1864

Today in History 11/15 (Lewis and Clark Expedition)

The site of Fort Clatsop established by Lewis & Clark’s expedition in 1805 (© Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)(1805) Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific
About 18 months into their Corps of Discovery expedition, Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River. The expedition will camp at Fort Clatsop for the winter before its return trip east begins in March.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition from May 1804 to September 1806, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States. It began near St. Louis, made its way westward, and passed through the Continental Divide of the Americas to reach the Pacific coast. The Corps of Discovery was a selected group of US Army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark.
Start date: May 14, 1804
End date: Sep 23, 1806

Route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Route of the expedition
wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition
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(1805) Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific.
Also on this day,

1777 | 1st US constitution as thirteen colonies unite to form a new country
The Second Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation, which unifies the 13 American colonies under a weak central government and names this new country the United States of America. The document, a precursor to the Constitution, will be ratified by the states on March 1, 1781.
1864 | Gen. Sherman begins his March to the Sea
Union General William T. Sherman and his troops torch the captured city of Atlanta, leaving it a smoldering ruin before riding out to begin their five-week march through Georgia to the port of Savannah. In their wake, they’ll leave a trail of destroyed industry, ransacked private property, and a huge number of refugees.
1984 | Baby Fae who received transplanted baboon heart dies
Month-old Baby Fae passes away 20 days after an operation to replace her deformed heart with one from a baboon. It was the first baboon-to-human heart transplant ever done. The case will spark vigorous debate about inter-species transplants and medical experimentation.

Today in History 11/15/17

Drawing of (from left) John Adams, Governor Morris, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson of the Continental Congress (Public domain)(1777) Thirteen colonies unite to form a new country
The Second Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation, which unifies the 13 American colonies under a weak central government and names this new country the United States of America. The document, a precursor to the Constitution, will be ratified by the states on March 1, 1781.

The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first constitution. Its drafting by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress began on July 12, 1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification on November 15, 1777. The Articles of Confederation came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states. A guiding principle of the Articles was to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the states. The federal government received only those powers which the colonies had recognized as belonging to king and parliament.

The Articles formed a war-time confederation of states, with an extremely limited central government. While unratified, the document was used by the Congress to conduct business, direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with foreign nations, and deal with territorial issues and Native American relations. The adoption of the Articles made few perceptible changes in the federal government, because it did little more than legalize what the Continental Congress had been doing. That body was renamed the Congress of the Confederation; but Americans continued to call it the Continental Congress, since its organization remained the same.

As the Confederation Congress attempted to govern the continually growing American states, delegates discovered that the limitations placed upon the central government rendered it ineffective at doing so. As the government's weaknesses became apparent, especially after Shays' Rebellion, individuals began asking for changes to the Articles. Their hope was to create a stronger national government. Initially, some states met to deal with their trade and economic problems. However, as more states became interested in meeting to change the Articles, a meeting was set in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. This became the Constitutional Convention. It was quickly realized that changes would not work, and instead the entire Articles needed to be replaced. On March 4, 1789, the government under the Articles was replaced with the federal government under the Constitution. The new Constitution provided for a much stronger federal government by establishing a chief executive (the President), courts, and taxing powers.


Articles of Confederation - Page 1
The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. This was the format for the United States government until the Constitution.

wiki/Articles_of_Confederation
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Today in History 10/30 (The War of the Worlds)

Orson Welles broadcasting at CBS Radio in 1938 (© CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)(1938) Martian spaceships land in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey
An Intercontinental Radio News bulletin interrupts regularly scheduled music programming, alerting listeners to a meteor strike in rural New Jersey. What follows is nothing less than a Martian invasion cooked up by the fiendishly clever Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre players.
“The War of the Worlds” is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. It was performed and broadcast live as a Halloween episode on Sunday, October 30, 1938 over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. The episode became famous for causing panic among its listening audience, but the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners.
First broadcast: Oct 30, 1938
Adaptations: War of the Worlds (1988)

Photo of Orson Welles meeting with reporters in an effort to explain that no one connected with the War of the Worlds radio broadcast had any idea the show would cause panic
Photo of Orson Welles meeting with reporters in an effort to explain that no one connected with the War of the Worlds radio broadcast had any idea the show would cause panic.
wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)
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(1938) Martian spaceships land in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.
Also on this day,

1864 | Last Chance Gulch is renamed to something fit for a capital
Four prospectors from Georgia have dubbed a gold-producing site near Prickly Pear Creek in Montana Territory, ‘Last Chance Gulch.’ But three months later, the population has swelled to more than 200 and a more refined name is called for. ‘Pumpkinville’ is dismissed in favor of ‘Helena.’
1974 | Ali and Foreman ‘Rumble in the Jungle’
Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali challenges reigning champ George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaïre, for a $5 million purse. In the heavily promoted fight, Ali introduces his ‘rope-a-dope’ style, taking punches against the ropes to wear Foreman down before Ali knocks him out in the eighth round.
1991 | ‘Perfect Storm’ hits peak as a monster storm churns in the North Atlantic
A meeting of two weather systems turns malevolent as Hurricane Grace rotates north off the US Eastern Seaboard and is pulled into a nor’easter moving down from Canada. The resulting monster cyclone packs waves exceeding 100 feet, low pressure of 972 millibars, and 70-mph gales.

Today in History 10/30/17

George Foreman lands a body punch to Muhammad Ali during the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in Zaire on October 30, 1974 (© AP)(1974) Ali and Forman 'Rumble in the Jungle'
Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali challenges reigning champ George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaïre, for a $5 million purse. In the heavily promoted fight, Ali introduces his 'rope-a-dope' style, taking punches against the ropes to wear Foreman down before Ali knocks him out in the eighth round.
The Rumble in the Jungle was a historic boxing event in Kinshasa, Zaire on October 30, 1974. Held at the 20th of May Stadium, it pitted the undefeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman against challenger Muhammad Ali, a former heavyweight champion; the attendance was 60,000. Ali won by knockout, putting Foreman down just before the end of the eighth round. It has been called "arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century". The event was one of Don King's first ventures as a professional boxing promoter.
Start date: Oct 29, 1974
Fighters: Muhammad Ali · George Foreman
Venue: Kinshasa
The Rumble in the Jungle poster
This is a poster for The Rumble in the Jungle. The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the boxing event, the publisher of the boxing event or the graphic artist.

wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle
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