Andrew Jackson Elected President in 1828 (American Memory)
Andrew Jackson was elected the 7th U.S. President 181 years ago today. Since Jackson is one of the most famous of Presidents and because there is so much information on him, I thought I’d just do a simple post showing the ease of using the Library of Congress’ American Memory website to quickly find various [...]
Sam Houston: First President of the Republic of Texas
173 years ago today, Sam Houston was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas. He served from October 22, 1836, to December 10, 1838, and served a second term from December 12, 1841 to December 9, 1844.
After Texas was annexed by the U.S. in 1845, he was elected to the U.S. [...]
Today in History: Chicago Fire of 1871
On this day, 138 years ago, a massive fire ripped through the city of Chicago, killing 300 people and leaving 90,000 homeless. It caused $200 million worth of damage and destroyed 4 square miles of the city. Using the website Measuring Worth to calculate the amount adjusted for the worth of today’s dollar, the damage [...]
Obama-Lincoln Inauguration Connection
On January 20th, President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in using the Lincoln-Inaugural Bible. According to the Library of Congress, it is the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used for his inauguration in 1861:
The first Lincoln Inaugural is rife with historical significance, coming at a time when the survival of the United States was [...]