Category: Today

On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, banning slavery in all states and territories.

One-​hundred-​and-​nineteen years later, to the day, in 1984, Paul Jacob (of ThisIsCommonSense​.org, LibertyiFund​.org, and the Citizens in Charge Foundation) was arrested by the FBI for his refusal to register with Selective Service System (the draft people). The Government was probably not attempting to make a commemorative point about involuntary servitude.

On December 5, 1933, nationwide alcohol Prohibition in the United States ended after Utah became the 36th U.S. state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75 percent of states needed to enact the amendment that overturned the 18th.

On December 4, 1783, at Fraunces Tavern in New York City, General George Washington formally bade his officers farewell.

On December 3, 1989, the leaders of the two world superpowers, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, declared an end to the Cold War, at a summit in Malta. A little over two years later not only had the Cold War ended, the Soviet Union was itself dissolved.

On December 2, 1823, U.S. President James Monroe delivered a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts. The policy became known as the Monroe Doctrine.

Though a much-​discussed principle of American foreign policy, it was undermined by the Spanish-​American War and proved a dead letter as the U. S. entered World War I.

On December 1, 1824, with neither John Quincy Adams nor Andrew Jackson receiving a majority of votes in the Electoral College, the United States House of Representatives was given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The House selected Adams. Jackson and his supporters felt deeply aggrieved, and immediately set about preparing for the next election, which Jackson won handily. Jacksonian supporters referred to the election of 1824 as “the Stolen Election,” in no small part because Jackson had received more popular votes — though the popular vote never had or was intended to have any constitutional play in determining the election of the United States President.

In 1834 on this date, slavery was abolished in Britain’s Cape Colony at the southern tip of Africa, in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.