500 Years Ago, on Dec. 14, 1503, Nostradamus [Michel de Notre-Dame], the French astrologist, physician & prophet, was born.
250 years ago, on Dec. 13, 1753, George Washington, at age 21, reached Ft. Le Boeuf, 20 miles south of Lake Erie, after a harrowing six-week trek over the Alleghenies from Virginia. As the adjutant for the Virginia colony, he warned the French of Britain’s claim to the entire Ohio River valley. His demands were quickly rebuffed. Then, on his six-week trek back home, into January 1754, he nearly died three times-in a raging river, in an ambush, and of exposure to bitter cold.
200 years ago, on Dec. 20, 1803, the U.S. and the French governments put the finishing touches on the Louisiana Purchase. For $15 million, the U.S. doubled the size of our nation.
175 years ago, on Dec. 3, 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected (by the electoral college) as the 7th U.S. president, and the first one not from Virginia or Massachusetts; and on December 19, 1828: South Carolina declared the right of states to nullify federal laws.
150 years ago, on Dec. 30, 1853, James Gadsden, the U.S. minister to Mexico, and Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of Mexico, signed the Gadsden Purchase, in Mexico City. This belated treaty to end the Mexican War established a permanent border to the southern U.S. For $10 million, the U.S. gained another 45,000 square miles in lower New Mexico and Arizona.
125 years ago, on Dec. 1, 1878: The first White House telephone was installed. And on December 26, the first of Edison’s electric lights turned the switch on, in Philadelphia.
100 years ago, On Dec. 17, 1903 Orville Wright took a short flight for a man but a giant leap for mankind-as he flew just 40 yards in 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk, N.C., with his brother Wilbur Wright watching. The brothers made four flights that day, the longest one going 852 feet, and lasting a full minute. It was mankind’s first heavier-than-air powered flight, something previously deemed impossible.
50 years ago, on Dec. 16, 1953 (exactly 50 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight, less one day), Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager became the first man to fly 1600 mph, in the Bell X-1A.
10 years ago, on Dec. 8, 1993, President Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law.
5 years ago, on Dec. 19, 1998, President Clinton’s impeachment process began, as the U.S. House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment, after 13 hours of debate.
