Texas is admitted into the United States Union becoming the 28th State.
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What Happened in December?
Victories, births, and treaties. Explore the significant historical events and milestones that occurred in December. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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Iowa is admitted into the United States Union becoming the 29th State of the Union.
An accidental fire in the Library of Congress on Christmas Eve destroys approximately 35,000 volumes, including nearly two-thirds of Jefferson's library.
During the war of 1812, British troops set fire to government buildings in Washington, D.C. The Library’s 3,000 or so reference books, then housed in an unfinished U.S. Capitol, provided ready fuel for the fire. In 1815, after the war of 1812, Congress had purchased the 6,487-volume personal library of former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson to replace the lost collection. Most of which were lost in the 1825 fire.
President Abraham Lincoln announces a grant of amnesty for Emilie Todd Helm, his wife Mary Lincoln’s half sister, widow of a Confederate general.
The pardon was one of the first given under Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, announced the week before as part of the president’s plan for the reintegration of the South into the Union. Amnesty was available to be granted to former Confederates, except the highest officials of the Confederacy if they took an oath to the United States. Lincoln's sister-in-law received the pardon, but never took the required oath.
Union General William T. Sherman captures Savannah, Georgia, on December 21, 1864,. The campaign was aimed at crippling the Confederacy by destroying infrastructure and demoralizing its populace. The capture of the vital Confederate port, hastened the war's end.
The 13th amendment, abolishing Slavery becomes part of the U.S. Constitution as the State of Georgia becomes the 27th State to ratify it. More
The KKK is founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, More
The Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange, was founded on December 4, 1867, in Washington, D.C. It was the first successful national farm organization. It was established by Oliver Kelley, Caroline Hall and five others to advance the social, economic, and educational needs of farmers and their families.
The organization experienced a significant surge in membership after the financial crisis of 1873. The Grange became a powerful force in politics, supporting reform movements like the Populist Party and playing a role in achieving initiatives such as the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and Rural Free Delivery. More
The Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the Grange is founded by Oliver Hudson Kelley. The Grange went on to become and influential political force in the western U. S. States. More
The Mary Celeste, an American ship that mysteriously disappeared, is discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands on December 4, 1872. Neither the Captain, his family, or the crew of the vessel were ever found and the reason for the abandonment of the Mary Celeste remains a mystery. More
A catastrophic fire at the Brooklyn theater in Brooklyn, New York breaks out on the evening of December 5, 1876. The fire started when a piece of scenery caught fire, fell on the stage and quickly got out of control.
As the fire continued to spread, the people panicked and clogged the stairwells trampling others as they attempted to flee the spreading flames. It is estimated that at least 285 perished. More
The 1876 Ottoman Constitution is approved on December 23, 1876. it established a constitutional monarchy and limited the power of Sultan Abdül Hamid II, although he still retained key sovereign rights and executive powers including, suspending the parliament, declaring war, making treaties, and appointing ministers.
The new Constitution, was drafted by the "Young Ottomans", were a 19th Century group of Ottoman intellectuals and reformers who sought to modernize the declining Empire through Western-inspired constitutionalism, nationalism, and liberalism. The new Constitution attempted to limit the Sultans absolute rule and introduced concepts like equality and legislative oversight.
Thomas Edison successfully demonstrates the phonograph for the first time. Although some believe it happened in mid August, most historians believe December 6 to be the correct date.
Edison filed for a patent for the phonograph on December 24, 1877 and the patent was issued on February 19, 1878. The original phonograph was invented and patented by Edouard-Leon Scott in 1857. He called his device the phonautograph . His invention made a recording of sound waves on a glass plate, but it was not able to play back the sounds. More
Thomas Edison filed for a patent for the phonograph on December 24, 1877, The patent was issued on February 19, 1878. More
The original phonograph was invented and patented by French Inventor, Edouard-Leon Scott in 1857. He called his device the phonautograph. His invention made a recording of sound waves on a glass plate, but it was not able to play back the sounds.
Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1879 by illuminating some 100 bulbs in and around his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
Thomas Edison had achieved a successful test of his carbonized cotton filament light bulb on October 21, 1879, which lasted for over 13 hours. He patented the first commercially viable version on November 4, 1879, and publicly demonstrated his invention on December 31, 1879.
The First Anglo-Boer War begins as Boer forces invade British territories (Transvaal) on December 16, 1880. The war was a result of the Boers' desire to regain their independence after Britain had annexed the South African Republic (Transvaal) in 1877. The conflict is also known as the Transvaal Rebellion. More
The popular Ring Theater in Vienna, Austria, catches fire on December 8, 1881. The official casualty estimate was that 384 people perished in the fire, although other estimates were that up to one thousand could have been killed.
The cause of the fire was attributed to flammable scenery, inward-opening doors trapping the crowd and other inadequate safety measures which led to new European fire regulations. More
The construction of the Washington Monument is completed with the placement of an 8.9 inch tall, 100-ounce pyramid of solid aluminum atop the capstone. Inscribed on the capstone is the Latin phrase “Laus Deo”, meaning “Praise be to God.”
The cornerstone had been laid 36 years earlier on July 4, 1848; the first stone was laid atop the unfinished stump on August 7, 1880; and the completed monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885. it opened on October 9, 1888. When completed, the Washington Monument surpassed the Cologne Cathedral (515') to be the tallest building in the world at 555 feet, 5.125 inches. More
Jackson Lanier, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is first published on December 10, 1884 in the United Kingdom and Canada, followed by the first U.S. edition on February 18, 1885.
The book was written in vernacular English with open discussions about slavery and racism it the South, before the Civil War. It was controversial for its time but celebrated by most who read it.
The first session of the Indian National Congress (INC), A key moment in the Indian Independence Movement, takes place in Bombay (now Mumbai) from December 28 to 31, 1885. The historic meeting took place in the hall of the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, with 72 delegates in attendance, and was presided over by Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee.