U.S. Capitol Historical Society

#OnThisDay in #history, 1965, #BobDylan went electric for the first time. It was, musically, a revolutionary act for a figure at the forefront of a revolution in societal change. Two years prior, he sang alongside musician activists shortly before #MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. Photo: Dylan with Joan Baez

#OnThisDay in #history, 1793, Roger Sherman passed away at age 72. But by then, he had done enough. Sherman was the only signer of all four great state documents of the #USA: the Articles of Association, the #DeclarationOfIndependence, the Articles of Confederation, and the #USConstitution. As John Adams described, Sherman was “as honest as an angel and as firm in the cause of American Independence as Mount Atlas.”

#OTD in #history, 1796, surveyors from the Connecticut Land Company founded a town along the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie shoreline. Named for the leader of the expedition, “Cleaveland” would go on to become a major American city. While British colonial settlement had hewn fairly close to the seaboard, colonies extended claims far into the continent. Under the #ArticlesofConfederation, ratified in 1781, the nascent United States were governed by a Confederation Congress. After the 1783 Treaty of Paris ceded land between the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River, it fell to this institution to resolve questions of governance in the territory. The Confederation Congress attempted to manage this area through laws passed in 1784 and 1785, but their greatest legislative accomplishment in this regard was the #NorthwestOrdinance of 1787. The ordinance prohibited slavery in the territory, guaranteed certain natural rights, encouraged support for public education, provided guidance on the formation of territorial government, and, critically, established a path for admission of new states. Formation of the #NorthwestTerritory required cessions of land claimed by other states, and while Connecticut did yield much of its claim, it reserved 5,260 square miles for its own use. After selling most of the Western Reserve to the private Connecticut Land Company, the state ceded the territory to the United States government, which then incorporated the land into the Northwest Territory. In November 1802, the Ohio state convention formally agreed to seek statehood and admission to the Union. Congress passed a bill and President #ThomasJefferson signed an act approving Ohio’s boundaries and constitution in February 1803, however, an oversight left an open question on its admission to the Union. A special act of congress in 1953 granted the state admission, retroactive to March 1, 1803. In the more than 200 years since its founding, #Cleveland has served as a key site of victory during the War of 1812, a significant stop along the underground railroad, a hotbed of abolitionist activity, and a major industrial city for the region and nation.

#OTD in #history, 1949, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a resolution to ratify the North Atlantic Treaty, paving the way for the United States to enter #NATO. With this advice and consent, President #HarryTruman signed the Instrument of Ratification and Accession four days later. While NATO would not come into force until 1949, the organization had been in the making since the conclusion of #WWII. U.S. involvement in the war ended decades of isolationism, raising the nation to the status of an economic and military superpower primed for leadership on the global stage. Although the U.S. and its allies, France, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, had been victorious in the war, divisions soon arose between the newly established communist Soviet eastern sphere and the liberal democratic and capitalist western sphere. In February 1948, a successful communist coup d’état made the Czechoslovak Republic a Soviet satellite state in central Europe. That summer, Soviet forces occupying eastern Germany blockaded the divided capital Berlin, hoping to dislodge the western allies’ and claim the whole city. Only the joint efforts of American, British, and French forces in the ensuing #BerlinAirlift supplied and preserved a free West Berlin from communist control. In the face of such turmoil, western leaders sought to more closely tie their nations together in the name of security cooperation. Throughout and after the #ColdWar, the alliance has grown to include 32 countries committed to democratic values and mutual defense. A special summit of world leaders convened in Washington, DC, earlier this month to mark the #NATO75 anniversary and chart a course for the organization in the years to come.

Our thoughts are with the family and loved-ones of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who passed away yesterday at the age of 74. She had served the people of her Houston community for nearly 35 years in elected office, and in 2021 authored legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

For many Americans, the Washington Monument remains a consistent reminder of America’s freedom and the power of democracy; a 555-foot beacon of hope on the DC landscape. But #OTD in 2019, the familiar icon was at the center of a celebration honoring American leadership in scientific discovery, offering a new perspective of the monument. July 20, 2019, marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, a victory for not just the United States, but for all of humanity, as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the moon. Such a monumental moment in history warrants a monumental celebration, and thus the “Apollo 50: Go for the Moon” celebration was organized by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum. Congress played an essential role in making this event memorable by passing a joint resolution which called for the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior to “authorize unique and one-time arrangements for displays on the National Mall and the Washington Monument” for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. The National Mall came alive from July 16-19, 2019, with film footage, historic audio, and images from the Smithsonian Institution and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration archives, and most notably a 363-foot life-sized projection onto the Washington Monument itself of the Saturn V rocket which carried Armstrong and Aldrin to the moon. “Apollo 50: Go for the Moon” brought an estimated 500,000 people to the heart of the nation's capital in celebration of this iconic moment in history, with the newly imagined Washington Monument serving as a testament to human innovation, courage, and America’s relentless pursuit of knowledge. As this year marks the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, USCHS looks back at Congress’ continued support for America’s leadership in scientific innovation, by not only funding projects like the Apollo missions themselves, but also creating opportunities to bring citizens together to celebrate the nation’s achievements.

The U.S. Capitol Historical Society invites you to watch the recorded broadcast of our Native American Suffrage Symposium, originally hosted on May 23, 2024. Tune in to C-SPAN to explore in-depth discussions on Native American citizenship, sovereignty, and voting rights. The event brought together leading scholars, authors, and advocates of Native American history, culture, and politics for a day of insightful discussions and reflections on the complex issues surrounding Native American citizenship, both past and present. https://lnkd.in/eJDRqdYu

#OTD in #history, 1848, the #SenecaFalls Convention on women’s rights commenced. Attendance on this first day was open only to women. The Convention was planned by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Coffin Wright, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt. At Seneca Falls, Stanton drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, in which she listed what she categorized as infringements upon women’s #InalienableRights, including the right to vote. Noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass spoke at the convention in support of women’s suffrage. Despite seeming unity at Seneca Falls, the women’s rights movement followed no linear path in the decades that followed. Stanton and Douglass, along with Susan B. Anthony (a surprising non-attendee of Seneca Falls) joined forces to found the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), which supported suffrage for all, regardless of race, gender, or class. Stanton and Anthony later left the organization after it agreed to support the #15thAmendment, as they considered women’s suffrage a priority over Black male suffrage. Seneca Falls offers a complicated look into the dynamics and legacy of the women’s suffrage movement, one far more nuanced than many traditional accounts suggest. Nevertheless, the decades of committed advocacy and agitation which followed the convention eventually resulted in passage and ratification of the #19thAmendment.

Join us July 25 at 12 pm ET as we host Carlos F. Orta as he discusses his new book “From Havana to DC.” His book speaks to the Cuban community’s drive, force, focus, and ingenuity of Cuban immigrants, who, within a generation, went from zero elected officials to electing the first Latina and first Cuban American to the United States Congress. Register at the link below! https://lnkd.in/ezMKc6Mz

#OTD in #history, 1914, Congress approved the creation of the Aviation Section, Signal Corps within the U.S. Army. The section was the main aviation branch of the U.S. Military from 1914-1918, and was one of the main precursors to the modern #USAirForce. In 1917, the United States officially declared war on Germany, entering the First World War. Though American volunteers had already been serving as pilots with the French Air Service, the Aviation Section would now get its chance to prove itself. By the end of the war, the Air Service had conducted 150 separate bombing attacks and downed 756 enemy aircraft and 76 enemy balloons. Meanwhile, their own losses stood at 289 airplanes and 48 balloons. Following the war, the Aviation Section, which had already been transferred from the control of the Signal Corps, was dissolved and replaced with the U.S. Army Air Service, which itself would become the U.S. Army Air Force. Finally, with passage of the National Security Act of 1947, the United States Air Force was created as an independent branch of the military.