350 years ago, on Feb. 2, 1653, New Amsterdam officially became a city, later called New York. Wall Street was also born that year, when Peter Stuyvesant completed a literal wall across lower Manhattan, to keep out any invaders. Inside the wall was a lane called Wall Street.
225 years ago, on Feb. 6, 1778, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation. (They launched another Confederacy four score years later.) The next day, France signed a treaty with the U.S., offering economic and military assistance to the young confederacy. (This was the first and only military alliance made by the U.S. until NATO in 1949.)???. On February 16, General George Washington wrote Congress that his army faced total collapse in Valley Forge "unless vigorous and effectual measures are pursued to prevent it." Congress sent our a Prussian General, Baron von Steuben, who didn't speak a word of English, but presented himself to General George Washington on February 23 and explained, through an interpreter, that he was volunteering to train the general's army. It worked. The Prussian whipped the rag tag army into new fighting shape.
200 years ago, on Feb. 19, 1803, Ohio became the 17th State, the first state in which slavery was forbidden by law from the beginning???. On February 24, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a federal law unconstitutional, in Marbury vs. Madison. In this case, Secretary of State James Madison was not allowed to rescind President Adams' "midnight" re-appointment of judge William Marbury.
150 years ago, Feb. 21, 1853, the Coinage Act of 1853 authorized the new $3 gold coin and limited the quantity of silver in coins under one dollar???. Another fall-out of the California Gold rush: On February 25, 1853, Sacramento was chosen as the site of the new state's capital.
125 years ago, on Feb. 19, 1878, Thomas Edison won a patent for the phonograph, which he called a "gramophone." It came out of his attempt to improve the sound quality of the telegraph. The first song he played was "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
100 years ago, on Feb. 11, 1903, Teddy Roosevelt's "Expedition Act" was filed in the U.S. circuit courts. It consisted of 45 anti-trust suits against big business, as part of President Roosevelt's crusade against "the malefactors of great wealth."???. On February 14, the President's Cabinet was expanded, when the Departments of Commerce & Labor (split into two cabinet posts in 1913) came into being, plus a prototype of the Department of Defense - the Army General Staff Corps - formed in order to centralize military control???. And on Feb. 28, 1903, Henry Ford hired John and Horace Dodge to supply the chassis for his new Fords.
50 years ago, on Feb. 1, 1953, "General Electric Theater" premiered on CBS TV (Ronald Reagan was later the host), and "You Are There," with Walter Cronkite, also premiered on CBS.
