19TH AMENDMENT ADOPTED:August 26, 1920The 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The amendment was the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by woman suffragists. Its two sections read simply: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex" and "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
August 271908 LBJ is bornOn this day in 1908, future President Lyndon Baines Johnson is born on a farm near Stonewall, Texas. The brash, outspoken Johnson grew up in an impoverished rural area and worked his way through a teachers' training college before entering politics.
KING'S “I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH:August 28, 1963On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the African American civil rights movement reaches its high-water mark when Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks to more than 200,000 people attending the March on Washington. The demonstrators--black and white, poor and rich--came together in the nation's capital to demand voting rights and equal opportunity for African Americans and to appeal for an end to racial segregation and discrimination.
August 291862 Battle of Second Bull RunConfederate General Robert E. Lee deals a stinging defeat to Union General John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run?a battle that arose out of the failure of Union General George McClellan's Peninsular campaign earlier in the summer. Frustrated with McClellan, who was still camped on the James Peninsula southeast of Richmond, President Lincoln and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck decided to pull a substantial part of McClellan's Army of the Potomac and send it to General John Pope's newly formed Army of Virginia.
29th August 1833The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act? gaving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom. The British government agrees to pay compensation to the slave owners.? ?
August 3030 BC Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, commits suicide. 1617 Rosa de Lima of Peru becomes the first American saint to be canonized. 1721 The Peace of Nystad ends the Second Northern War between Sweden and Russia, giving Russia considerably more power in the Baltic region. 1781 The French fleet arrives in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution. 1813 Creek Indians massacre over 500 whites at Fort Mims Alabama. 1860 The first British tramway is inaugurated at Birkenhead by an American, George Francis Train. 1861 Union General John Fremont declares martial law throughout Missouri and makes his own emancipation proclamation to free slaves in the state. President Lincoln overrules the general.
August 30 Fanny Kaplan, a Jewish revolutionary and convicted terrorist, opposed to the overthrow of the Socialist Revolutionaries by the? Bolsheviks attempts to assassinate Lenin outside of a Moscow factory where he has been giving a speech.Whilst Lenin survived the shooting it is thought that this attack ultimately led to his later ill health,
8-31-1997: PRINCESS DIANA DIES:Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in Paris' Pitie-Salpetiere Hospital after suffering massive chest injuries in an early morning car accident. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, was killed instantly in the 12:25 a.m. crash, as was driver Henri Paul, who was drunk and lost control of the Mercedes in a highway underpass. He was driving at excessive speeds in a reckless attempt to escape paparazzi photographers. Diana's bodyguard, Trevor Rees Jones, escaped with serious but nonfatal injuries. He was the only one wearing his seat belt. The death of Diana, beloved by millions for her beauty and good nature, plunged the world into mourning.
August 31 1888Murder of Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols who is widely believed to have been the first victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer "Jack the Ripper," who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London during the late summer and autumn of 1888.
9-1-1775: King George refuses Olive Branch PetitionRichard Penn and Arthur Lee, representing the Continental Congress, present the so-called Olive Branch Petition to the Earl of Dartmouth on this day in 1775. Britain?s King George III, however, refused to receive the petition, which, written by John Dickinson, appealed directly to the king and expressed hope for reconciliation between the colonies and Great Britain.
September 2 1666 The Great Fire of London, which devastates the city, begins. 1789 The Treasury Department, headed by Alexander Hamilton, is created in New York City. 1792 Verdun, France, surrenders to the Prussian Army. 1798 The Maltese people revolt against the French occupation, forcing the French troops to take refuge in the citadel of Valetta in Malta. 1870 Napoleon III capitulates to the Prussians at Sedan, France. 1885 In Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, 28 Chinese laborers are killed and hundreds more chased out of town by striking coal miners. 1898 Sir Herbert Kitchner leads the British to victory over the Mahdists at Omdurman and takes Khartoum. 1910 Alice Stebbins Wells is admitted to the Los Angeles Police Force as the first woman police officer to receive an appointment based on a civil service exam. 1915 Austro-German armies take Grodno, Poland. 1944 Troops of the U.S. First Army enter Belgium. 1945 Japan signs the document of surrender aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II 1945 Vietnam declares its independence and Nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaims himself its first president. 1956 Tennessee National Guardsmen halt rioters protesting the admission of 12 African-Americans to schools in Clinton. 1963 Alabama Governor George Wallace calls state troopers to Tuskegee High School to prevent integration.
Sept 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on GermanyOn this day in 1939, in response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany.The first casualty of that declaration was not German-but the British ocean liner Athenia, which was sunk by a German U-30 submarine that had assumed the liner was armed and belligerent. There were more than 1,100 passengers on board, 112 of whom lost their lives. Of those, 28 were Americans, but President Roosevelt was unfazed by the tragedy, declaring that no one was to "thoughtlessly or falsely talk of America sending its armies to European fields." The United States would remain neutral.As for Britain's response, it was initially no more than the dropping of anti-Nazi propaganda leaflets-13 tons of them-over Germany. They would begin bombing German ships on September 4, suffering significant losses. They were also working under orders not to harm German civilians. The German military, of course, had no such restrictions. France would begin an offensive against Germany's western border two weeks later. Their effort was weakened by a narrow 90-mile window leading to the German front, enclosed by the borders of Luxembourg and Belgium-both neutral countries. The Germans mined the passage, stalling the French offensive.