On January 13, 1898, the French journalist and novelist Emile Zola published an open letter entitled J’accuse in defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army who had been dubiously convicted of spying. Learn more about the Dreyfus Affair. Sentenced to prison for libel, Zola fled to England; he was granted [...]

On January 12, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt revived the National War Labor Board (NWLB) for World War II. In order to prevent wartime labor stoppages, the NWLB was set up to arbitrate labor disputes that arose during the war. The NWLB also managed wage controls over the airplane, automobile, shipping, mining, telegraph, and railway [...]

On January 12, 1998, nineteen European nations signed a treaty prohibiting human cloning within their jurisdictions. Review the terms of the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings.

On January 11, 1943, the United States and Great Britain relinquished by treaty their extraterritorial claims in China. This abandonment effectively ended the jurisdiction of the extraterritorial United States Court for China (established 1906) and the British Supreme Court in China. Read more about the United States Court for China, which one scholar has called [...]

On January 11, 1759, America’s first life insurance company was incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers was established by Presbyterians to support the families of their ministers. In 1988, the company’s name was changed to the Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund. The company later became [...]

On January 10, 1920, the League of Nations was formally established as the Treaty of Versailles entered into force. Review the Covenant of the League of Nations and a full League of Nations timeline.

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller’s corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil’s dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. [...]

On January 9, 1799, British Prime Minister William Pitt introduced Great Britain’s first income tax. The tax was announced the previous December as a means of raising money for war against Napoleon. Pitt’s successor, Henry Addington, repealed the tax when hostilities subsided in 1802. Addington then reinstated the tax during the following year when fighting [...]

Carrie Chapman Catt, suffragist, womens’ rights advocate and co-founder of the League of Women Voters, was born on January 9, 1859. Visit the Carrie Chapman Catt Childhood Home.

On January 8, 1961, voters in France overwhelmingly approved self-determination for Algeria. By a 75 percent margin, French citizens voted in favor of a referendum which allowed the colony of Algeria to determine its own future. On July 1, 1961, Algerians elected to become an independent nation by a near-unanimous margin. These events concluded nearly [...]