February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. This day marks the approximate midpoint of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and of summer in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the December solstice).
National Carrot Cake Day
Anniversary of the issuance of the first paper money in the U.S. in 1690.
1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crushed the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
1809 – The Illinois Territory was created.
Birthday of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (February 3, 1809), German composer, pianist, and conductor. His “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream was played at the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Victoria, The Princess Royal, to Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia in 1858, and it remains popular at marriage ceremonies.
1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to citizens regardless of race.
Amendment XV
Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
According to Wikipedia:
The amendment had been voted on in the House where the vote was 144 to 44, with 35 not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it, some because they thought the amendment did not go far enough in its protections.
The Senate passed the amendment with a vote of 39 Republican votes of “Yea”, 8 Democrat and 5 Republican votes of “Nay”; 13 Republican and 1 Democrat not voting.
1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
Amendment XVI
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
Little Known Fact: The first U.S. tax code, as enacted in 1913, was about 400 pages long. Today, the law regulating the assessment and collection of federal income tax spans over 70,000 pages.
1924-Death of Woodrow Wilson (born Thomas Woodrow Wilson), twenty-eighth President of the United States. He died at Washington, D. C. at age 67 following a stroke. He is interred at the Washington National Cathedral
February 3, 1959 – Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson Jr.) died in a plane crash in Iowa on the “Day The Music Died“
Per Wikipedia: The Winter Dance Party tour began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 23, 1959. The amount of travel created logistical problems, as the distance between venues had not been considered when scheduling each performance. Adding to the problem, the unheated tour buses twice broke down in freezing weather, with dire consequences. Holly’s drummer Carl Bunch suffered frostbite to his toes (while aboard the bus) and was hospitalized, so Buddy Holly made the decision to find another means of transportation. Before their performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza airplane at Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, for himself, Waylon Jennings, and Tommy Allsup, to avoid the long bus trip to their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Following the Clear Lake show (which ended around midnight), Allsup lost a coin toss and gave up his seat on the charter plane to Ritchie Valens, while Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to J. P. Richardson, who was suffering from the flu and complaining about how cold and uncomfortable the tour bus was for a man of his size. When Holly learned that his band mates had given up their seats on the plane and had chosen to take the bus rather than fly, a friendly banter between Holly and Jennings ensued, and it would come back to haunt Jennings for decades to follow: Holly jokingly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up!” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!” Less than an hour and a half later, shortly after 1:00 AM on February 3, 1959 (later known as The Day the Music Died), Holly’s charter plane crashed at full throttle into a cornfield outside Mason City, Iowa, instantly killing all on board…For decades afterward, Jennings repeatedly admitted that he felt responsible for the crash that killed Buddy Holly.