On this day in 1778 U.S. General George Washington’s troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training.
In 1846 the New York Knickerbocker Club played the New York Club in the first baseball game at the Elysian Field, Hoboken, NJ. It was the first organized baseball game.
In 1862 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in U.S. territories.
In 1910 the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
In 1912 the U.S. government established the 8-hour work day.
In 1934 the U.S. Congress established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In 1958, in Washington, DC, nine entertainers refused to answer a congressional committee’s questions on communism.
And in 1961 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland’s constitution that required state officeholders to profess a belief in God.
“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”
“The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”
“There are no adequate substitutes for father, mother, and children bound together in a loving commitment to nurture and protect. No government, no matter how well-intentioned, can take the place of the family in the scheme of things.”
On this day in 1775 the Continental Army was founded by the Second Continental Congress for purposes of common defense. This event is considered to be the birth of the United States Army.
In 1777 the Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the “Stars and Stripes” as the national flag of the United States. The Flag Resolution stated “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” On May 20, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed June 14 “Flag Day” as a commemoration of the “Stars and Stripes.”
In 1789 Captain William Bligh of the HMS Bounty arrived in Timor in a small boat. That was mutiny Mr. Christian!
In 1841 the first Canadian parliament opened in Kingston.
In 1846 a group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the Republic of California.
In 1900 Hawaii became a U.S. territory.
In 1943 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schoolchildren could not be made to salute the U.S. flag if doing so conflicted with their religious beliefs. That’s some irony there huh?
In 1954 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an order adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
And in 1954 Americans took part in the first nation-wide civil defense test against atomic attack.
“25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
On this day in 1777 the Marquis de Lafayette arrived in the America to help with the rebellion against the British.
In 1789 ice cream was served to General George Washington by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton.
In 1825 Walter Hunt patented the safety pin. Hunt then sold the rights for $400.
In 1866 the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by Congress. It was ratified on July 9, 1868.
In 1888 Congress created the Department of Labor.
In 1900 China’s Boxer Rebellion against foreigners and Chinese Christians erupted into violence.
In 1920 the U.S. Post Office Department ruled that children may not be sent by parcel post. 😯 I’m shocked that they even had too say it was. 😦
In 1922 Charlie Osborne started the longest attack of hiccups ever. He hiccupped over 435 million times before stopping. He died in 1991, 11 months after his hiccups ended. 😦 Poor guy.
In 1966 the “Miranda vs. Arizona” decision was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court.
And in 1967 Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
On this day in 1838 the Iowa Territory was organized.
In 1839 Abner Doubleday created the game of baseball, according to the legend. However, evidence has surfaced that indicates that the game of baseball was played before 1800. So maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. 🙂
In 1897 Carl Elsener patented his penknife, which would later become known as the Swiss Army Knife.
In 1918 the first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on the Western Front in France during World War I.
In 1921 U.S. President Warren Harding urged every young man to attend military training camp.
In 1935 U.S. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana made the longest speech on Senate record. It took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000 words.
In 1939 The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York. This was exactly one hundred years to the day on which the game was invented by Abner Doubleday. Or not. See above. 🙂
In 1967 state laws which prohibited interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
And in 1987 President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
On this day in 1770 Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia when he ran aground on it. Like many great discoveries, it was completely by accident. 🙂
In 1880 Jeanette Rankin was born. She would later become the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.
In 1927 Charles A. Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying Cross.
In 1936 the Presbyterian Church of America was formed in Philadelphia, PA.
In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Florida for trying to integrate restaurants.
In 1972 Hank Aaron tied the National League record for 14 grand-slam home runs in a career.
In 1981 the first major league baseball player’s strike began.
And in 1987 Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
