Birthdays and Holidays: A Celebration of Liberty
by Donald Burger, Attorney at Law

January 01:
1735: Paul Revere born in Boston, Massachusetts.
1907: Barry Goldwater born in Arizona territory.

January 10:
1776: Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense, calling for American independence.

January 17:
1706: Ben Franklin born.

January 19:
1808: Lysander Spooner born.

January 24:
1916: US Supreme Court rules in Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 240 U.S. 1, 36 S.Ct. 236, 60 L.Ed. 493 that the federal income tax is unconstitutional.

January 29:
1737: Thomas Paine born.

February 02:
1905: Ayn Rand born.

February 07:
1867: Laura Ingalls Wilder born.

February 22:
1732: George Washington born in Virginia.

February 26:
1802: Victor Hugo born.

March 02
1793: Sam Houston born.
1836: Texas Independence is declared at Washington-on-the-Brazos.
1926: Murray Rothbard born.

March 04
1801: Thomas Jefferson inaugurated.

March 05
1770: The Boston Massacre takes place.

March 09
1776: Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith published.

March 16
1751: James Madison, the fourth president of the US, born in Port Conway, Virginia.

March 23
1775: Patrick Henry, in a speech to the Virginia Convention, exclaims, "Give me liberty or give me death."

March 24
1644: Charter granted to Roger Williams for colony of Rhode Island.

April 05
1856: Booker T. Washington born in Franklin County, Virginia.

April 08
1895: US Supreme Court finds income tax unconstitutional. All monies collected are ordered refunded.

April 13
1743: Thomas Jefferson born.

April 14
1775: The first abolition society is formed by Ben Franklin and Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia. It is called the "Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage."

April 17
1854: Benjamin Tucker born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

April 18
1775: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere takes place from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass.

April 19
1775: Revolutionary War begins in Lexington and Concord.

April 24
1704: The Boston News Letter, the first newspaper in North America, begins publishing.

April 27
1820: Herbert Spencer born

April 28
1758: James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, born in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

April 30
1789: George Washington is inaugurated as the first president of the United States.

May 04

1776: Rhode Island declares its freedom from England two months before the Declaration of Independence is signed.

May 07

1943: The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand, published.

May 25

1803: Ralph Waldo Emerson born in Boston, Mass.

May 27

1935: US Supreme Court strikes down the National Industrial Recovery Act.

May 29

1736: Patrick Henry born.

June 01:
1813: Captain James Lawerence, mortally wounded commander of the US Frigate Chesapeake, utters his famous line, "Don't give up the ship." This later becomes the motto of the US Navy

June 03:
1804: Richard Cobden born. He is called the "Apostle of Free Trade" in England, for his opposition to the protectionist English Corn Laws. His efforts lead to their repeal in 1846.

June 05:
1723: Adam Smith born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

June 06:
1978: California voters pass Proposition 13, calling for major cuts in property taxes.

June 10:
1925: Nat Hentoff, lawyer, author and defender of the First Amendment, born.
1933: Lawyer F. Lee Bailey born.

June 11:
1776: The Continental Congress forms a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence.
1776: Virginia's colonial legislature becomes the first in America to adopt a Bill of Rights 1967: The US Supreme Court strikes down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

June 13:
1966: The US Supreme Court issues its opinion in Miranda v. Arizona.
1971: The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers.

June 17:
1775: The Battle of Bunker Hill takes place near Boston.
1885: The Statute of Liberty arrives in New York aboard the French ship Isere.

June 21:
1788: The US Constitution goes into effect as New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify it.

June 25:
1903: George Orwell born.

June 29:
1801: Frederic Bastiat born.

July 02
1776: The Continental Congress passes a resolution that "these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."

July 04
1776: The Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence.

July 07
1907: Novelist Robert Heinlein born.

July 12
1817: Henry David Thoreau born in Concord, Mass.

July 18
1872: Britain introduces the secret ballot.

July 28
1868: The Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing due process, is declared in effect.

July 31
1912: Milton Friedman born.

August 6:
1881: First issue of Benjamin Tucker's journal Liberty appears. It was published from August 1881 to April 1908.

October 02:
1890: Philosopher Groucho Marx born in New York.

October 07:
1765: The Stamp Act Congress convenes in New York to draw up the grievances of the colonists against England.

October 10:
1957: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, published.

October 13:
1870: Albert Jay Nock born.

October 25:
1800: Thomas Macaulay born.

October 27:
1787: The first of the Federalist Papers s published in a New York newspaper.

October 28:
1886: The Statute of Liberty is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in the presence of its sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi.
1903: John Chamberlain, author and book reviewer extraordinaire, born.

October 30:
1735: John Adams, the second President of the United States, born in Braintree, Mass.

November 04
1879: Will Rogers born in Oologah, Oklahoma.

November 15
1777: The Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.

November 23
1765: Frederick County, Maryland, repudiates England's Stamp Act.

November 24
1871: The National Rifle Association is incorporated.

November 28
1894: Henry Hazlitt born.

December 05
1887: Rose Wilder Lane born.

December 07
1787: Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the US Constitution.

December 11
1971: Libertarian Party founded.

December 15
1791: The Bill of Rights goes into effect, with ratification by Virginia.

December 16
1773: Boston Tea Party takes place as 300 chests of tea are dropped into Boston Harbor.

December 18
1865: Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery) ratified.

December 19
1732: Ben Franklin begins publishing Poor Richard's Almanac in Philadelphia.
1776: Thomas Paine's essay, American Crises, published. It contains the famous line, "These are the times that try men's souls."

December 23
1776: The first of Thomas Paine's patriotic tracts, called The Crises papers, is published.

December 31
1974: It is no longer illegal for US citizens to own gold coins, after over 40 years of prohibition.

Last revised March 4, 2003

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