Scott Allsop's Blog, page 39

20th May 1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law

Approximately 270 million acres of land were claimed and settled under the provisions of the act, with parcels of land continuing to be claimed in Alaska as late as the ...

19th May 1962: Marilyn Monroe sings “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to President John F. Kennedy

Kennedy joked that he could ‘retire after having had “Happy Birthday” sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome ...

18th May 1896: The Supreme Court delivers its verdict in Plessy v. Ferguson that approves the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine

Plessy v Ferguson effectively legalized racial segregation by permitting separate but supposedly equal ...

17th May 1792: The Buttonwood Agreement signed by 24 stockbrokers, establishing the New York Stock Exchange

These original New York stockbrokers traded from the Tontine Coffee House at 82 Wall Street before moving to their first dedicated trading space in ...

16th May 1771: The Battle of Alamance ends the Regulator Movement in Provincial North Carolina

The Battle of Alamance has since been seen by some as a precursor to the American ...

15th May 1943: Stalin dissolves the Communist International (Comintern) that aimed to promote worldwide communism

After Germany's invasion of the USSR, Stalin begin actively seeking to improve relations with capitalist powers in order to focus on the war effort against the Axis forces so made the decision to dissolve the Comintern as a gesture of goodwill towards the Western ...

14th May 1607: Jamestown, Virginia, established as the first permanent English settlement in North America

They quickly began to construct a triangular fort containing a number of houses alongside a storehouse and a church, which they named James Fort after King James ...

13th May 1865: The Battle of Palmito Ranch, considered by many to be the last battle of the Civil War

The Battle of Palmito Ranch ended in a Confederate victory. Union private John J. Williams died in the battle, likely making him the last battlefield fatality of the Civil ...

12th May 1926: Norge airship makes the first verified flight over the North Pole

After more than 16 hours of flight, at 1.25 am Greenwich time on 12 May, 1925, the Norge successfully reached the North Pole, making it the first confirmed expedition to do ...

11th May 1812: Spencer Perceval, the only British prime minister to be assassinated, shot in the lobby of the House of Commons

John Bellingham fired a single shot from a pistol, fatally wounding prime minister Spencer Perceval in the chest. Perceval collapsed immediately, and despite efforts to save him, he died shortly ...