Category: Today

On February 11, 1812, Governor Elbridge Gerry signed into law a plan to redistrict Massachusetts so that the Federalists would lose votes. The new Republican districts were said to be in the form of a salamander, so Gerry was accused of “gerrymandering” — the epithet deriving from his name and a salamander, which some said was the shape of the districts he had drawn up to favor his party. A cartoon gerrymander map was published in the Boston Gazette on March 26, 1812, with the salamander more in the mythical draconic form than the natural amphibious form.

On February 10, 1967, the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. Submitted to the states on July 6, 1965, by the 89th Congress, it was adopted on the day the requisite number of states ratified it — the 38th, which was in this case Nevada. The Amendment deals with presidential disability and succession in cases of emergency or inability to perform the constitutional duties of the office.

The text reads:

Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department [sic] or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

On February 9, 1991, voters in Lithuania voted for independence from the Soviet Union, eleven months after independence from the Soviet Union had been declared on March 11, 1990. Just over 93 percent of those voting voted in favor of independence, while the number of eligible voters voting “yes,” was 76.5 percent, far exceeding the 50 percent threshold. Independence was subsequently achieved in August 1991.

On February 8, 1837, having failed to secure the vice presidency of the United States in the Electoral College vote, Richard Mentor Johnson became the only U.S. Vice President to be elected to the position by the U.S. Senate according to the provisions of the Constitution’s Twelfth Amendment.

On February 7, 1990, the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agreed to give up its monopoly on power, thus ushering the way for the dissolution of the putatively communist empire.

On February 6, 2018, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, made its maiden flight.

The payload was random/not-random: A Tesla Roadster. Elon Musk runs both SpaceX and Tesla.

Paul Jacob wrote about this at the time.

SpaceX boasts the Falcon Heavy as one of its chief successes:

Falcon Heavy is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. As one of the world’s most powerful operational rockets, Falcon Heavy can lift nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lbs) to orbit.

On February 5, 1788, Robert Peel was born. He would become one of the United Kingdom’s most important prime ministers, ushering in some reforms that led to the liberalization of England in the 19th century.

Peel is also regarded as the father of the modern British police — the popular term “bobbies” refers to “Bob” Peel — and as one of the founders of the modern Conservative Party.

Robert Peel died in 1850.

On February 4, 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States, under the new Constitution, by the U.S. Electoral College.

On the same date five years later, the French legislature abolished slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.

On February 3, 1783, Spain recognized the independence from Britain of the United States of America.

Walter Bagehot (pronounced “badge-it”), famed editor of The Economist and author of Lombard Street, was born on this date in 1826.

On February 2, 1887, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, celebrated the first Groundhog Day. On the same day in 1976, the Groundhog Day gale hit the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.

In 2009, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe officially devalued the Zimbabwean dollar for the third and final time, making Z$1 trillion now only Z$1 of the new currency, equivalent to Z$10 septillion before the first devaluation. Politicians in Zimbabwe looked up, saw their shadow, and realized that they had only a couple months more of their inflation binge. Indeed, the legalization of trading currencies, the previous month, had sealed the fate of Zimbabwe’s independent dollar. The Zimbabwean dollar was abandoned officially on the 9th of April, 2009.