Imprisoned for nearly two years after a questionable 1914 murder conviction in Utah, Hill was executed on November 14, 1915.
The night before the execution, he cabled friend and IWW cofounder “Big Bill” Haywood, “Don’t waste any time in mourning. Organize.”
A Cherokee named Sequoyah finished the system of writing in Cherokee in Arkansas in 1821. Sequoyah neither spoke nor wrote English, but he had an idea of the power of writing: “I thought that would be like catching a wild animal and taming it.” His alphabet had a character for each of 86 Cherokee syllables….
The woman who sued the state of Texas for denying her the right to abort a fetus was named Norma McGorvey. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that women had the right to abort a fetus during the first trimester of pregnancy. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion in that case. Justices William…
Yes, Ford was the first incumbent president to agree to public debates. He gained that claim to fame in 1976 when he debated Jimmy Carter. The debates helped Ford to narrow Carter’s lead in the race, although he eventually lost the election.
The series of trials in Massachusetts in 1692-93, known as the Salem witch trials, resulted in 27 convictions. Of those, 20 were executed: 19 were hanged, one was crushed to death. In 1693, Massachusetts governor William Phips created a new court, with stricter guidelines for evidence. Through it, remaining prisoners were either acquitted or set…
Yes. Originated by the Constitution, the Court has been regulated in size by Congress. The number of justices varied, from six to ten, until 1869, when Congress voted to set the membership at nine.
The duel in which Vice-President Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton was held on July 11,1804, in Weehawken, New Jersey. Burr had challenged Hamilton to the duel in response to Hamilton’s attacks on his character during the election campaign for governor of New York. Wounded by Burr’s pistol, Hamilton died the next day.