On September 18, 1838, the Anti-Corn Law League was created in the United Kingdom. As the name suggests, the purpose of the association was to press for the abolition of British Corn Laws, which were indeed repealed in 1846. After the repeal, the organization worked to oppose other protectionist measures in the UK. The weekly [...]
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On September 18, 1797, future US Supreme Court Justice, Harvard law professor, and legal author Joseph Story was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts. West Virginia University law professor James Elkins notes that Story was also a poet; learn more about Story and read a couple of his poems here.
On September 17, 1990, Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union reopened diplomatic ties.
On September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was adopted by the 39 delegates to the federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Learn more about the Constitution from the National Constitution Center.
On September 16, 1898, William O. Douglas was born in Maine Township, Minnesota. Douglas went on to become Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission before being named to the US Supreme Court by President Franklin Roosevelt. Douglas would become an influential civil libertarian on the Warren Court and the longest-tenured Justice in history, serving [...]
On September 16, 1987, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was opened for signature. It has since been signed by almost 200 nations. As a result, the Earth’s Ozone Layer is expected to recover by the year 2050.
On September 16, 1974, President Gerald Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft-evaders which would waive any charges provided they agreed to work two years in public service. A Presidential Clemency Board was created to administer the program – it finished its work in September 1975 after having disposed of [...]
On September 15, 1963, members of the Klu Klux Klan bombed a predominantly African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. The blast at the 16th Street Baptist Church killed four young girls and injured twenty other people. Despite an investigation by the FBI, no one was charged with responsibility for the crime [...]
On September 15, 1935, the Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany became effective, racially defining German citizenship and making Jews outcasts. The Reich Health Office issued the following chart in 1936 to assist in ascertaining the “admissibility of marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans.” White circles represented on the chart are “pure Germans” while the circles with [...]
On September 14 1960, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq. OPEC was created to promote higher crude oil prices for its members through the restriction of global supply. Learn more about the history of OPEC.
