This Day in History
1820: Congress passes the Missouri Compromise bill, allowing slavery in Missouri but not in Maine, and banning slavery in areas west and north of Missouri.
1845: Florida is admitted to the Union as the 27th state.
1863: During the Civil War, Congress passes the Enrollment Act. It imposes liability for military duty on nearly all able-bodied males between the ages of 20 and 45.
1918: In the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk during World War I , the Soviet Union agrees to stop fighting the Central Powers ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria ).
1923: The first issue of Time magazine is published.
1931: Congress passes a bill designating "The Star-Spangled Banner " the national anthem.
1995: With the aid of U.S. Marines, the last UN peacekeeping troops leave Somalia.
Today's Birthdays
1831: George Pullman, inventor/industrialist (Brocton, NY; died 1897)
1847: Alexander Graham Bell, inventor (Edinburgh, Scotland; died 1922)
1895: Matthew Bunker Ridgeway, general (Fort Monroe, VA; died 1993)
1911: Jean Harlow, actress (Kansas City, MO; died 1937)
1926: James Merrill, poet (New York, NY; died 1995)
1950: Tim Kazurinsky, actor/comedian (Johnstown, PA)
1958: Miranda Richardson, actress (Lancashire, England)
1962: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic champion heptathlete (East St.Louis, IL). Herschel Walker, football player (Wrightsville, GA)
1974: David Faustino, actor (Los Angeles, CA)
1982: Jessica Biel, actress (Ely, MN)
