Today looks like a great day for grabbing land. This day marked one of the really great land deals of all time. US representatives went to Paris to buy the port of New Orleans, with authority to spend two million dollars. The western territories of the US were growing, and the ability to ship goods up and down the Mississippi was critical. The actual deal seemed more like handing a Visa card to a teenager than sending sober diplomats to a foreign capital. Greeted with Napoleon's desire to be rid of responsibility for this huge territory, they spent fifteen million dollars and didn't even know how much land they bought. The treaty provided for the drainage basin of the Mississippi and all its Western tributaries. in 1812 Louisiana became a state, the first of 13 that were carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. And in 1900, the Territory of Hawaii, a rather smaller area, was created.
A German school teacher wanted to keep his class busy, so he had them add the numbers from 1 to 100. Seven-year-old Karl Gauss instantly wrote 5050 on his slate, recognizing that the problem involved 50 pairs of numbers, and each pair summed 101. His work had as much impact on the science of the 19th century as Newton's had on the 18th, and is filled with revelations that are important to this day. The proof he based his doctoral thesis on had long been sought, but he soon developed three other proofs of the same theorem. His name is preserved today as the unit of magnetic force - he worked with the magnetic fields of the earth, loved surveying, and created maps. It might have been different if he had published more of his work, his diary showed that he was first to solve several problems that were published by other leading mathematicians of the time.
In the Netherlands today the good citizens will celebrate the Queen's Birthday. The crown passes to the eldest child of the monarch, and it happens that this has been a Queen three times in a row. Queen Wilhelmina abdicated in favor of Juliana, whose birthday this is. Juliana, in turn, abdicated to her daughter Beatrix. The matriarchal succession will end, however, as Beatrix has three sons but no daughters.
1803 - To protect the "right of deposit" so that goods could pass up and down the Mississippi, three treaties are signed between the US and France. The first ceding the territory known as Louisiana to the US, roughly doubling the land area of the US. Second, committing $11,250,000 (60 million francs) to be paid over time with 6% interest to France. Third, committing $3,750,000 (20 million francs) to be paid by the US to US citizens to discharge debts of the Republic of France. The negotiators only had authority to pay some $2,000,000 for New Orleans and "East and West Florida." They signed anyway.
1812 - Louisiana becomes the 18th state of the Union.
1900 - Engineer Casey Jones left Memphis for Canton an hour and thirty-five minutes late, pulling only six cars, and decided to make up the lost time. Not surprising given the nine suspensions in his file for accidents and safety violations. Ignoring flags and other signals, train #1 collided with another train in a switching yard that Casey was going to speed right through. Casey died, one employee and five passengers were injured. The songs were better. Later this route came to be called the Cannon Ball, and much later, The City of New Orleans.
1900 - The Organic Act is passed by Congress, establishing the constitution of the Territory of Hawaii. The Republic of Hawaii had voluntarily surrendered sovereignty to the United States the previous August.
Walpurgis Night, Germany - An old pagan festival, witches are believed to ride on broomsticks and he-goats to places of sacrifice in the Harz Mountains. Witches are driven away with cracking whips and blasting horns. Sweden - with bonfires. Czechoslovakia - grass or sand spread on doorsteps in the belief that witches could not enter before counting the blades of grass or grains of sand.
Queen's Birthday, Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles - Celebrates the 1909 birth of Queen Juliana, who reigned from 1948 - 1980 when she abdicated in favor of her daughter Beatrix on this date.
1651 - Jean Baptist de La Salle, French priest, educator - Born at Reims, he was well educated (Sorbonne), prepared to enter the priesthood, and returned to Reims as canon of the cathedral. Soon started teaching the children of the poor, organizing schools, training teachers, created the first "normal school," and wrote extensively about methods of teaching. Founded the Christian Brothers. Canonized in 1900, his feast day is 15 May. Died 7 April 1719.
1777 - Johann Karl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, scientist - Born in Brunswick, recognized as prodigy at age 7. Studied at University of Göttingen, received his doctorate in 1799 from Hemstedt University for an elusive proof of an algebraic theorem that had long been sought. Mathematics was his passion, but also contributed in studies of electricity and magnetism. Predicted the location of the asteroid Ceres in 1801 by developing the "least squares" method, contributed the concept (and formulae for) the bell curve to statistics. Developed the binomial theorem, quadratic reciprocity, and the prime number theorem. Diet at Göttingen, Hanover on 23 February 1855
America remained a land of promise for lovers of freedom. Even Byron,
at a moment when he was disgusted with Napoleon for not committing suicide,
wrote an eloquent stanza in praise of Washington.
- Bertrand Russell
The future is a great land; a man cannot go around it in a day; he cannot
measure it with a bound; he cannot bind its harvests into a single sheaf.
It is wider than vision, and has no end.
- Donald G. Mitchell
I showed my appreciation of my native land in the usual Irish way by
getting out of it as soon as I possibly could.
- George Bernard Shaw
It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings,
and new forms of expression.
- Eric Hoffer
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