The Republican National Convention of 1860, held from May 16 to May 18 in the bustling city of Chicago, changed the course of American history and led the nation down the road to the Civil War. This convention, taking place in the specially constructed…
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On May 17, 1900, L. Frank Baum gave the first copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to his sister, Mary Louise Baum Brewster, marking the quiet beginning of one of the most enduring works in American children’s literature. The book, first published in…
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On May 17, 1875, “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.” took America by storm at a racetrack at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Derby was born. Founded by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., the grandson of the famous explorer William Clark, the race was inspired by his…
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On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued its most far-reaching pronouncement on the nature of constitutional equality since Reconstruction—a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which categorically repudiated the legal fiction of “separate but equal” and declared…
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On May 16, 1866, the United States Congress authorized a new five-cent coin made primarily of nickel, giving rise to one of the most familiar pieces of American currency. The coin was small, practical, and durable, but its creation reflected something larger than a…
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The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, the first such trial in American history, was a highly contentious and politically charged event that culminated in his acquittal on May 16, 1868. Johnson, who ascended to the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, quickly found himself…
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On May 15, 1911, the United States Supreme Court delivered one of the most consequential antitrust decisions in American history, ruling in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States that John D. Rockefeller’s oil empire had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and…
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On May 15, 1536, Anne Boleyn—Queen of England, second wife of Henry VIII, and mother of the future Elizabeth I—stood trial at the Tower of London. The charges were staggering: adultery, incest, and high treason. The outcome was foreordained. Condemned by a hand-picked jury…
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On May 15, 1940, in San Bernardino, California, Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald’s restaurant, marking the birth of what would become a global fast-food empire. This pioneering establishment, known then as “McDonald’s Bar-B-Q,” was initially a carhop drive-in with an expansive menu of…
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On May 14, 1610, France lost the king who had ended its religious wars and gained a child monarch who inherited both his throne and his unfinished work. Henry IV, the first Bourbon king of France, was assassinated in Paris by François Ravaillac, a…
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