On September 28, 1850, President Millard Filmore signed the 1851 naval appropriations bill, which abolished flogging as a form of punishment in the US Navy. Learn more about the history of flogging in the navy from Bluejacket.com.
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On September 26, 1789, John Jay was commissioned as the first Chief Justice of the United States following his confirmation by the Senate.
On September 25, 1789, the United States Congress sent twelve proposed constitutional amendments to the state legislatures for ratification. Ten of these were adopted in 1791 and became known as the Bill of Rights. A proposed amendment on Congressional representation was never ratified, and another on Congressional pay was not ratified until 1992 when it [...]
On September 20, 1884, a group of suffragists formed the Equal Rights Party in San Francisco, dedicated to “equal and exact justice to every class of our citizens, without distinction of color, sex, or nationality” and in support of the proposition that “the laws of the several states be so amended that women will be [...]
On September 19, 1945, a British court sentenced to death American-born William Joyce, known as “Lord Haw-Haw,” for his Nazi propaganda broadcasts during World War II. The photo above shows Joyce addessing a rally of British fascists in the 1930s. Listen to a montage of clips from Joyce’s broadcasts, with Joyce’s trademark introduction “Germany calling, [...]
On September 18, 1797, future US Supreme Court Justice, Harvard law professor, and legal author Joseph Story was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts. West Virginiia 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 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 represent on the chart are “pure Germans”, while the circles with [...]
On September 11, 1998, Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr delivered an extensive report to Congress accusing President Clinton of 11 possible impeachable offenses – including perjury, obstruction of justice, tampering with witnesses and abuse of his powers of office – in connection with his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Within minutes of [...]
