On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. The act freed over 3,100 people enslaved in the US capital nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation would free all enslaved people in the US.
On April 15, 1865, President Lincoln died less than 12 hours after being shot by John Wilkes Booth. He was the first US president to be assassinated, just as the Civil War was drawing to a close.
On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War. The respect both men showed toward each other led the surrender to be called “The Gentlemen’s Agreement.”
On March 7, 1850, Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster delivered one of his most famous speeches, the “Seventh of March” speech. It expressed his support for the Compromise of 1850 that would help avert a Civil War but proved disastrous for his Senate career.
On March 1, 1803, Ohio was admitted as the 17th state of the Union. Named for the Ohio River, the word Ohio comes from the Seneca people, meaning “great river.”
On February 26, 1869, the US Senate passed the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, giving people of all races and colors the right to vote. The Amendment would be ratified and become official US law a year later.
On February 22, 1864, some of the first Sanitary Fair stamps were issued. These stamps raised millions of dollars in funds and supplies for the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809. Despite the lack of a formal education, he became a successful lawyer, politician, and celebrated speaker before taking the nation’s highest office and leading the Union through the Civil War.
On February 8, 1693, a royal charter officially established the College of William and Mary. Today it’s the second-oldest college in America (behind Harvard).