- 1574 English mathematician William Oughtred born; invented the slide rule, invented the 'x' multiplication sign and the trigonometric abbreviations sin, cos and tan.
- 1770 The Boston Massacre, British troops fire on an unruly crowd outside a Boston customs house killing 5; 8 troops were arrested and tried, defended by John Adams; 2 were convicted of manslaughter.
- 1820 Congress passes the Missouri Compromise, forbidding slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36°30' parallel; resolving the issue of slavery until the Compromise of 1850.
- 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes all banks for a week declaring a "bank holiday"; presumably a lot of checks bounce.
- 1933 Nazis win 44 percent of the German vote in parliamentary elections.
- 1940 The Katyn Massacre; Stalin orders the murder of some 25,000 Polish citizens, including about 14,000 POWs.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Today in History: March 5
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Isn't it kind of amazing that the killing of 5 people back then was thought of and referred to as a Massacre, when we think of the kinds of things that have happened in the last century or so?
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