On February 7, 1795, the 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution took effect with ratification by North Carolina. Adopted in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Chisholm v. Georgia, the amendment limited the jurisdiction of the federal courts to automatically hear cases brought against a state by the citizens of another [...]

On February 6, 1933, the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified by the requisite majority of states, moving the start of presidential, vice-presidential and congressional terms from March to January in an effort to shorten the problematic “lame duck” period. Learn more about the 20th Amendment.

On February 6, 1900, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) was founded with the ratification of the 1899 Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. Set at The Hague in the Netherlands, the PCA was the first international tribunal established to settle disputes between nations. The PCA was later revised by the subsequent 1907 [...]

On February 5, 1988, Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was indicted on charges of drug smuggling and money laundering. The following year, he was extradited to the United States and later sentenced to 30 years in US federal prison. In 1999, the French government requested that Noriega be extradited to France, where he had been convicted [...]

On February 5, 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, frustrated with the US Supreme Court’s treatment of some of his economic reforms, proposed a plan to add judges to that and other federal courts whenever a sitting judge reached the age of seventy but declined to retire. Critics accused Roosevelt of indulging in autocracy and “court-packing.” [...]

On February 4, 1913, late civil rights activist Rosa Parks—who became famous in 1956 for refusing to give up her seat to a white man and go to the back of a Montgomery Alabama bus—was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Learn more about Rosa Parks.

On February 4, 1794, the legislature of France abolished slavery throughout the territories of the French Republic. The practice was then reinstituted by Napoleon in 1804, before being banned permanently in 1814 after Bonaparte was exiled to Elba. As of 2001, slavery is defined as a “crime against humanity” by French law.

On February 3, 1967, Ronald Ryan became the last person executed in Australia. He was hanged in Pentridge Prison in Melbourne for killing a guard during an escape attempt. Belief in Ryan’s innocence led to protests across the country, culminating in the Death Penalty Abolition Act of 1973. The Last Man Hanged, a documentary about [...]

On February 3, 1930, Chief Justice William Howard Taft, former President of the United States, resigned from the United States Supreme Court for health reasons. He died 5 weeks later. Learn more about the life and career(s) of William Howard Taft and review his complex medical history.

On February 2, 1653, the City of New Amsterdam was incorporated by the Dutch Republic. After the British conquest, the city was renamed New York after the Duke of York.