January 31 is:
Backward Day
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day
National Hot Chocolate Day
1606 – Gunpowder Plot : Guy Fawkes was executed for plotting against Parliament and King James.
Birthday of Robert Morris (January 31, 1734), American merchant and financier of the American Revolution. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, the Second Continental Congress, and the United States Senate, and he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution.
1801 – John Marshall was appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Juneautown had been named for Solomon Juneau, cousin to Joseph Juneau of Alaska.
1848 – John C. Frémont was Court-martialed for mutiny, disobedience of a superior officer, and military misconduct. Following the Mexican-American War, Frémont was appointed military governor of California by Commodore Stockton. However, Brig. Gen Stephen Watts Kearny had orders to assume the post from President Polk. He asked Frémont to relinquish the governorship which Frémont initially refused to do. He was then court martialed.
The 13th amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865. On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures.
Birthday of Zane Grey (January 31, 1872), American Western writer
Birthday of Eddie Cantor (born Edward Israel Iskowitz), (1892), American comedian, performer, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter.
Birthday of Jackie Robinson (January 31, 1919), First black man to play in Major League Baseball.
On January 31, 1930, 3M began marketing Scotch Tape.
1971 Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on the third successful manned mission to the moon.