This Month in History, United States history, historical dates, events

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY

January 2008

January 1, 1863
The Emancipation Proclamation

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that "all person held as slaves" in the rebel states "are, and henceforward shall be free." The proclamation also allowed nearly 200,000 black men to fight in the Union Army and Navy.

Abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass
urged black men to join the Union Army.
In 1863, he wrote, "Better even to die
free than to live slaves."

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THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

1

1863 Emancipation Proclamation
New Year's Day

2

1919 Palmer Red Raids began.

3

1959 Alaska admitted as 49th state.

4

1790 George Washington delivered first State of the Union speech.

5

1925 Nellie Tayloe Ross inaugurated as first woman state governor.

6

1873 Congress began to investigate Crédit Mobilier scandal.

7

1999 Clinton impeachment trial began.

8

1815 British defeated at Battle of New Orleans.

9

1991 Pete Rose banned from Baseball Hall of Fame.

10

1870 Standard Oil incorporated.

11

1964 Surgeon General issued first report on dangers of smoking.

12

1912 Strike began in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

13

1988 Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier decided.

14

1943 Casablanca Conference began.

15

1985 New Jersey v. TLO decided.

16

1918 18th Amendment ratified.

17

1893 Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani surrendered to revolutionaries.

18

1803 Jefferson asked Congress to authorize the Louis and Clark expedition.

19

1786 Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom passed.

20

1961 JFK delivered his inaugural address.

21

1977 Vietnam War draft evaders pardoned.
Martin Luther King's birthday

22

1944 War Refugee Board created.

23

1933 20th Amendment ratified.

24

1848 Gold discovered in California at Sutter's Mill.

25

1787 Rebels under Daniel Shays stormed a federal armory.

26

1830 Senator Daniel Webster delivered his Second Reply to Hayne speech.

27

1880 Edison patented the light bulb.

28

1986 Challenger exploded.

29

1850 Clay introduced bill for Compromise of 1850.

30

1968 Tet Offensive began.

31

1958 Explorer I launched.

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