Alexander Graham Bell, who Stole the Invention from Antonio Meucci, Patents the Telephone
(Wikipedia) By 1874, Bell's initial work on the harmonic telegraph had entered a formative stage, with progress made both at his new Boston "laboratory" (a rented facility) and at his family home in Canada a big success. While working that summer in Brantford, Bell experimented with a "phonautograph", a pen-like machine that could draw shapes of sound waves on smoked glass by tracing their vibrations. Bell thought ...
Ku Klux Klan Act passed by Congress
With passage of the Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Act, Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Founded in 1865 by a group of Confederate veterans, the KKK rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force of democrats bent on reversing the federal ...
Abraham Lincoln’s Delivers his Gettysburg Address
On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner referred to the most famous speech ever given by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called the Gettysburg Address a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will ...
Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln
See the full 1862 proclamation from Abraham Lincoln, below. A Proclamation Whereas, it has become necessary to call into service not only volunteers but also portions of the militia of the States by draft in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure and from giving aid ...
French Intervention in Mexico: The Battle of Puebla and the Origin of Cinco de Mayo
The Battle of Puebla was fought May 5, 1862 and occurred during the French intervention in Mexico. Landing a small army in Mexico in early 1862 under the pretense of forcing the repayment of Mexican debts, France soon moved to conquer the country. As the United States was occupied with its own Civil War and could not intervene, the government of Napoleon III saw an opportunity to install ...
John Brown Raided the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry to Obtain Arms for a Slave Insurrection
Just after sundown on the evening of Sunday October 16, 1859 John Brown led a group of 21 men (16 white and 5 black) across the Potomac River from Maryland to Virginia. Their immediate objective was the capture of the cache of weapons stored at the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown's ultimate goal was to destroy the slave system of the South. The arms captured by ...
Frederick Douglass delivered a “West India Emancipation” speech: “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
On August 3, 1857, Frederick Douglass delivered a “West India Emancipation” speech at Canandaigua, New York, on the twenty-third anniversary of the event. Most of the address was a history of British efforts toward emancipation as well as a reminder of the crucial role of the West Indian slaves in that own freedom struggle. However shortly after he began Douglass sounded a foretelling of the coming ...
Under the Oaks Convention: The First Mass Gathering of the Republican Party
In 1854, just after the anniversary of the nation on the 6th of July, an anti-slavery state convention was held in Jackson, Michigan. The hot day forced the large crowd outside to a nearby oak grove. At this “Under the Oaks Convention” the first statewide candidates were selected for what would become the Republican Party. United by desire to abolish slavery, it was in Jackson that ...
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass Gives Iconic “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” Speech
Frederick Douglass (1818-95) was a prominent American abolitionist, author and orator. Born a slave, Douglass escaped at age 20 and went on to become a world-renowned anti-slavery activist. His three autobiographies are considered important works of the slave narrative tradition as well as classics of American autobiography. Douglass’ work as a reformer ranged from his abolitionist activities in the early 1840s to his attacks on Jim ...
First Major Revolt in the Austrian Revolution for Independence: University Students Demand a Constitution Guaranteeing their Rights
Emperor Ferdinand and his chief advisor Metternich directed troops to crush the demonstration. Peaceful student demonstrators were shot and killed causing the working class to join the demonstrations, developing an armed insurrection demanding Metternich's resignation. Ferdinand reluctantly complied and dismissed him, and tried to appease the people with a cleverly written constitution, but they rejected it. He later issued two manifestos which gave concessions to the people, ...
