March 9 is:
National Crab Day
Amerigo Vespucci Day honoring the fifteenth-century Italian navigator and cartographer for whom the Americas were named. He is known for demonstrating that the New World was not Asia but a previously unknown fourth continent.
The United States v. The Amistad In 1839, a group of slaves aboard the Spanish ship Amistad rebelled and took control of the vessel. They were eventually captured and brought to the United States, where they argued that they were free people who had been wrongfully kidnapped and sold into slavery. This case was one of the first times that slavery was questioned in court.
The United States v. The Amistad tested the issue of whether the United States could seize slave ships from foreign countries on behalf of slaves being transported illegally or if they were protected property under Spanish and Cuban law.
The United States eventually won the case, with the court ruling that the slaves were illegally transported and thus were not protected by international law. They were ordered to be freed and returned to Africa. This case was an important step in the fight against slavery and helped to lay the groundwork for future abolitionist movements.
Anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the engagement between the first American ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) on March 9, 1862.
1907 The first involuntary sterilization law was enacted in Indiana. The law provided for the involuntary sterilization of “confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists.”
March 9, 1959 – The first Barbie dolls were sold. Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children’s toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel’s directors.
During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel… Lilli was a blonde bombshell, a working girl who knew what she wanted and was not above using men to get it. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.
Upon her return to the United States, Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler’s daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie’s official birthday.
Publication of
1874 Death of 
1930 – Death of 
03-06-1475 -Birthday of Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni), Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance; famous for his statue of David and for painting the Sistine Chapel.Examples of his works may be viewed at 
Publication of
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1933 – 
1803 The impeachment trial of a U.S. Judge, John Pickering. He was the first federal official to have been removed from office upon conviction by impeachment on charges of drunkenness and unlawful rulings. Pickering’s behavior on the bench was often marked with “ravings, cursings, and crazed incoherences” brought on by drink and growing mental instability. President Jefferson suggested to Congress that Pickering’s bizarre behavior amounted to an impeachable offense. There was no other way to remove a federal judge who was no longer fit to serve but who refused to resign. In March 1803 the House of Representatives voted 45-8 to impeach Judge Pickering. The Senate convicted Pickering one year later, removing him from office. This was no small matter. The Constitution limited this power to the impeachable offenses of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Pickering may have been wholly unfit to serve on the bench, but he had not committed an impeachable offense. Some feared that if he could be removed for raving and cursing, then Congress would impeach other judges for political offenses.
March 3, 1925 – Mount Rushmore National Memorial is centered on a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture’s design and oversaw the project’s execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. The project received Congressional approval on March 3, 1925.
Publication of
Soviet Premier 
The flowers for the month are the jonquil or daffodil…
