JANUARY 4 — 1896 Utah becomes 45th State in Union; 1854 Stephen Douglas introduces Kansas-Nebraska Act; 1863 James Plimpton patents the four wheeled roller state; 2004 Happy Divorsery Britney Spears and Jason Alexander
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JANUARY 4
1896 – Utah becomes the 45 state in the U.S.
People of the mountain as the Ute Native American tribe called it. Before it became a state it had to get over the whole polygamy thing that was going on, and that wasn’t easy. Just to back up a second, Joseph Smith had founded the Church of Christ or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York and published the Book of Mormon in 1830. The religion caught on quickly and expanded to Ohio, Missouri and Illinois. On June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother were murdered in prison by anti-Mormons, and Brigham Young took on the cause, leading an exodus of 148 persecuted Mormons to the area of Utah and set up a new Mormon community.
Young was named governor by President Millard Fillmore in 1850, and they lived peacefully for a number of years, but with multiple wives, and when the feds found out about that in Washington, President James Buchanan in 1857 had Young removed from office and US troops were sent in to establish federal law. In 18990, Mormon Church president Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto which gave up the practice of polygamy and reducing the influence the church would have over the community. Six years later Utah was granted statehood.
By the way, according to randomhistory.com, Salt Lake City is home to the leading manufacture of rubber chickens. Utah couples marry at a younger age than in any other state in the country. Utah’s divorce rate is slightly higher than the U.S. average and has been that way for decades. In Utah, it is illegal to hire trombone players to play on the street to advertise an auction. Additionally, it is illegal to fish while on horseback and to hunt whales. In Salt Lake City it is illegal to walk down the street carrying a paper bag containing a violin. Utah has the highest literacy rate in the nation
1854 – Douglas introduces the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Illinois Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas had to cover the wishes of many of the folks who supported him politically, and so he wrote The Bill that many historians agree led to the Civil War.
But aside from pleasing his constituents who wanted to build a transcontinental railroad through Chicago to head way out west, he was trying to organize the territories from the Louisiana Purchase and between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers go all the way to the Pacific. To answer the obvious slavery question, Douglass used Popular Sovereignty to let states determine whether or not they would allow it. This was a direct violation of the Missouri Compromise, which had kept uneasy peace between the northern and southern states for 35 years.
Any territories above the 36 30 line, or Missouri’s southern boundary line, was off limits to slavery, and settlers in Kansas wanted slaves.
This legislation would split both the Democratic and Whig parties. Douglas worked with Democratic president Franklin Pierce, who supported the bill, and Whigs supported or not supported slavery based on the simple fact of whether they represented the north or south. Free spoiler Charles Sumner, who nearly got caned to death by Preston Brooks in 1956 at a Senate meeting, and future Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of Treasury Salmon chase, publicly criticized Pierce and Douglas.
Northern Democrats, Whigs, and Free Soilers would form the Republican Party, while the southern Democrats would remain rigid for their support for slavery. By the time Kansas joined the union in 1861, eight southern states had seceded.
I go into the Bleeding Kansas story on most 4th ep, and the Dred Scott case that would lead to the American Civil War.
1903 – Topsy falls in the War of Currents. The war was between the Wizard of Menlo Park Thomas Edison and direct current on one side, and on the other George Westinghouse and alternating current. At that time, direct current could power lamps and motors but needed large power lines and a plant nearby. However, using a certain transformer, alternating current plants to be set up to distribute the load of electricity more efficiently. Something like that. So the two systems were competing for each other and it became a big publicity stunt.
Meanwhile, an elephant from Asia named Topsy was apparently being a bad girl but killing the handlers who were mistreating her, and was sentenced to hang at Coney Island. But I guess you can’t just hang an elephant, you need poison and electricity too, and so it was used. Poor Topsy paid dearly for her arrogance and was Westinghoused, or electrocuted to death by a 6,600 volt AC charge. She fell to her death in front of a huge crowd and the it was captured by another one of Edison’s inventions: the movie camera!
1863 – James Plimpton patents the four wheeled roller-skates. He also opened the first roller skate rink in New York.
2004 Happy divorsary Britney Spears and childhood friend Jason Alexander less than 55 hours after they tied the knot at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. God Bless America.
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