On this day in 1958, President Eisenhower proclaims Law Day to honor the role of law in the creation of the United States of America. Three years later, Congress followed suit by passing a joint resolution establishing May 1 as Law Day. The idea of a Law Day had first been proposed by the American […]
Category Archives: American Revolution
B.F. Goodrich Co. Announces Development Of Tubeless tire
On this day in 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio, announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient. Pneumatic tires–or tires filled with pressurized air–were used on motor vehicles beginning in the late 1800s, when the French rubber manufacturer Michelin & Cie became […]
Mack Truck Founder Killed In Car Crash
John “Jack” Mack, who co-founded what would become one of North America’s largest makers of heavy-duty trucks, is killed when his car collides with a trolley in Pennsylvania on March 14, 1922. In 1890, Jack Mack went to work for Fallesen & Berry, a carriage and wagon company in Brooklyn, New York. Three years later, […]
Former President James Madison Dies
On this day in 1836, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the “Federalist Papers” and fourth president of the United States, dies on his tobacco plantation in Virginia. Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed […]
Connecticut Patriot Eliphalet Dyer Dies
Connecticut land speculator, politician, jurist and Patriot Eliphalet Dyer dies on this day in 1807. Born in Windham, Connecticut, in 1721 and a 1740 graduate of Yale College, Dyer spent his life in the service of his home colony-turned-state. He served in the colonial militia in 1745, and then became a justice of the peace […]
Patriot And Future President Andrew Jackson Kills Charles Dickinson
On this day in 1806, Revolutionary war veteran and future President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel. Born in the Waxhaws area along the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, Andrew Jackson was the last president to be a veteran of the American Revolution and the first president to bring the backcountry […]
New Hampshire Patriot Matthew Thornton Dies
On this day in 1803, Matthew Thornton, one of New Hampshire’s delegates to the second Continental Congress and an ex post facto signer of the Declaration of Independence, dies at age 89 while visiting his daughter in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Born in Ireland in 1714, Thornton immigrated as a child to Wiscasset, in the Massachusetts territory […]
Sedition Act Becomes Federal Law
On this day in 1798, one of the most egregious breaches of the U.S. Constitution in history becomes federal law when Congress passes the Sedition Act, endangering liberty in the fragile new nation. While the United States engaged in naval hostilities with Revolutionary France, known as the Quasi-War, Alexander Hamilton and congressional Federalists took advantage […]