This date in history

[Sailor Steve]

1803 - The historic decision in the Supreme Court case of Marbury v Madison is handed down. In a slick bit of judicial reasoning Chief Justice John Marshall rules against himself and against the Supreme Court, but in doing so sets up the Supreme Court as the sole arbiter of what is Constitutional and what is not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison

[Aktungbby]

^Indeed!! This was a Decision biggie studied in Constitutional history; WHAT A SETUP! Marshall was the Secretary of State who did not deliver the document to Marbury to begin with. Both shared abode in the same boarding house in the limited housing of the new capital...like two staunch Federalists weren't going to talk about it...oh to be a bug on that wall!Left behind at the very last moment by outgoing president John Adams as Chief Justice, like a Federalist mole in the middle of a Democrat Jeffersonian government, Marshall overturned part of the Judiciary Act: over-ruling an act of Congress and thwarted Jefferson's disliked Democrat Executive branch-as it later turned out- and made the Judiciary the full fledged third branch of American government (for better or worse when you consider Dredd Scott and the Bush re-election count in Florida)...adroit, sneaky, and gifted: I've been trying to read his 5 volume biography, now abridged, of Federalist #1 for years! His Life of Washington is still worthy required reading IMHO! The work reflected Marshall's Federalist principles.

[Sailor Steve]

You twice call Jefferson a Democrat. While they formed the beginnings of that party it's a term Jefferson himself never used. He considered himself a Republican, in that he believed in the strength of the United States as a Republic. His followers called themselves 'Jeffersonian Republicans'. Even then he didn't consider himself a party member any more than the Federalists did. It was James Madison who started covertly using what amounts to party politics, and Alexander Hamilton who replied in kind, all the while denying anything of the kind. Even the term Democratic-Republican is a more modern one, first used by Andrew Jackson and friends.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

You twice call Jefferson a Democrat. While they formed the beginnings of that party it's a term Jefferson himself never used. He considered himself a Republican, in that he believed in the strength of the United States as a Republic. His followers called themselves 'Jeffersonian Republicans'. Even then he didn't consider himself a party member any more than the Federalists did. It was James Madison who started covertly using what amounts to party politics, and Alexander Hamilton who replied in kind, all the while denying anything of the kind. Even the term Democratic-Republican is a more modern one, first used by Andrew Jackson and friends.

Absolutely true enough! I merely referenced from your own Wiki site "The newly sworn-in Democratic-Republican7th Congress immediately set about voiding the Judiciary Act of 1801 with their own Judiciary Act of 1802 which reversed the act of 1801 so that the Judicial branch once again operated under the dictates of the original Judiciary Act of 1789...." Then tightened it up by mistakenly SEEKING TO avoid confusion with later Republican party of Lincoln. It's enough to make ya flip yer WHIG (1833-1852) I tell ya! To Whigs: Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Fillmore, Jackson was by then simply a (damned) Democrat! no hyphens needed!!

[Jimbuna]

1751 - 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1 cent).

[Sailor Steve]

1793 - President George Washington held the first cabinet meeting on U.S. record.

The Members:
Thomas Jefferson - Secretary of State
Alexander Hamilton - Secretary of the Treasury
Henry Knox - Secretary of War
Edmund Randolph - Attorney General

[Jimbuna]

1797 - Bank of England issues first £1-note.

1815 - Napoleon & 1,200 leave Elba to start 100-day re-conquest of France.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

1815 - Napoleon & 1,200 leave Elba to start 100-day re-conquest of France.

A palindromic moment in history if ever! (Napoleon's return from Elba)!"Able was I ere I saw Elba"

[Jimbuna]

1991 - Gulf War ends after Iraqi troops retreat and Kuwait is re-taken by the US.

(It would appear someone has forgotten the efforts of the other countries that participated)

[Aktungbby]

1944: Hannah Reitsch, the first female test pilot in the world; and the only woman awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the LuftwaffePilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds during WWII , suggests the creation of the Nazi equivalent of a kamikaze squad of suicide bombers while visiting Der Fuhrer in Berchtesgaden. Hitler was less than enthusiastic about the idea...maybe he wasn't desperate enough...yet. She presented the idea of Operation Suicide to Hitler which "would require men who were ready to sacrifice themselves in the conviction that only by this means could their country be saved." Hitler "did not consider the war situation sufficiently serious to warrant them...and...this was not the right psychological moment." possibly as suicide was not in the 'German warrior tradition'! He did agree to allow development work to proceed. About seventy volunteers declared, "I hereby voluntarily apply to be enrolled in the Suicide Group as pilot of a human glider-bomb. I fully understand that employment in this capacity will entail my own death". They adapted the V-1 into three models, a two-seater, and a single-seater with and without the mechanisms to land. The plan was never implemented operationally, "the decisive moment had been missed." The Fieseler Fi 103R, code-named Reichenberg, was a late-WWII manned version of the V-1 flying bomb (more correctly known as the Fieseler Fi 103) produced for attacks in which the pilot was likely to be killed It was essentially a suicide mission, as it would have been very difficult to open the canopy against the wind resistance and in the unlikely event that the pilot was able to climb out he would have undoubtedly have been sucked into the intake of the engine. This manned missile killed several pilots during landing in flight tests. All of the Reichenbergs were air-launched from planes, unlike the unmanned V-1s that were mostly fired from ground-based catapult ramps. The war ended before Germany could use the Reichenberg in combat. < A real die-hard to the end: Hannah ran a postwar gliding school in Ghana..Her view near the end of her life 1979: "And what have we now in Germany? A land of bankers and car-makers. Even our great army has gone soft. Soldiers wear beards and question orders. I am not ashamed to say I believed in National Socialism. I still wear the Iron Cross with diamonds Hitler gave me. But today in all Germany you can't find a single person who voted Adolf Hitler into power... Many Germans feel guilty about the war. But they don't explain the real guilt we share – that we lost." WIKI

[Jimbuna]

1780 - Pennsylvania becomes 1st US state to abolish slavery (for new-borns only).

[Jimbuna]

1888 - The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.

[Aktungbby]

1962: Philadelphia Warrior's Wilt Chamberlain, 7' 1", scored100 points, shot 36 of 63 from the field, and made 28 of 32 free throws against the New York Knicks. The record still stands! In the '62 season, he averaged 50.4 and grabbed 25.7 rebounds per game. Chamberlain's 4,029 regular-season points made him the only player to break the 4,000-point barrier.

[Jimbuna]

1891 - The Penalty Spot Kick rule in Association Football is conceived, but does not come into effect until the next season.

[Jimbuna]

1801 - 1st US President inaugurated in Washington DC (Thomas Jefferson).
1861 - Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as 16th US President.