to the axle using a knot. With this technique, the yo-yo just goes back-and-forth; it returns easily, but it is impossible to make it sleep. In Flores's design, one continuous piece of string, double the desired length, is twisted around something to produce a loop at one end which is fitted around the axle. Also termed a looped slip-string, this seemingly minor modification allows for a far greater variety and sophistication of motion, thanks to increased stability and suspension of movement during free spin. Shortly thereafter (c. 1929), an entrepreneur named Donald F. Duncan recognized the potential of this new fad and purchased the Flores yo-yo Corporation and all its assets, including the Flores name, which was transferred to the new company in 1932. The name "Yo-yo" was registered in 1932 as a trademark by Sam Dubiner in Vancouver, Canada and Harvey Lowe won the first World Yo-Yo Contest in London, England. In 1932, Swedish Kalmartrissan yo-yos started to be manufactured as well. In 1946, the Duncan Toys Company opened a yo-yo factory in Luck, Wisconsin. The Duncan yo-yo was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 1999.
3/19/1931	Nevada gambling	In an attempt to lift the state out of the hard times of the Great Depression, the Nevada state legislature votes to legalize gambling. Located in the Great Basin desert, few settlers chose to live in Nevada after the United States acquired the territory at the end of the Mexican War in 1848. In 1859, the discovery of the “Comstock Lode” of gold and silver spurred the first substantial number of settlers into Nevada to exploit the territory’s mining opportunities. Five years later, during the Civil War, Nevada was hastily made the 36th state in order to strengthen the Union. At the beginning of the Depression, Nevada’s mines were in decline, and its economy was in shambles. In March 1931, Nevada’s state legislature responded to population flight by taking the drastic measure of legalizing gambling and, later in the year, divorce. Established in 1905, Las Vegas, Nevada, has since become the gambling and entertainment capital of the world, famous for its casinos, nightclubs, and sporting events. In the first few decades after the legalization of gambling, organized crime flourished in Las Vegas. Today, state gambling taxes account for the lion’s share of Nevada’s overall tax revenues.
3/22/1933	FDR legalizes sale of beer and wine	On this day in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. This law levies a federal tax on all alcoholic beverages to raise revenue for the federal government and gives individual states the option to further regulate the sale and distribution of beer and wine. No fan of temperance himself, FDR had developed a taste for alcohol when he attended New York cocktail parties as a budding politician. (While president, FDR refused to fire his favorite personal valet for repeated drunkenness on the job.) FDR considered the new law “of the highest importance” for its potential to generate much-needed federal funds and included it in a sweeping set of New Deal policies designed to vault the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression. The Beer and Wine Revenue act was followed, in December 1933, by the passage of the 21st Amendment, which officially ended Prohibition.
3/20/1934	Babe Didrikson goes to the mound for Philly	On March 20, 1934, Mildrid “Babe” Didrikson pitches one inning of exhibition baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics in a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She started the first inning, and allowed just one walk and no hits. Though Didrickson was not the first woman to play baseball with major league ballplayers, she had attained national-hero status with an unprecedented performance at the 1932 Olympics.
3/22/1935	Persia is "renamed" Iran.	In the Western world, Persia (or one of its cognates) was historically the common name for Iran. In March 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the exonym of the country, in formal correspondence. Since then, in the Western World, the use of the word "Iran" has become more common. This also changed the usage of the terms for Iranian nationality, and the common adjective for citizens of Iran changed from "Persian" to "Iranian". In 1959, the government of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Reza Shah Pahlavi's son, announced that both "Persia" and "Iran" could officially be used interchangeably. However the issue is still debated today. According to some, Dr Hjalmar Schacht, the Nazi Economics minister noted the Aryan origin of the Persians and encouraged the Persian Reza Shah Pahlavi to ask foreign delegates to use the term Iran, “land of Aryans” instead of Persia. The Modern Persian word Īrān (ایران) derives immediately from Middle Persian Ērān (Pahlavi spelling: ʼyrʼn), first attested in an inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of the first Sassanid king Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rustam. In this inscription, the king's Middle Persian appellation is ardašīr šāhān šāh ērān while in the Parthian language inscription that accompanies the Middle Persian one the king is titled ardašīr šāhān šāh aryān (Pahlavi: ... ʼryʼn) both meaning king of kings of Iranians. The gentilic ēr- and ary- in ērān and aryān derives from Old Iranian *arya- (Old Persian airya-, Avestan airiia-, etc.), meaning "Aryan", in the sense of "of the Iranians". This term is attested as an ethnic designator in Achaemenid inscriptions and in Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition and it seems "very likely" that in Ardashir's inscription ērān still retained this meaning, denoting the people rather than the empire.
4/1/1946	Miner's strike	The 1946 Bituminous Coal Strike, the United Mine Workers of America called on 400,000 bituminous coal miners to strike for safer conditions, health benefits, and pay. The strike came at a time when the national economy was recovering from the Second World War, and President Truman saw the UMWA’s actions as counterproductive to national industrial recovery. Truman approached the union with a settlement, the Krug-Lewis Agreement. When the workers refused the proposal, they were fined $3.5 million, forcing their agreement and the end of the strike. Although forced, most of the UMWA’s demands were met in Truman’s compromise. The Promise of 1946, also known as the Krug-Lewis Agreement (Agreement), was a deal struck between the United States Government, the United Mine Workers of America and accepted by the coal operators to end a nationwide strike by the Union following the end of World War II. With President Truman looking on, the historic Agreement was signed by Interior Secretary Julius Krug and John L. Lewis in the White House a week after the United States Government seized the mines. Among other things, the Agreement created a welfare and retirement fund and a separate medical and hospital fund. The two were later combined to create the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds (The Funds).
3/21/1952	The Moondog Coronation Ball	The scene outside the Cleveland Arena on a chilly Friday night in March more than 50 years ago would look quite familiar to anyone who has ever attended a major rock concert. But no one on this particular night had ever even heard of a “rock concert.” This, after all, was the night of an event now recognized as history’s first major rock-and-roll show: the Moondog Coronation Ball, held in Cleveland on March 21, 1952. The “Moondog” in question was the legendary disk jockey Alan Freed, the self-styled “father of rock and roll” who was then the host of the enormously popular “Moondog Show” on Cleveland AM radio station WJW. The concert featured Tiny Grimes, Paul Williams and the Hucklebuckers, and the Rocking Highlanders (an African American instrumental group that appeared in kilts). Also on the bill were the Dominoes, Varetta Dillard and Danny Cobb. More tickets were printed than the arena's actual capacity, in part due to counterfeiting and a printing error. With an estimated 20,000 individuals trying to crowd into an arena that held slightly more than half that and worries that a riot might break out as people tried to crowd in the fire authorities shut down the concert after the first song by opening act Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams ended. Freed made a public apology on WJW the next day.
3/20/1954	Americans alarmed about impending French defeat	After a force of 60,000 Viet Minh with heavy artillery had surrounded 16,000 French troops, news of Dien Bien Phu’s impending fall reaches Washington. Fierce fighting continued at Dien Bien Phu until May 7, 1954, when the Viet Minh overran the last French positions. The shock at the fall of Dien Bien Phu led France, already plagued by public opposition to the war, to agree to grant independence to Vietnam at the Geneva Conference in 1954.
4/1/1957	The BBC broadcasts the spaghetti tree hoax	The 3-minute film shown on the current affairs program, Panorama, portrayed a Swiss family apparently harvesting spaghetti from a tree. A number of viewers later contacted the BBC to inquire where to find and how to grow such a plant. The hoax is regarded as one of the best April Fools jokes ever pulled.
3/19/1962	Bob Dylan releases his first album	“Bob Dylan” is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on March 19, 1962 by Columbia Records. Produced by Columbia's legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who signed Dylan to the label, the album features folk standards, plus two original compositions, "Talkin' New York" and "Song to Woody". Dylan became one of the world's most influential music artists. His songs “Blowin' in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'” became anthems for the anti-war movement.
3/21/1965	Selma to Montgomery march begins	In the name of African-American voting rights, 3,200 civil rights demonstrators in Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr., begin a historic march from Selma to Montgomery, the state’s capital. Federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents were on hand to provide safe passage for the march, which twice had been turned back by Alabama state police at Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge.
4/1/1970	Nixon signs legislation banning cigarette ads on TV and radio	On this day in 1970, President Richard Nixon signs legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio. Nixon, who was an avid pipe smoker, indulging in as many as eight bowls a day, supported the legislation at the increasing insistence of public health advocates.
3/26/1971	East Pakistan proclaimed its independence	Pakistan, also called the Dominion of Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in South Asia that was established in 1947 as a result of the Pakistan movement, followed by the simultaneous partition of British India to create a new country called Pakistan. The dominion, which included much of modern-day Pakistan and East Bengal, was conceived under the two-nation theory as an independent country composed of the Muslim-majority areas of the former British India. To begin with, it did not include the princely states of Pakistan, which acceded slowly between 1947 and 1948. In 1956 Pakistan was administratively split into the western wing named West Pakistan, and the province of East Bengal was renamed as the eastern wing named East Pakistan. East Bengal was the most populous and cosmopolitan province in the dominion. East Bengal was a hub of political movements, including the Bengali Language Movement and pro-democracy groups. It was dissolved and replaced by East Pakistan during the One Unit scheme implemented by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali of Bogra. In 1971 East Pakistan seceded from the union to become Bangladesh.
3/22/1972	Equal Rights Amendment passed by Congress	On March 22, 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment is passed by the U.S. Senate and sent to the states for ratification. Hawaii was the first state to ratify what would have been the 27th Amendment, followed by some 30 other states within a year. However, during the mid-1970s, a conservative backlash against feminism eroded support for the Equal Rights Amendment, which ultimately failed to achieve ratification by the a requisite 38, or three-fourths, of the states. Because of the rejection of the Equal Rights Amendment, sexual equality, with the notable exception of when it pertains to the right to vote, is not protected by the U.S. Constitution. However, in the late 20th century, the federal government and all states have passed considerable legislation protecting the legal rights of women. The Equal Rights Amendment, in its most recently proposed form, reads, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”
3/29/1973	U.S. withdraws from Vietnam	Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. America’s direct eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War was at an end. In Saigon, some 7,000 U.S. Department of Defense civilian employees remained behind to aid South Vietnam in conducting what looked to be a fierce and ongoing war with communist North Vietnam.
3/28/1979	Nuclear accident at Three Mile Island	At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, the worst accident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry begins when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to dangerously overheat. On April 1, President Jimmy Carter arrived at Three Mile Island to inspect the plant. Carter, a trained nuclear engineer, had helped dismantle a damaged Canadian nuclear reactor while serving in the U.S. Navy. His visit achieved its aim of calming local residents and the nation.
3/31/1980	Carter	President Jimmy Carter deregulates the banking industry.
3/30/1981	President Reagan shot	On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by a deranged drifter named John Hinckley Jr.
3/26/1995	The Schengen Agreement enters into force	The Schengen Agreement is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the ten member states of the then European Economic Community. It proposed measures intended to gradually abolish border checks at the signatories' common borders, including reduced speed vehicle checks which allowed vehicles to cross borders without stopping, allowing residents in border areas freedom to cross borders away from fixed checkpoints, and the harmonization of visa policies.
3/23/2010	Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act	President Barack Obama signed a health-care overhaul bill, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, into law. The first part of the comprehensive health care reform law enacted on March 23, 2010. The law was amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act on March 30, 2010. The name “Affordable Care Act” is usually used to refer to the final, amended version of the law. (It’s sometimes known as “PPACA,” “ACA,” or “Obamacare.”) The law provides numerous rights and protections that make health coverage more fair and easy to understand, along with subsidies (through “premium tax credits” and “cost-sharing reductions”) to make it more affordable. The law also expands the Medicaid program to cover more people with low incomes.
3/28/2018	RAGNAR LODBROK'S DAY	The Siege of Paris and the Sack of Paris of 845 was the culmination of a Viking invasion of France. The Viking forces were led by a Norse chieftain named "Reginherus", or Ragnar, who traditionally has been identified with the legendary saga character Ragnar Lodbrok. Ragnar's fleet of 120 Viking ships, carrying thousands of men, entered the Seine in March and proceeded to sail up the river. The French king Charles the Bald assembled a smaller army in response, but as the Vikings defeated one division, comprising half of the army, the remaining forces retreated. The Vikings reached Paris at the end of the month, during Easter. After plundering and occupying the city, the Vikings withdrew when they had been paid a ransom of 7,000 French livres (2,570 kilograms (83,000 ozt)) of silver and gold from Charles the Bald. Ragnar Lodbrok or Lothbrok (Old Norse: Ragnarr Loðbrók, "Ragnar Shaggy-Breeches") was a legendary Danish and Swedish Viking hero and ruler, known from Viking Age Old Norse poetry and sagas. According to that traditional literature, Ragnar distinguished himself by many raids against Francia and Anglo-Saxon England during the 9th century. There is no reliable evidence, however, that he actually existed under this name and the mythological aspects attributed to it.
3/19/1748	Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753	During the Jacobite rising of 1745, the Jews had shown particular loyalty to the government. Their chief financier, Sampson Gideon, had strengthened the stock market, and several of the younger members had volunteered in the corps raised to defend London. Possibly as a reward, Henry Pelham in 1753 brought in the Jew Bill of 1753, which allowed Jews to become naturalised by application to Parliament. It passed the Lords without much opposition, but on being brought down to the House of Commons, the Tories made protest against what they deemed an "abandonment of Christianity." The Whigs, however, persisted in carrying out at least one part of their general policy of religious toleration, and the bill was passed and received royal assent (26 Geo. II., cap. 26). The public reacted with an enormous outburst of antisemitism, and the Bill was repealed in the next sitting of Parliament, in 1754.)[2]
3/19/1879	"Big" Jim Currie vs Maurice Barrymore	“Big Jim” Currie killed more than a dozen, maybe many more than that. Most were outright murders. For instance, in 1870 he went on a drunken rampage in a Kansas dance hall and killed two men and two women. Big Jim Currie was said to be the only man Wild Bill Hickok feared. Maurice Barrymore was an up and coming actor in 1879. He and a partner, Frederick Warde, created the Warde-Barrymore Combination, booking the play “Diplomacy” on an extensive run. Warde would take one troupe across the Northeast and upper Midwest, while Barrymore toured the Southwest. In January 1879, the partners departed on tour. Performances received critical acclaim and the venture enjoyed modest financial success. The performers pulled into Marshall in the early evening of March 19. Dubbed the “Gateway to Texas” because of its proximity to Louisiana and Arkansas, Marshall viewed itself as a cultural haven. Among its several theaters was Mahone’s Opera House where the Combination would play one performance that night before a capacity crowd. The production was flawless with Barrymore and his brother-in-law John Drew exceptional as the leads. After the performance, the troupe retired to the Depot Hotel to await their train. Maurice Barrymore, Ben Porter, and Ellen Cummins entered Nat Harvey’s empty lunchroom on the station platform. At the eating bar, Ben and Ellen ordered coffee. After drinking a light ale, Barrymore excused himself to see to the luggage while the couple stayed to have dinner. As Nat Harvey took their order, Big Jim Currie came in the door. Even when sober, Big Jim was known for his vicious temper. The influence of his brother Andy Currie, Mayor of Shreveport, had rescued him from several jams. Big Jim’s recent killing of three men while serving as detective for the Texas & Pacific Railroad still fueled rumors and speculation. More than six feet tall and weighing 220 pounds, Currie’s size was intimidating. He asked for liquor. As Currie gulped down his drink, he spotted Ellen Cummins’s reflection in a mirror beside the bar and made some condescending remarks about her. Words were exchanged with Ben Porter who invited Currie outside. Barrymore returned. “Go away,” he said, “There’s a lady here." “Maybe you want to take it up, you damned whoremonger,” Currie responded angrily. Barrymore turned quickly to Porter. “Get Miss Cummins out of here,” he urged. Barrymore removed his coat. He had no fear of Currie, having trained as a boxer. As Barrymore assumed a fighting stance, Currie drew two Smith & Wesson revolvers from beneath his coat, leveled them at the unarmed actor, and fired. The first bullet ripped through Barrymore’s left arm before burying itself in the actor’s chest. Another shot struck Barrymore’s boot. The actor turned and ran with Currie giving chase. Crashing through a side door, Barrymore fell into the yard as another bullet struck nearby. Currie turned back into the lunchroom just as Ben Porter ran through the front door. “For God’s sake,” Porter shouted, “Don’t murder an unarmed man!” Currie cursed him, adding “I can kill the whole lot of you!” He shot Porter in the stomach. At the sight of her fiancé sprawled in the doorway, Ellen Cummins screamed. John Drew arrived next, finding Big Jim holding the two revolvers. Drew froze as their eyes met but Currie merely shoved past him out onto the station platform where he fired his pistols into the night. A brave deputy, bolstered by a double-barreled shotgun, confronted Currie and convinced him to surrender. Maurice Barrymore survived to sire one of the most famous of all Hollywood families. His children John, Lionel, and Ethel became popular stage and screen stars. Great granddaughter Drew Barrymore continues to enjoy a successful movie career.
3/20/1602	Dutch East India Company	The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie abbreviated to VOC), was a publicly tradable corporation that was founded in 1602 and became defunct in 1799. It was originally established as a chartered company to trade with India and Indianized Southeast Asian countries when the Dutch government granted it a 21-year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. The VOC was an early multinational corporation in its modern sense. In the early 1600s, by widely issuing bonds and shares of stock to the general public, the VOC became the world's first formally listed public company. In other words, it was the first corporation to be ever actually listed on an official stock exchange. The VOC was influential in the rise of corporate-led globalization in the early modern period. With its pioneering institutional innovations and powerful roles in world history, the company is considered by many to be the first major modern global corporation, and was at one stage the most valuable corporation ever.
3/20/1760		The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings.
3/20/1852	Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published	Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is published. The novel sold 300,000 copies within three months and was so widely read that when President Abraham Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he reportedly said, “So this is the little lady who made this big war.”
3/21/1788		Almost the entire city of New Orleans, Louisiana, is destroyed by fire.
3/21/1804	The French civil code, the Code Napoleon, was officially put forth.	Code Napoléon kôd näpôlāôN´ [key] or Code Civil sēvēl´ [key], first modern legal code of France, promulgated by Napoleon I in 1804. The work of J. J. Cambacérès and a commission of four appointed by Napoleon I in 1800 was important in making the final draft. The Code Napoléon embodied the private law of France (i.e., law regulating relations between individuals) and, as modified by amendments, it is still in force in that country. It is a revised form of the Roman law , i.e., the civil law , which prevailed generally on the Continent. It shows, of course, many specific French modifications, some based on the Germanic law that had been in effect in N France. The code follows the Institutes of the Roman Corpus Juris Civilis in dividing civil law into personal status (e.g., marriage), property (e.g., easements), and the acquisition of property (e.g., wills), and it may be regarded as the first modern analogue to the Roman work. Not only was it applied by Napoleon to the territories under his control—N Italy, the Low Countries, and some of the German states—but it exerted a strong influence on Spain (and ultimately on the Latin American countries) and on all European countries except England. It was the forerunner, in France and elsewhere, of codifications of the other branches of law, including civil procedure, commercial law, and criminal law. Quebec prov. and the state of Louisiana owe much of their law to the Code Napoléon. In addition to the Code Civil, Napoleon was responsible for four other codes: the Code of Civil Procedure (1807), Commercial Code (1808), Code of Criminal Procedure (1811), and the Penal Code (1811).
3/22/1765	Stamp Act imposed on American colonies	In an effort to raise funds to pay off debts and defend the vast new American territories won from the French in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), the British government passes the Stamp Act on this day in 1765. The legislation levied a direct tax on all materials printed for commercial and legal use in the colonies, from newspapers and pamphlets to playing cards and dice. Though the Stamp Act employed a strategy that was a common fundraising vehicle in England, it stirred a storm of protest in the colonies. The colonists had recently been hit with three major taxes: the Sugar Act (1764), which levied new duties on imports of textiles, wines, coffee and sugar; the Currency Act (1764), which caused a major decline in the value of the paper money used by colonists; and the Quartering Act (1765), which required colonists to provide food and lodging to British troops.
3/23/1775	Patrick Henry voices American opposition to British policy	During a speech before the second Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry responds to the increasingly oppressive British rule over the American colonies by declaring, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Following the signing of the American Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Patrick Henry was appointed governor of Virginia by the Continental Congress.
3/23/1806	Lewis and Clark depart Fort Clatsop	After passing a wet and tedious winter near the Pacific Coast, Lewis and Clark happily leave behind Fort Clatsop and head east for home.
3/23/1839	OK enters national vernacular	On this day in 1839, the initials “O.K.” are first published in The Boston Morning Post. Meant as an abbreviation for “oll korrect,” a popular slang misspelling of “all correct” at the time, OK steadily made its way into the everyday speech of Americans. During the late 1830s, it was a favorite practice among younger, educated circles to misspell words intentionally, then abbreviate them and use them as slang when talking to one another. Just as teenagers today have their own slang based on distortions of common words, such as “kewl” for “cool” or “DZ” for “these,” the “in crowd” of the 1830s had a whole host of slang terms they abbreviated. Popular abbreviations included “KY” for “No use” (“know yuse”), “KG” for “No go” (“Know go”), and “OW” for all right (“oll wright”).
3/23/1880	John Stevens of Neenah, Wis., patents the grain crushing mill.	John Stevens was a miller and inventor who lived in Neenah, Wisconsin. His inventions in flour milling revolutionized the process, leading to large-scale shifts in wheat-growing regions, and to the predominance of particular milling companies and mill-equipment manufacturers. Today “Patent flour” is still referred to due to Stevens' patents. Stevens' partner Tom Oborn had a method to dress the stones that was non-traditional, but developed a higher yield. One part of dressing the stone consisted of "picking" whereby typically the faces were chipped and roughened slightly. Oborn instead left the surfaces in a smooth state, but otherwise adjusted the width of the stones and their speed to compensate. Stevens surmised that Oborn's process did less crushing of the outer shell, but instead gently cracked the berry open and dumped out the endosperm. It was from this analysis that Stevens arrived at his invention idea. Between 1870 and 1872, Stevens tried a number of models, including wooden rollers, but became convinced that rollers made from steel would best provide the type of cracking necessary. In order to prove the point, Stevens needed an actual device and he had some difficulty finding a machine shop who could manufacture steel rolls that had sufficient length and diameter, eventually employing the firm of Farrell and Sons in Ansonia, Connecticut. Once the rolls were made, Stevens developed systems to feed the wheat into the rolls, and he optimized the yield by experimenting with speeds and roller-to-roller distances. In time he was able to improve the yield of the mill from 200 barrels a day using the stone process, to 500 barrels a day using the steel roller process, with the same amount of water power. In addition to this yield per horsepower, the flour yield per bushel of raw wheat also increased. Almost immediately the mill began benefiting financially from the new process, which Stevens and his associates attempted to keep secret but which was copied by rivals nevertheless, as they learned about it through various subterfuge. In order to protect his rights to the invention, in 1877 Stevens applied for a patent, and in 1880 was awarded US Patent number 225,770: Grain-Crushing Roll.
3/24/1664	Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island.	Roger Williams was a Puritan minister, English Reformed theologian, and Reformed Baptist who founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with American Indians, and he was one of the first abolitionists. Following the 1660 restoration of royal rule in England, it was necessary to gain a Royal Charter from King Charles II. Charles was a Catholic sympathizer in staunchly Protestant England, and he approved of the colony's promise of religious freedom. He granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663, uniting the four settlements together into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In the following years, many persecuted groups settled in the colony, notably Quakers and Jews. The Rhode Island colony was very progressive for the time, passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, most capital punishment and, on May 18, 1652, chattel slavery of both blacks and whites.
3/25/1634	The settlement of Maryland	The first colonists to Maryland arrive at St. Clement’s Island on Maryland’s western shore and found the settlement of St. Mary’s. Religious conflict was strong in ensuing years as the American Puritans, growing more numerous in Maryland and supported by Puritans in England, set out to revoke the religious freedoms guaranteed in the founding of the colony. In 1649, Maryland Governor William Stone responded by passing an act ensuring religious liberty and justice to all who believed in Jesus Christ. In 1654, however, the so-called Toleration Act was repealed after Puritans seized control of the colony, leading to a brief civil war that ended with Lord Baltimore losing control of propriety rights over Maryland in March 1655.
3/25/1634	Maryland was founded	George Calvert was the first person to dream of a colony in America where Catholics and Protestants could prosper together. George had distinguished himself as a statesman and loyal subject. He served several terms as a Minister of Parliament. King James I, and later his son King Charles I, gave George lands in Ireland and grants of money. Yet George had a problem: he had become a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Catholics were not permitted to work in high offices for the King of England or to work as Ministers of Parliament. In 1625, George announced to James I that he had become a Catholic, and so had to resign his job. But King James I liked George so much that he decided to give him another title. Sir George Calvert then became the First Baron of Baltimore, a town on the southern coast of Ireland. Now that George had both money and lands, he could support himself and his family. He bought land on the coast of Newfoundland (now a part of eastern Canada) in 1620. George Calvert sent Captain Edward Wynne to Newfoundland to lead a group of settlers and to serve as their Governor. George soon received permission from King James I to establish a larger colony called the Province of Avalon in Newfoundland. George himself voyaged to Avalon and lived there for two years, summer of 1627 to the winter of 1628/29. But Newfoundland’s climate was cold. The English settlers had a difficult time surviving there. George then asked the King for a grant of land further south near the Chesapeake Bay. He drew a map for King Charles I, showing a territory that he wanted just north of the colony of Virginia. He hoped that this territory would have warmer weather and so be more suitable for an English colony. George died in 1632, before Charles I had time to approve the charter for George’s colony, named Maryland (“Terra Mariae”). George’s eldest son, Cecil, the Second Lord Baltimore helped to bring his father’s dream colony to life. Another son, Leonard, became Maryland’s First Governor.
3/25/1879	Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf surrenders	Little Wolf was the chief of the Bowstring Soldiers, an elite Cheyenne military society. From early youth, Little Wolf had demonstrated rare bravery and a brilliant understanding of battle tactics. First in conflicts with other Indians like the Kiowa and then in disputes with the U.S. Army, Little Wolf led or assisted in dozens of important Cheyenne victories. Historians believe Little Wolf was probably involved in the disastrous Fetterman Massacre of 1866, in which the Cheyenne cleverly lured a force of 80 American soldiers out of their Wyoming fort and wiped them out. After Cheyenne attacks had finally forced the U.S. military to abandon Fort Phil Kearney along the Bozeman Trail, Little Wolf is believed to have led the torching of the fort. He was also a leading participant in the greatest of the Plains Indian victories, the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Little Wolf, often called “the greatest of the fighting Cheyenne,” surrenders to his friend Lieutenant W. P. Clark.
3/27/1512	Juan Ponce de Leon sights Florida	Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first known European expedition to La Florida, which he named during his first voyage to the area in 1513. Though in popular culture, he was supposedly searching for the Fountain of Youth, there is no contemporary evidence to support the story, which all modern historians call a myth. Ponce de León returned to southwest Florida in 1521 to lead the first large-scale attempt to establish a Spanish colony in what is now the continental United States. However, the native Calusa people fiercely resisted the incursion, and de León was seriously wounded in a skirmish. The colonization attempt was abandoned, and its leader died from his wounds soon after returning to Cuba. He was interred in Puerto Rico, and his tomb is located inside of the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in San Juan.
3/27/1866	President Andrew Johnson vetoed a civil rights bill	The Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14 Stat. 27-30, enacted April 9, 1866, was the first United States federal law to define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law. It was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of persons of African descent born in or brought to the U.S., in the wake of the American Civil War. This legislation was enacted by Congress in 1865 but vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. In April 1866 Congress again passed the bill to support the Thirteenth Amendment. Although Johnson again vetoed it, a two-thirds majority in each chamber overcame the veto and the bill therefore became law. John Bingham and some other congressmen argued that Congress did not yet have sufficient constitutional power to enact this law. Following passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, Congress reenacted the 1866 Act in 1871.
3/28/1776	De Anza founds San Francisco	Juan Bautista de Anza, one of the great western pathfinders of the 18th century, arrives at the future site of San Francisco with 247 colonists. Though little known among Americans because of his Spanish origins, Anza’s accomplishments as a western trailblazer merit comparison with those of Lewis and Clark, John Fremont, and Kit Carson. Born and raised in Mexico, Anza joined the army when he was 17 and became a captain seven years later. He excelled as a military leader, displaying tactical genius in numerous battles with the Apache Indians. Although seagoing Spanish explorers had sailed along the northern California coast during the 16th and 17th centuries, the amazing natural harbor of San Francisco Bay was only discovered in 1769. The Spanish immediately recognized the strategic importance of the bay, though it would be seven years before they finally dispatched Anza to establish a claim there.
3/28/1834	Congress censures Jackson	On this day in 1834, President Andrew Jackson is censured by Congress for refusing to turn over documents. Jackson was the first president to suffer this formal disapproval from Congress. During his first term, Jackson decided to dismantle the Bank of the United States and find a friendlier source of funds for his western expansion plans. Jackson, who embodied the popular image of the Wild West frontiersman, claimed that the bank had too many foreign investors, favored the rich over the poor and resisted lending funds to develop commercial interests in America’s Western territories.
3/29/1847	America staged its first amphibious landing on the Gulf of Mexico coast	U.S. troops under General Winfield Scott take possession of the Mexican stronghold at Vera Cruz; where the Americans staged their first amphibious landing on the Gulf of Mexico coast. This landing marks the final advance of the Mexican-American War. The Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War in the United States and in Mexico as the American intervention in Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Mexico) from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 American annexation of the independent Republic of Texas, which Mexico still considered its northeastern province and a part of its territory after its de facto secession in the 1836 Texas Revolution a decade earlier.
3/29/1886	Coca-Cola goes on sale	Confederate Colonel John Pemberton, who was wounded in the American Civil War and became addicted to morphine, began a quest to find a substitute for the problematic drug. The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at Pemberton's Eagle Drug and Chemical House, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, originally as a coca wine. He may have been inspired by the formidable success of Vin Mariani, a French coca wine. It is also worth noting that a Spanish drink called "Kola Coca" was presented at a contest in Philadelphia in 1885, a year before the official birth of Coca-Cola. The rights for this Spanish drink were bought by Coca-Cola in 1953. In 1885, Pemberton registered his French Wine Coca nerve tonic. In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, a nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca. The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, indigestion, nerve disorders, headaches, and impotence. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal. When launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola (the "K" in Kola was replaced with a "C" for marketing purposes).
3/30/1867	Seward’s Folly	A treaty for the purchase of Alaska from Russia for the sum of $7.2 million, approximately two cents an acre, was submitted to the U.S. Senate.  U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signs a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7 million. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as “Seward’s folly,” “Seward’s icebox,” and President Andrew Johnson’s “polar bear garden.”  The czarist government of Russia, which had established a presence in Alaska in the mid-18th century, first approached the United States about selling the territory during the administration of President James Buchanan, but negotiations were stalled by the outbreak of the Civil War. After 1865, Seward, a supporter of territorial expansion, was eager to acquire the tremendous landmass of Alaska, an area roughly one-fifth the size of the rest of the United States. He had some difficulty, however, making the case for the purchase of Alaska before the Senate, which ratified the treaty by a margin of just one vote on April 9, 1867. Six months later, Alaska was formally handed over from Russia to the United States. Despite a slow start in U.S. settlement, the discovery of gold in 1898 brought a rapid influx of people to the territory, and Alaska, rich in natural resources, has contributed to American prosperity ever since.
3/30/1870	15th Amendment adopted	Following its ratification by the requisite three-fourths of the states, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment reads, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” One day after it was adopted, Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the authority of the 15th Amendment.
3/31/1492	The Alhambra Decree	The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion; Spanish: Decreto de la Alhambra, Edicto de Granada) was an edict issued on 31 March 1492, by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon) ordering the expulsion of practicing Jews from the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year. The primary purpose was to eliminate their influence on Spain's large converso population and ensure they did not revert to Judaism. Over half of Spain's Jews had converted as a result of the religious persecution and pogroms which occurred in 1391. Due to continuing attacks around 50,000 more had converted by 1415. A further number of those remaining chose to convert to avoid expulsion. As a result of the Alhambra decree and persecution in prior years, over 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism and between 40,000 and 100,000 were expelled, an indeterminate number returning to Spain in the years following the expulsion. The edict was formally and symbolically revoked on 16 December 1968, following the Second Vatican Council. This was a full century after Jews had been openly practicing their religion in Spain and synagogues were once more legal places of worship under Spain's Laws of Religious Freedom. In 1924, the regime of Primo de Rivera granted Spanish citizenship to the entire Sephardic Jewish diaspora. In 2014, the government of Spain passed a law allowing dual citizenship to Jewish descendants who apply, to "compensate for shameful events in the country's past." Thus, Sephardi Jews who can prove they are the descendants of those Jews expelled from Spain because of  the Alhambra Decree can "become Spaniards without leaving home or giving up their present nationality."
3/31/1776	Abigail Adams urges husband to “remember the ladies”	In a letter dated March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, urging him and the other members of the Continental Congress not to forget about the nation’s women when fighting for America’s independence from Great Britain. The future First Lady wrote in part, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” *** Abigail Adams writes to husband John that women are “determined to foment a rebellion” if the new Declaration of Independence fails to guarantee their rights.
3/31/1854	Treaty of Kanagawa signed with Japan	In Tokyo, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan.
4/1/1563	Peace of Amboise	The Edict of Amboise also known as the Edict of Pacification, was signed at the Château of Amboise on 19 March 1563 by Catherine de' Medici, acting as regent for her son Charles IX of France. The treaty officially ended the first phase of the French Wars of Religion. Moreover, the treaty restored peace to France by guaranteeing the Huguenots religious privileges and freedoms. *** Huguenots were French Protestants mainly from northern France, who were inspired by the writings of theologians in the early 1500s, and who endorsed the Reformed tradition of Protestantism, contrary to the largely German Lutheran population of Alsace, Moselle, and Montbéliard.
4/1/1572	Sea Beggars capture the small town of Brielle.	Geuzen (Dutch): (French: Les Gueux, English: the Beggars) was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen Dutch: (French: Gueux de mer, English: Sea Beggars). In the Eighty Years' War (Dutch War of Independence), the Capture of Brielle by the Watergeuzen in 1572 provided the first foothold on land for the rebels, who would conquer the northern Netherlands and establish an independent Dutch Republic. They can be considered either as privateers or pirates, depending on the circumstances or motivations. The leaders of the nobles who signed a solemn league known as the Compromise of Nobles, by which they bound themselves to assist in defending the rights and liberties of the Netherlands against the civil and religious despotism of Philip II of Spain were Louis of Nassau, and Hendrick van Brederode. On 5 April 1566, permission was obtained for the confederates to present a petition of grievances, called the Request, to the regent, Margaret, Duchess of Parma. About 250 nobles marched to the palace accompanied by Louis of Nassau and Brederode. The regent was at first alarmed at the appearance of so large a body, but one of her councillors, Berlaymont, allegedly remarked "N'ayez pas peur Madame, ce ne sont que des gueux" (Fear not madam, they are only beggars). In 1569 William of Orange, who had now openly placed himself at the head of the party of revolt, granted letters of marque to a number of vessels manned by crews of desperadoes drawn from all nationalities. Eighteen ships received letters of marque, which were equipped by Louis of Nassau in the French Huguenot port of La Rochelle, which they continued to use as a base. By the end of 1569, already 84 Sea Beggars ships were in action. However, in 1572, Queen Elizabeth I of England abruptly refused to admit the Sea Beggars to her harbours. No longer having refuge, the Sea Beggars, under the command of Willem Bloys van Treslong, made a desperate attack upon Brielle, which they seized by surprise in the absence of the Spanish garrison on 1 April 1572. Encouraged by this success, they now sailed to Vlissingen, which was also taken by a coup de main. The capture of these two towns prompted several nearby towns to declare for revolt, starting a chain reaction that resulted in the majority of Holland joining in a general revolt of the Netherlands, and is regarded as the real beginning of Dutch independence.
4/1/1621	The Pilgrim-Wampanoag peace treaty	At the Plymouth settlement in present-day Massachusetts, the leaders of the Plymouth colonists, acting on behalf of King James I, make a defensive alliance with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags. The agreement, in which both parties promised to not “doe hurt” to one another, was the first treaty between a Native American tribe and a group of American colonists. According to the treaty, if a Wampanoag broke the peace, he would be sent to Plymouth for punishment; if a colonist broke the law, he would likewise be sent to the Wampanoags.
4/1/1778	Creation of the $ (dollar sign)	Oliver Pollock was a merchant and financier of the American Revolutionary War, of which he has long been considered a historically undervalued figure. He is often attributed with the creation of the U.S. Dollar sign in 1778. In 1777 he was appointed "commercial agent of the United States at New Orleans", making him the representative of the colonies in the city. He used his fortune to finance American operations in the west, and the successful campaign of General George Rogers Clark in Illinois 1778 occurred with his financial support.
4/1/1877	Discoverer of Tombstone begins prospecting	Ignoring the taunts of fellow miners who say he will only find his own tombstone, prospector Edward Schieffelin begins his search for silver in the area of present-day southern Arizona. Later that year, Schieffelin was not only alive and well, but he had found one of the richest silver veins in the West. He named it the Tombstone Lode. By 1881, more than 10,000 people lived in the region and Tombstone had become the seat of the newly created Cochise County. The Wild West spirit of the town and large amounts of money attracted gamblers, criminals, and would-be lawmen. Of these, Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers are the most famous today, because of their brief shoot-out with the Clantons and McLaurys at the O.K. Corral in 1881. Tombstone was home to scores of other gamblers and gunslingers, though, including John Ringo, William C. Brocius, and Frank Leslie.