This day in history - July 8

[seamusTX]

1663 - Rhode Island received its charter.

1776 - The Declaration of Independence was read in public for the first time by Col. John Nixon in Independence Square in Philadelphia.

The Declaration of Independence was distributed slowly, according to the state of communication at the time. As far as I can tell, it was never formally communicated to the British government. The dice had already been cast at the Battle of Bunker Hill a year earlier.

1853 - Commodore Matthew Perry's fleet arrived in Yedo Bay, Japan, breaking a half-century of Japanese isolation.

This episode was the classic example of gunboat diplomacy.

1796 - The U.S. State Department issued the first U.S. passport.

Before that, passports were issued by state and local governments.

1797 - U.S. Senator William Blount of Tennessee was removed from office by impeachment.

Blount was engaged in a bizarre scheme to foment war with Spain at the southern borders of U.S. territories.

The Constitution does not explicitly define how members of Congress can be removed from office. Usually errant Congressmen are persuaded to resign instead of facing prosecution.

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/his ... ulsion.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1870 - Congress authorized the registration of trademarks, one of the powers delegated by the Constitution.

Same year - Governor William Woods Holden of North Carolina declared Casswell County to be in a state of insurrection because of Ku Klux Klan activity. Events did not go in Holden's favor. He was impeached later in the year.

http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistor ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1889 - The Wall Street Journal began publication.

1950 - General Douglas MacArthur became commander-in-chief of U.N. forces in Korea.

- Jim