Historical Events in February

February has historically been a very busy month. I personally did not realize how many interesting, notable, historical events had happened in this month best known for President’s day and Valentine’s Day. Civil protest, amendment ratification, presidential births, impeachments, a nation is born, several inventors are born, several authors as well… whew!

Who knew?

Abraham Lincoln (12th) and George Washington (22nd) are not the only American presidents who were born in February. We can’t forget about William Henry Harrison (9th); he only served 32 days in office. He died of pneumonia; which he contracted during his inaugural address. Ronald Reagan (6th) won the presidency in 1980 beating out Democratic rival Jimmy Carter.

The US Congress and Senate must really come back from their winter holidays ready to work because 5 amendments have been ratified in the month of February.

Feb. 3, 1870 – 15th Amendment: guaranteed every citizen the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It is appropriate that February is Black History Month.

Feb. 3, 1913 – 16th Amendment: grants congress the authority to collect income taxes.

Feb. 6, 1933 – 20th Amendment: set the date for the Presidential Inauguration as Jan. 20 and Jan. 3 as the official opening date of Congress.

Feb. 7, 1795 – 11th Amendment: prohibits Federal lawsuits against individual states.

Feb. 27, 1950 – 22nd Amendment: limits the president to two terms or to a maximum of ten years.

Maybe it is because my birthday falls in February, I don’t know, but reading about this really fascinated me. Tune in to the LOL Blog on February 24 to find out more interesting facts about the month of February.

Information was obtained from: http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/february.htm