225 years ago, on April 22, 1778, the Continental Congress passed a resolution branding as traitors all who would come to terms with the British peace commission. The next two days, April 23-24, 1778, 31-year-old U.S. Captain John Paul Jones took the colonists' fight to the British-even to his own birthplace (Carrickfergus, Scotland)-by forcing the surrender of the 20-gun British warship Drake, and capturing 200 British seamen. Jones' sloop, Ranger, was the first colonial ship to fly the recently authorized flag of the United States. Jones and his crew had previously raided the coastal port of Whitehaven, England, where they set fire to several ships lying at anchor in harbor.
200 years ago, on April 30, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson broke the law when he authorized purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. Jefferson, a strict constitutionalist, knew that he had no such authority, but he could hardly pass up the purchase of 828,000 square miles of prime land for less than 3-cents an acre. This epic land deal increased U.S. territorial size by 140%, adding part or all of 13 future states . . . . In the same month, John James Audubon arrived in America from France. He immediately began studying and cataloging America's native bird species.
175 years ago, on April 21, 1828, Noah Webster published The American Dictionary of the English Language. His two-volume work included 38,000 entries and was the result of 20 years' work. It was the first lexicon to treat distinctly American usage & pronunciation . . . . On April 23 and 29, 1828, the U.S. House and Senate, respectively, passed what the South called "The Tariff of Abominations," an anti-trade bill designed to be so extreme that it couldn't pass Congress . . . but it did.
75 years ago, on April 13, 1928, the Socialist Party National Convention nominated Norman Thomas of New York for President. (Most of their platform was later adopted by the Democrats.)
50 years ago, on April 1, 1953, Congress established the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) . . . . On April 24, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (now the IRS) said that a record high $68.5 billion in U.S. federal taxes were collected in 1952. On the same day, Sen. Wayne Morse (I.-Ore.) began a record-long overnight filibuster, lasting 22 hours and 26 minutes, in an attempt to block a bill that would return control of offshore oil reserves to states and corporations.
25 years ago, President Jimmy Carter had a busy month. On April 6, he signed a retirement age bill, giving most workers the option of retiring at age 70, not 65. On April 7, he blocked construction and deployment of the neutron bomb. On April 11, he tried to limit federal wage increases to 5.5%, in order "to fight inflation," but inflation ran over 8% in 1978. On April 18, the second Panama Canal Treaty was ratified by the Senate, a triumph for Carter's Canal transfer program. On April 17, a record 63.5 million shares traded on Wall Street. The market rose 10% in April of 1978, but only after the Dow had declined 25% in Carter's first year in office, reaching a low of 742 in early 1978.
20 years ago, on April 18, 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was bombed, killing 63, including 17 Americans. The perpetrators were never found. Six months later, over 200 Marines were killed while sleeping in their barracks in Beirut.
10 years ago, on April 17, 1993, Los Angeles police officers Stacy Koon and Laurence Powell were found guilty of allowing or using excessive force to restrain Rodney King - and thereby another L.A. riot was avoided . . . . On Monday, April 19, federal tanks plowed into the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., resulting in the death of over 80 Davidians by the end of the day, including 19 children.
