On March 13, 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the United States Senate. It is the first impeachment of a U.S. president in the nation’s history.
“Uncle Sam” made his debut as a cartoon character, sixteen years earlier, in the New York Lantern.
On March 12, 1776, a public notice appeared in Baltimore newspapers recognizing the sacrifice of women to the cause of the revolution.
On March 12, 1930, in a bold act of civil disobedience against British rule in India, independence leader Mohandas Gandhi began a 241-mile march to the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt. Britain’s Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet. Citizens were forced to buy salt from the British, who heavily taxed the mineral in addition to holding a monopoly over its manufacture and sale. Gandhi was arrested in May and served in prison until January of the following year, but the protests continued throughout India.
On March 11, 1936, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was born.
March 10, 1762: Jean Calas, a Huguenot, died after torture, after having been wrongly convicted of killing his son; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
On March 9, 1954, the CBS show “See It Now” reviewed Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy’s anti-Communism campaign.
On March 8, 1775, an anonymous writer published “African Slavery in America”, the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery. Some people think that Tom Paine was the author.
Other March 8 events:
In 1908, Jennings Randolph was born. Randolph was best known for sponsoring eleven times an amendment to the Constitution that would grant citizens aged between 18 and 21 the right to vote.
In 1917, seeking to limit the ability to maneuver with the filibuster, the Senate voted to establish the cloture rule.
In 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” He thus scored points for telling the obvious truth.