President George Washington signed the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Supreme Court is made up of six justices who were to serve until death or retirement. This group was granted by the Constitution, and given ultimate jurisdiction over the laws.
Billy, the Kid, was arrested for the first time on this day in 1875. His first offense was stealing a basket of laundry. After this arrest, he broke out of jail and eventually earned a reputation as an outlaw, a murderer, and has a rap sheet that includes 21 murders.
President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The signing of the proclamation was to set a date for more than 3 million black slaves to be set free.
During the American Revolution, Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre. They discussed the exchange of West Point, in the promise of a large sum of money and a high ranking position in the British army.
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator, set sail to find a western route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. On October 21, Magellan finally discovered the strait.
In an underground tunnel at Nevada's Test Site, the United States detonated a 1.7 kiloton nuclear weapon. This test, known as the Rainier, produced no radioactive fallout and was the first fully contained underground detonation.
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sighted a Bahamian island thinking he had reached East Asia. He went ashore the same day and claimed land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain. These two people, sponsored Columbus' effort to find a western route to China, India, and fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.
Former President Jimmy Carter won a Nobel Peace Prize "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful situations to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."
In France, at the Battle of Tours, Charles Martel defeated a vast army of Spanish Moors. This was a significant defeat and caused the halting of Muslims coming into Western Europe.
Williams had spoken out against the right of civil authorities to punish religious dissension and to confiscate Indian land.
Patrick and Catherine O'Leary's barn ignited a space that leads to the Great Chicago Fire. During the fire, 200 to 300 people lost their lives, 17,450 buildings were destroyed, and 100,000 left homeless. The Great Chicago Fire left the Windy City with an estimated $200 million in damages.
In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor despite his inexperience. He was able to come out on top in the 11-week campaign. Schwarzenegger beat his closest competitor, Governor Cruz Bustamante, by more than 1 million votes.
Mayor George McClellan took the controls on New York City's subway inaugural run. The New York City subway became the largest American transportation system. The subway opened at 7 pm that night, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel to take their first ride under Manhattan.
After silver was found near Tombstone, Arizona, the Earp brothers faced off with the Clanton-McLaury gang. When the legendary shootout was over, the Earps were charged with murder. One month after being convicted, a judge found the Earp brother not guilty, ruling they were "fully justified committing these homicides."
Albert B. Fall served as secretary of the interior in President Warren G. Harding's cabinet. Fall was found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office during the Teapot Dome Scandal.
The Thirty Year War was a series of wars fought by European nations. It started in 1618 when the King of Bohemia attempted to impose Catholicism throughout his domains. In 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, ending the war. When this took place, there was a radical shift in power for Europe.
A suicide terrorist in Beirut, left 241 U.S. military personnel, when a truck packed with explosives drove into the U.S. Marine barracks. The same morning, 58 French soldiers were killed in their barracks in a separate terrorist attack. President Reagan let the Marines in Lebanon, but four months later, he announced the end of America's role in peacekeeping.
On this day in 1967, in Washington, DC, nearly 100,000 people gathered to protest the efforts of the Vietnam War. More than 50,000 of those protestors marched to the Pentagon to ask for the war to come to an end. This was the first time that American support for the Vietnam War fell below 50%.
During a Friday prayer service at the Rawdah mosque, terrorists opened fire on those praying. When the bomb went off, more than 305 were killed including 27 children, and wounding 120 more. This horrific attack has gone down in history as the country's deadliest terror attack.
The popular pictorial magazine "Life" was published for the first time. The featuring cover photo was Fort Peck Dam spillway by Margaret Bourke-White.
The 35th president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed while traveling through Dallas, Texas in an open-top convertible. As their car passed through the streets of downtown, Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. Kennedy was pronounced dead only 30 minutes later when arriving at Dallas' Parkland Hospital.
On this day, 350 million people around the world tuned into "Dallas," a popular television show, to find out who shot J.R. Ewing. J.R. was the character that fans loved to hate and was shot at the season-ending episode that had left everyone in suspense since March.
The "Essex," an American whaler, was attacked by an 80-ton whale 2,000 miles from the western coast of South African. The Essex weighed 238-ton were on a mission to obtain the oil and bone that comes from the whales. The 20 member crew were able to escape in three open boats, but only 5 of the men were able to survive the 83-day journey to land.
Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches on this day when he spoke at the dedication of a military cemetery located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the American Civil War, Lincoln, in 275 words or less, was able to remind a weary public why the Union had to fight and win the Civil War.
On the night of February 8th, police responded to a bonfire on campus in South Carolina during a protest against racial segregation, four years after discrimination was outlawed. A protestor removed a banister from an abandoned house and threw it at the police, resulting in the police opening fire. The killing of three African Americans and the wounding of thirty others, has gone down in history as the Orangeburg Massacre.
While in orbit, 170 miles above the Earth, Navy captain, Bruce McCandless II, became the first human to perform an untethered spacewalk. He exited the U.S. Space Shuttle "Challenger" and maneuvered freely, using a bulky white rocket pack he designed. McCandless orbited the Earth in tangent with the shuttle at speeds higher than 17,500 miles per hour. He was able to move approximately 320 feet away from the shuttle. After about an hour and a half, he safely re-entered the shuttle.
Law Office of Richard J. Arendt updated their info in the about section.
Law Office of Richard J. Arendt updated their address.
In 1913, Grand Central Terminal opened in New York City for the first time. The terminal found at the home of an older steam train station built-in 1879. In 1902, there was a horrible collision between two old steam engines, killing 15 people. It was at this point that a more substantial renovation was needed.
