Category: Today

On April 6, 1776, the Continental Congress opened all U.S. ports to international trade with any part of the world not under British rule. Under Britain’s mercantilist policies, all American imports and exports had to pass through Great Britain on their way to and from the colonies. 

On April 6, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.

On April 6, 1929, Governor Huey P. Long was impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives. But the Senate needed a two-​thirds majority to convict and, when a number of state senators pledged not to vote against Long no matter the evidence, the drive to remove Long was suspended. 

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on the balcony outside his second-​story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King was struck in the jaw by a bullet that severed his spinal cord. The 39-​year-​old civil rights leader was pronounced dead on his arrival at a Memphis hospital. Following the assassination, riots broke out in cities across the country, with National Guard troops called out to quell unrest in Memphis and Washington, D.C.

On April 4, 1975, Microsoft was founded Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

On April 3, 1776, John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, signed the authorization for privateers to attack British vessels. Lacking sufficient funds for a strong navy, the Congress gave privateers permission to attack any and all British ships.

On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King spoke at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee, in what has come to be known as his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech. The following day, King was assassinated in the city outside his hotel room.

On Apr 2, 1917, Jeannette Rankin took her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as the first woman ever elected to Congress, representing Montana. Four days later, she would be one of only 50 representatives to vote against U.S. entry into the First World War. In 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Rankin would cast the only dissenting vote against the country’s entry into World War II.

On April 1, 1787, James Madison, father of the Constitution, removed the General Welfare clause from his draft of the U.S. Constitution, telling friends that, “I fear future big-​government-​loving politicians will undoubtedly abuse the clause’s vague concept to drown the people in federal overreach.”

On April 1, 1918, Woodrow Wilson became the first and only President of the United States to be impeached and removed from office for lying about munitions being aboard the Lusitania in an effort to whip up war fever against Germany and push the nation into World War I.

On April 1, 2002, the U.S. Congress refused to grant President George W. Bush’s request for a declaration of war against Iraq.