A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on February 20th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On February 20, 1864, the Union and Confederate armies fought the Battle of Olustee, the largest land battle of the American Civil War (1861-1865) in Florida. On February 20, 1905, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states have the authority to require mandatory vaccinations against disease, well over a century before the controversy over the Covid vaccine in 2020 and 2021.…

A Brief History On February 20, 1905, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states have the authority to require mandatory vaccinations against disease, well over a century before the controversy over the Covid vaccine in 2020 and 2021. Digging Deeper In the case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the court ruled that Massachusetts and other states had the right to enforce compulsory vaccination laws and that individual liberty is not absolute.  In this case, the disease involved was smallpox, and the law in the Bay State required people over 21 to be vaccinated or face a $5 fine. …

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on February 19th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On February 19, 1807, former Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr, the same guy that shot Alexander Hamilton to death in a duel while Burr was serving as Vice President, was arrested for treason. On February 19, 1859, New York Congressman Daniel E. Sickles made history as the first person acquitted by reason of “temporary insanity.” On February 19, 1943,…

A Brief History On February 19, 1954, the Soviet Politburo, the highest policy making organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ordered the Crimean Oblast to the Ukrainian SSR.  The Crimea had previously been part of the Russian SFSR, and numerous cultures, kingdoms, and empires before that. Digging Deeper After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a referendum of Crimean citizens voted to become an autonomous region within the Ukrainian SSR and in 1992, within an independent Ukraine.  In 1994, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States agreed to the Budapest Memorandum, a treaty that addressed former Soviet…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on February 18th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On February 18, 1930, Elm Farm Ollie (Also known as “Nellie Jay,” “Sunnymede Ollie” and “Sky Queen.” Say, why does a cow need aliases???) made aviation history as the first cow to fly in a fixed wing airplane. On February 18, 1930, as previously chronicled in our article “First Cow Milked in the Sky!” we told of the first cow to fly…