Category: Today

On January 18, 1689, Montesquieu, French satirist and philosopher, was born. His treatise “The Spirit of the Laws” was a major influence upon America’s founding generation.

On January 15, 1777, New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declared its independence.

January 14 is New Year’s Day according to the old, Julian Calendar. On January 14, 1514, Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against slavery. On the same date in 1639, the first written constitution to create a government, the “Fundamental Orders,” was adopted in Connecticut.

On Jan. 12, 1904, Henry Ford set a land-speed record of 91.37 mph on the frozen surface of Lake St. Clair in Michigan, driving a four-wheel vehicle, dubbed the “999,” with a wooden chassis but no body or hood. Ford’s record was broken within a month, but the publicity from Ford’s achievement was valuable to the auto pioneer, who had incorporated the Ford Motor Company the previous year.

On January 11, 1571, the freedom of religion was granted to Austrian nobility.

On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense.

On January 9, 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to be admitted to the United States under the new Constitution. Connecticut was one of the first nine states of the original union, under the Articles of Confederation, to accept the Constitution, and thus officially ratify it. All 13 original states had ratified that new compact, officially, by May 29, 1790. The first state to be added to the original 13 was Vermont, in 1791.

On January 8, 1790, George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in New York, New York.

In 1835, on this date, the United States federal government achieved a zero debt for the first and only time.

In 1867, African-American men were first allowed to vote in Washington, D.C.

On January 7, 1940, the Finnish 9th Division completely destroyed the much-larger Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road, in a crucial battle during Finland’s Winter War.