Tidbits of History

February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.

National Homemade Soup Day

National Stuffed Mushroom Day

On February 4, 1789 George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

In 1794 the French legislature abolished slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic. Slavery was reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.

1846 – The first Mormon pioneers made their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Utah Territory. In late 1839, Mormons bought the small town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith, who led the Latter Day Saints, to escape religious persecution in Missouri.

After Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, continuing violence from surrounding non-Mormons forced most Latter-Day Saints to leave Nauvoo. Most of these refugees, led by Brigham Young, eventually emigrated to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

American Civil War (1861): In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states met and formed the Confederate States of America.

Birthday of Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902), American aviator who flew solo across the Atlantic in 1927.

World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opened at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea on February 4, 1945. Roosevelt died two months later.

1992 – A coup d’état was led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004.

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.

January 30 is:

National Inane Answering Message Day

National Croissant Day

1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England was ritually executed two years after his death, on the anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.

According to Wikipedia:

Cromwell died on Friday, 3 September 1658. On 30 January 1661, (the 12th anniversary of the execution of Charles I), Cromwell’s body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution, as were the remains of Robert Blake, John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton…. His disinterred body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, and then thrown into a pit. Cromwell’s severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. Afterwards it allegedly was owned by various people and was publicly exhibited several times. Afterwards, the head changed hands several times, including its sale in 1814 to Josiah Henry Wilkinson, before eventually being buried beneath the floor of the antechapel at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960. The exact position was not publicly disclosed…

However, many people began to question whether or not the body mutilated at Tyburn was in fact that of Cromwell. These doubts arose because it was assumed that between his death in September 1658 and the exhumation of January 1661, Cromwell’s body was buried and reburied in several places to protect it from vengeful royalists. The stories suggest that his bodily remains are buried in London, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire or Yorkshire. It continues to be questioned whether the body mutilated at Tyburn was in fact that of Oliver Cromwell.

Publication of Federalist Paper #47: The Particular Structure of the New Government and the Distribution of Power Among Its Different Parts written by James Madison in 1788. It was argued that there must be total separation between the branches of government per writings by Montesquieu. Madison concludes by implying Montesquieu did not mean there had to be total separation of distinct branches of government only that the same person or group could not directly control the actions of more than one branch. Madison considers separation of powers to provide “checks and balances”. He examines the state constitutions and finds that none have absolute separation of the branches.

1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house-painter from England, attempted to shoot President Andrew Jackson, but failed and was subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen. He aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence pulled out a second pistol, which also misfired. Historians believe the humid weather contributed to the double misfiring. Lawrence was restrained, and legend says that Jackson attacked Lawrence with his cane. Others present, including David Crockett, restrained and disarmed Lawrence.

In 1847 Yerba Buena, (good herb) California was renamed San Francisco. (“I left my heart in Yerba Buena” has a pleasant ring to it!) San Francisco was called Yerba Buena because of a fragrant, mint-like herb (Clinopodium douglasii) that grew abundantly in the area,… and was used for tea and medicine by native Ohlone people and early settlers. The Spanish named the area and its bay anchorage “Yerba Buena,” and the settlement that grew there retained the name until it was officially changed to San Francisco in 1847.
“The name was officially changed to San Francisco on January 30, 1847, for two primary reasons:

International Recognition: The town’s American alcalde (mayor), Lieutenant Washington Allon Bartlett, noted that the name “Yerba Buena” was only known locally. International maps already labeled the area as “San Francisco,” named for the nearby mission and bay; changing the town’s name allowed it to take advantage of this existing global recognition.
A Rivalry with “Francisca”: A competing town being planned nearby (at the mouth of the Sacramento River) was intended to be named Francisca to capitalize on the bay’s fame. By quickly claiming the name “San Francisco,” Bartlett effectively eclipsed the rival town before it could establish its identity. As a result, the other town was renamed Benicia, after the middle name of the same noblewoman it was originally trying to honor.”

The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor was launched in 1862.

Birthday of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882), thirty-second president of the United States

Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933.

Birthday of Richard Bruce (Dick) Cheney (January 30, 1941), vice-president during the administration of George W. Bush (2001-2009). VP Cheney died Nov 3, 2025.

On January 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.

1959 – Danish liner, MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, killing all 95 aboard.