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Carter Braxton

Carter Braxton

Carter Braxton (September 16, 1736–October 10, 1797), was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and a representative of Virginia. He was born on Newington Plantation in King and Queen County, Virginia and educated at the College of William and Mary. He married a wealthy heiress named Judith Robinson at the age 19, but she died two years later, leaving him two daughters, and he journeyed to England for two years. He returned in 1760, marrying again, this time to Elizabeth Corbinand, and represented King William County in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He joined the patriot's Committee of Safety in Virginia in 1774 and represented his county in the Virginia Convention. When Peyton Randolph died in 1775, Braxton was appointed to take his place in the Continental Congress. He served in the Congress from February of 1776 until August, when Virginia reduced its delegation to five members. Afterwards he returned to the House of Burgesses, and later served on the State's Executive Council. Braxton invested a great deal of his wealth in the American Revolution. He loaned money to the cause and funded shipping and privateering. The British destroyed Braxton's shipping investments and several of his plantations were destroyed during the war as well. Braxton accumulated a great deal of debt from the war and never recovered financially. He was forced to sell his estate in 1786 and move to a smaller residence in Richmond.

External link


- [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000776 Braxton’s Congressional Biography] Braxton, Carter Braxton, Carter Braxton, Carter Braxton, Carter

September 16

September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). There are 106 days remaining.

Events


- 1597 - Yi Sun-sin leads 12 ships of the Korean fleet against an invasion by 133 Japanese ships. The Koreans sink 31 enemy ships and force a Japanese retreat.
- 1701 - Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, more commonly referred to as the "Old Pretender", becomes the Jacobite claimant of the thrones of Scotland and England
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Harlem Heights is fought.
- 1795 - United Kingdom conquers Cape Town, South Africa
- 1810 - With the Grito de Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo proclaims Mexico's independence from Spain
- 1812 - Russians set fire to Moscow shortly after midnight - the city is burned down totally days later
- 1829 - The Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829, ends with the signing of the Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne)
- 1893 - Oklahoma Land Race: settlers race for prime land in the Cherokee Strip.
- 1901 - Alturas, California, incorporated as the only city in Modoc County
- 1908 - General Motors is founded.
- 1919 - The American Legion is incorporated.
- 1940 - The Selective Service Act is passed, instituting the draft in the United States.
- 1940 - Sam Rayburn elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
- 1941 - Concerned that Reza Pahlavi the Shah of Persia was about to align his petroleum-rich country with Germany during World War II, the United Kingdom and the USSR occupy Iran and forced him to resign in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
- 1955 - Juan Perón is deposed in Argentina
- 1956 - Play-Doh is introduced to the world
- 1963 - Malaysia is formed from Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo and Sarawak
- 1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City to the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera, Antony and Cleopatra.
- 1970 - King Hussein of Jordan declares military rule, resulting in formation of the Black September Palestinian paramilitary unit.
- 1975 - Papua New Guinea gains its independence from Australia.
- 1981 - Sugar Ray Leonard defeats Thomas Hearns by a knockout in round 14 in Las Vegas to unify boxing's world Welterweight championship.
- 1982 - Sabra and Shatila massacre.
- 1987 - The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.
- 1991 - The trial of Panamanian "strongman" Manuel Noriega begins in the United States.
- 1992 - Black Wednesday: the Pound Sterling is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the Deutschmark.
- 2000 - Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive. Madonna's 12th Number 1 single Music hits Number 1.
- 2004 - Hurricane Ivan touches land near Gulf Shores, Alabama, becoming the third costliest hurricane to strike the United States.

Births


- 1098 - Hildegard of Bingen, German abbess, mystic writer, and composer (d. 1179)
- 1387 - King Henry V of England, (d. 1422)
- 1507 - Jiajing, Emperor of China (d. 1567)
- 1557 - Jacques Mauduit, French composer (d. 1627)
- 1651 - Engelbert Kaempfer, German physician and traveler (d. 1716)
- 1678 - Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English statesman and philosopher (d. 1751)
- 1722 - Gabriel Christie, British general (d. 1799)
- 1725 - Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist (d. 1815)
- 1745 - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal, (d. 1813)
- 1782 - Daoguang, Emperor of China (d. 1850)
- 1823 - Francis Parkman, American historian (d. 1893)
- 1853 - Albrecht Kossel, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1927)
- 1875 - James C. Penney, American department store founder (d. 1971)
- 1881 - Clive Bell, English art critic (d. 1964)
- 1883 - T. E. Hulme, English writer (d. 1917)
- 1886 - Jean Arp, Alsatian sculptor, painter, and poet (d. 1966)
- 1887 - Nadia Boulanger, French composer and composition teacher (d. 1979)
- 1888 - F. E. Sillanpää, Finnish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- 1893 - Alexander Korda, Hungarian film director (d. 1956)
- 1893 - Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1905 - Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (d. 1980)
- 1910 - Karl Kling, German race car driver (d. 2003)
- 1914 - Allen Funt, American radio and television personality (d. 1999)
- 1916 - M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer (d. 2004)
- 1923 - Lee Kuan Yew, leader of Singapore
- 1924 - Lauren Bacall, American actress
- 1925 - Charlie Byrd, American musician (d. 1999)
- 1925 - B. B. King, American musician
- 1925 - Charles J. Haughey, sixth Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland
- 1927 - Peter Falk, American actor
- 1930 - Anne Francis, American actress
- 1934 - Elgin Baylor, American basketball player
- 1934 - George Chakiris, American actor
- 1935 - Carl Andre, American artist
- 1935 - Bob Kiley, American public transit specialist
- 1937 - Alexander Medved, Russian wrestler
- 1939 - Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
- 1943 - James Alan McPherson, American writer
- 1947 - Russ Abbott, British comedian
- 1949 - Ed Begley, Jr., American actor
- 1950 - Loyd Grossman, American television presenter
- 1955 - Janet Ellis, British television presenter
- 1955 - Yolandita Monge, Puerto Rican singer
- 1955 - Robin Yount, baseball player
- 1956 - David Copperfield, American magician
- 1956 - Mickey Rourke, American actor
- 1958 - Orel Hershiser, baseball player
- 1958 - Jennifer Tilly, American actress
- 1960 - John Franco, baseball player
- 1960 - Danny John-Jules, British actor
- 1963 - Richard Marx, American singer
- 1964 - Molly Shannon, American actress
- 1968 - Marc Anthony, American singer
- 1971 - Amy Poehler, American actress
- 1975 - Shannon Noll, Australian singer and actor
- 1981 - Alexis Bledel, American actress
- 1984 - Katie Melua, Georgian singer

Deaths


- 96 - Domitian, Roman Emperor (b. 51)
- 307 - Flavius Valerius Severus, deposed Roman Emperor (murder)
- 1087 - Pope Victor III
- 1100 - Bernold of Constance, German chronicler
- 1345 - John IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1295)
- 1380 - King Charles V of France (b. 1338)
- 1394 - Avignon Pope Clement VII (b. 1342)
- 1406 - Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow
- 1589 - Michael Baius, Flemish theologian (b. 1513)
- 1672 - Anne Bradstreet, American colonial poet
- 1701 - James II of England and VII of Scotland (b. 1633)
- 1736 - Gabriel Fahrenheit, German physicist (b. 1686)
- 1775 - Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, English privy councillor (b. 1684)
- 1803 - Nicolas Baudin, French explorer (b. 1754)
- 1824 - King Louis XVIII of France (b. 1755)
- 1865 - Christian Julius De Meza, Danish general (b. 1792)
- 1911 - Edward Whymper, English mountain climber (b. 1840)
- 1932 - Ronald Ross, English physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1857)
- 1945 - John McCormack, Irish tenor (b. 1884)
- 1950 - Pedro de Cordoba, American actor (b. 1881)
- 1973 - Víctor Jara, Chilean folk singer and activist (murdered)
- 1977 - Marc Bolan, English musician (b. 1947)
- 1977 - Maria Callas, American-born soprano (b. 1923)
- 1980 - Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (b. 1896)
- 1993 - Rok Petrovič, Slovenian skier (b. 1966)
- 1996 - McGeorge Bundy, U.S. National Security Advisor (b. 1919)
- 2000 - Georgiy Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist (b. 1969)
- 2001 - Samuel Z. Arkoff, American film producer (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Erich Hallhuber, German actor (b. 1951)

Holiday and observances


- In ancient Greece, the third day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the initiates walked to the sea at Phaleron and purified themselves in the water.
- RC Saints - Saint Cyprian, Pope Cornelius, Saint Ludmila Also see September 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Mexico - Independence Day (from Spain; proclaimed 1810, recognised 1821, instituted 1825; See Fiestas Patrias)
- Papua New Guinea - Independence Day (from Australia, 1975)
- USA - Constitution Day (observed, 2005)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/16 BBC: On This Day] ---- September 15 · September 17 · August 16 · October 16 · more historical anniversaries ko:9월 16일 ms:16 September ja:9月16日 simple:September 16 th:16 กันยายน

1736

Events


- January 26 - Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
- February 12 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor weds Maria Theresa, mother of Marie Antoinette
- April 14 - Porteous Riots erupt in Edinburgh after execution of a smuggler Andrew Wilson when town guard captain John Porteous orders his men to fire at the crowd. Porteous is arrested later
- May 8 - Marriage of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.
- May 26 - Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw Native Americans defeat French troops.
- September 7 - Edinburgh crowd drags John Porteous out of his cell in Tolbooth prison and lynches him
- A French expedition led by Pierre Louis Maupertuis is sent by King Louis XV to Lapland to measure the length of a degree of the meridian, and proves that the Earth is flattened at the poles
- Real Arissona, namesake of the U.S. state Arizona is founded in what is now that state.
- Isaac Newton Publishes his Method of Fluxions
- Thomas Bayes publishes a defense of Isaac Newton's calculus
- Leonhard Euler solves the mathematical problem known as the seven bridges of Königsberg
- Anna I Empress of Russia, attacks Turkey
- Neustrelitz becomes the capital of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- Genbun era begins in Japan
- George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney becomes the first Field Marshal of Great Britain
- Bushehr is founded in Persia
- British Witchcraft Act is reformed, eliminating capital punishment for Witches, and instituting fines and jail time for claiming to be a witch or sorcerer
- First recorded use of a Bathing machine
- The Belgrade fortress is completed
- The era of Kyoho Reforms end in Japan
- The English town of Stony Stratford is almost completely consumed by fire
- Porteous Riots occur in Edinburgh Scotland
- Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab writes the Kitab at-tawhidt, marking the beginning of Wahhabism

Births


- January 7 - Andrew Adams, American judge (d. 1797
- January 19 - James Watt, Scottish inventor (d. 1819)
- January 25 - Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician (d. 1813)
- February 3 - Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian musician (d. 1809)
- February 29 - Ann Lee, American religious leader (d. 1784)
- May 10 - George Steevens, English literary critic (d. 1800)
- May 29 - Patrick Henry, American patriot (d. 1799)
- June 7 - Fermín Lasuén, Spanish missionary (d. 1803)
- June 14 - Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (d. 1806)
- June 21 - Enoch Poor, American general (d. 1780)
- June 25 - John Horne Tooke, English politician and philologist (d. 1812)
- July - Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor of the Spanish Province of New Mexico (d. 1788)
- September 10 - Carter Braxton, signer of the American Declaration of Independence (d. 1797)
- September 15 - Jean Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer (d. 1793)
- October 27 - James Macpherson, Scottish poet (d. 1796)
- John Francis Edward Acton, Prime Minister of Naples (d. 1811)
- Robert Jephson, Irish dramatist (d. 1803)
- Daniel Morgan, American pioneer, Congressman from Virginia, and general (d. 1802)
- Pierre le Pelley I, Seigneur of Sark (d. 1778)
- Alexander Runciman, Scottish painter (d. 1785)
- Claudius Smith, American revolutionary (d. 1779)
- Edward Waring, British mathematician (d. 1798)

Deaths


- January 31 - Filippo Juvara, Italian architect (b. 1678)
- February 7 - Stephen Gray, English dyer, astronomer, and scientist (b. 1666)
- March 16 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (b. 1710)
- March 25 - Nicholas Hawksmoor, British architect
- April 24 - Eugene of Savoy, French-born Austrian general (b. 1663)
- April 30 - Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and bibliographer (b. 1668)
- September 16 - Gabriel Fahrenheit, German physicist and inventor (b. 1686)
- December 10 - António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese ruler of Malta (b. 1663)
- December 28 - Antonio Caldara, Italian composer (b. 1670)
- Ahmed III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1637)
- Captain John Porteous, Scottish captain Category:1736 ko:1736년

October 10

October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in Leap years). There are 82 days remaining.

Events


- 680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Shi'a Muslims as Aashurah.
- 732 - Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, leader of the Franks Charles Martel and his men, defeat a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, is killed during the battle.
- 1471 - Battle of Brunkeberg in Stockholm: Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with help of farmers and miners, repels an attack by Christian I, King of Denmark.
- 1575 - Battle of Dormans: Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeated the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
- 1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1631 - A Saxon army takes over Prague.
- 1780 - The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000-30,000 in the Caribbean.
- 1845 - In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors.
- 1868 - Carlos Céspedes issued the Grito de Yara from his plantation, La Demajagua, proclaiming Cuba's independence.
- 1877 - Lieutenant-Colonel George Armstrong Custer is given a funeral with full military honors.
- 1908 - citing of bigfoot in japanBaseball Writers Association forms.
- 1910 - Tau Epsilon Phi Fraternity is established at Columbia University.
- 1911 - Wuchang Uprising which led to the demise of Qing Dynasty, the last emperial court in China, and the founding of the Republic of China.
- 1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal.
- 1920 - The Carinthian Plebiscite determined that the larger part of Carinthia became part of Austria.
- 1933 - A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage while en route from Cleveland, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.
- 1935 - A tornado destroyed the 160 metre tall wooden radio tower in Langenberg. As a result of this catastrophe, nearly no more wooden radio towers are built any more.
- 1938 - The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario
- 1938 - World War II: The Munich Agreement cedes the Sudetenland to Germany.
- 1944 - Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are systematically murdered at Auschwitz death camp.
- 1954 - The Communist Party of Honduras is founded.
- 1957 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
- 1964 - The 1964 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo, Japan
- 1966 - Simon and Garfunkel release the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
- 1970 - Fiji becomes independent.
- 1970 - In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
- 1971 - Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, the London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
- 1973 - Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with federal income tax evasion.
- 1978 - US President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
- 1979 - The Pac-Man arcade game is released to the Japanese market by Namco.
- 1985 - United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercept an Egyptian plane carrying the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijackers and force it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily where they are arrested.
- 1986 - An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
- 1987 - Fiji becomes a republic.
- 1997 - An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
- 2001 - US President George W. Bush presents a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.
- 2005 - Channel 4's new 'adult' entertainment channel More4 starts broadcasting on ntl, Sky Digital and Freeview in the UK.
- 2005 - Angela Merkel is announced to be the new chancellor of Germany.
- 2005 - Most Aardman Animations props are melted in a warehouse fire. Props from Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit were destroyed.

Births


- 1678 - John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (d. 1743)
- 1684 - Antoine Watteau, French painter (d. 1721)
- 1700 - Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (d. 1759)
- 1731 - Henry Cavendish, British scientist (d. 1810)
- 1780 - John Abercrombie, Scottish physician and philosopher (b. 1844)
- 1813 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
- 1825 - Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic (d. 1904)
- 1830 - Queen Isabella II of Spain (d. 1904)
- 1834 - Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (d. 1872)
- 1837 - Robert Gould Shaw, U.S. Army officer (d. 1863)
- 1861 - Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1930)
- 1870 - Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
- 1885 - Walter Anderson, German folklorist (d. 1962)
- 1898 - Lilly Daché, French-born milliner (d. 1989)
- 1900 - Helen Hayes, American actress (d. 1993)
- 1901 - Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966)
- 1906 - Paul Creston, American composer (d. 1985)
- 1906 - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (d. 2001)
- 1913 - Claude Simon, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
- 1914 - Tommy Fine, baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1917 - Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (d. 1982)
- 1924 - James Clavell, Australian author (d. 1994)
- 1924 - Ed Wood, American filmmaker (d. 1978)
- 1926 - Richard Jaeckel, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1930 - Yves Chauvin, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 - Harold Pinter, English playwright, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1933 - Jay Sebring, American hair stylist
- 1938 - Moriyama Daido, Japanese photographer
- 1942 - Peter Coyote, American actor
- 1946 - Charles Dance, English actor
- 1946 - Naoto Kan, Japanese politician
- 1946 - John Prine, American singer
- 1946 - Chris Tarrant, British television host
- 1946 - Ben Vereen, American actor and dancer
- 1948 - Séverine, French singer
- 1951 - Ratu Epeli Ganilau, Fiji soldier and statesman
- 1953 - Midge Ure, Scottish musician
- 1953 - Gus Williams, American basketball player
- 1954 - David Lee Roth, American singer
- 1957 - Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese artist
- 1958 - Tanya Tucker, American singer
- 1959 - Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (d. 2000)
- 1960 - Eric Martin, American singer
- 1961 - Jodi Benson, American voice actress and singer
- 1963 - Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (d. 2003)
- 1963 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist (d. 2002)
- 1963 - Rebecca Pidgeon, American actress, singer, and songwriter
- 1963 - Jolanda de Rover, Dutch swimmer
- 1966 - Tony Adams, English footballer
- 1966 - Rick "Finky" Finkelstein, The inventor of the "Rick Rub"
- 1968 - Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountain biker
- 1969 - Brett Favre, American football player
- 1970 - Dean Kiely, Irish footballer
- 1970 - Corinna May, German singer
- 1970 - Sir Matthew Pinsent, English rower
- 1970 - Maja Tatic, Serbian singer
- 1973 - Mario López, American actor
- 1974 - Dale Earnhardt Jr., American race car driver
- 1976 - Bob Burnquist, Brazilian-born skateboarder
- 1976 - Pat Burrell, baseball player
- 1978 - Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, American actress
- 1979 - Mya, American singer
- 1979 - Nicolás Massú, Chilean tennis player
- 1980 - Tim Maurer, American singer (Suburban Legends
- 1980 - Charles Gauthier, Peribonka citizen
- 1984 - Stephanie Cheng, Hong Kong singer
- 1984 - Chiaki Kuriyama, Japanese actress

Deaths


- 19 - Germanicus, Roman general (b. 15 BC)
- 732 - Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Moorish Governor of Andalusia
- 833 - al-Ma'mun, Abbasid caliph of Baghdad (b. 786)
- 1359 - King Hugh IV of Cyprus
- 1459 - Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist and classicist (b. 1380)
- 1531 - Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss reformer (killed in battle) (b. 1484)
- 1659 - Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (b. 1603)
- 1674 - Thomas Traherne, English poet
- 1691 - Isaac de Benserade, French poet (b. 1613)
- 1708 - David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (b. 1659)
- 1714 - Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (b. 1646)
- 1720 - Antoine Coysevox, French sculptor (b. 1640)
- 1723 - William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, Lord Chancellor of England
- 1725 - Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, Governor-General of New France
- 1747 - John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1759 - Granville Elliott, British military officer (b. 1713)
- 1765 - Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1688)
- 1795 - Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian and historian (b. 1714)
- 1827 - Ugo Foscolo, Italian writer (b. 1778)
- 1837 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (b. 1772)
- 1872 - William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State (b. 1801)
- 1875 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian novelist, poet and dramatist (b. 1817)
- 1893 - Lip Pike, baseball player (b. 1845)
- 1901 - Lorenzo Snow, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1814)
- 1913 - Katsura Taro, Prime minister of Japan (b. 1848)
- 1914 - Charles I of Romania (b. 1839)
- 1927 - Gustave Whitehead, German-born inventor (b. 1874)
- 1930 - Adolf Engler, German botanist (b. 1844)
- 1940 - Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
- 1964 - Eddie Cantor, American singer and vaudeville performer (b. 1892)
- 1964 - Heinrich Neuhaus, Soviet pianist (b. 1888)
- 1970 - Édouard Daladier, French politician (b. 1884)
- 1971 - John Cawte Beaglehole, New Zealand historian (b. 1901)
- 1978 - Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete (b. 1910)
- 1979 - Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist (b. 1931)
- 1979 - Paul Paray, French conductor (b. 1886)
- 1983 - Ralph Richardson, English actor (b. 1902)
- 1985 - Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (b. 1915)
- 1985 - Orson Welles, American director and actor (b. 1915)
- 1998 - Clark Clifford, United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1906)
- 2000 - Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1916)
- 2002 - Teresa Graves, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
- 2003 - Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
- 2004 - Ken Caminiti, baseball player (heart attack) (b. 1963)
- 2004 - Christopher Reeve, American actor (b. 1952)
- 2004 - Arthur H. Robinson, American cartographer (b. 1915)
- 2004 - Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer (b. 1932)
- 2005 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (b. 1921)
- 2005 - Milton Obote, President of Uganda (b. 1925)

Holidays


- RC Saints - Saint Thomas of Villanueva? ; Saint Paulinus of York (in England)
- Also see October 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Canada - Thanksgiving Day of 2005 (second Monday of October)
- Republic of China (on Taiwan) - National Day (Double Tenth Day 雙十國慶)
- Fiji - Fiji Day (National Day)
- United States - Columbus Day of 2005 (second Monday of October)
- Japan - National Health-Sports Day
- World Mental Health Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10 BBC: On This Day] ---- October 9 - October 11 - September 10 - November 10 - more historical anniversaries ko:10월 10일 ms:10 Oktober ja:10月10日 simple:October 10 th:10 ตุลาคม

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil indust