Today in History–July 28–the Library of Congress features the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. On this date in 1868, Secretary of State William Seward issued a proclamation certifying the ratification of the amendment. The 14th amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”, including former slaves freed…
Today in History–June 4–the Library of Congress features U.S. Congressional approval of the the woman’s suffrage amendment on this day in 1919. But victory was still a ways off, It took over a year for the necessary three quarters of the 48 states (Alaska and Hawaii were not admitted into the Union until 1959) to ratify the 19th…
Today in History–November 15–the Library of Congress features the Articles of Confederation, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on this day in 1777. Although Congress urged prompt action, it took more than three years for all thirteen states to ratify the articles that supported a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government. Find out more…