Elizabeth I of Russia was a powerful woman, dedicated to beautiful things, and though she came late to the scheming of the royal court she was very good at it. Her father was Peter the Great and she worked to restore the laws and government that he had put together, perhaps more importantly it was her hand that brought Princess Sophia to Russia and forced her to grow into the empress we know as Catherine the Great. Her own nephew who succeeded her let her down - he promptly returned to Prussia all the lands that the Tsarina had won.
Today marks the ratification, or at least the official announcement of same, for the 13th amendment to the US Constitution - the end of slavery. Today's quotes address the same subject.
It's unlikely that a current US president could court a widow, marry her, and be reelected to office, but Woodrow Wilson did. Today also marks the greatest storm damage the US Navy suffered in this century and a nasty atmospheric release of radioactivity from a supposed underground test, but the first launch of viable radio equipment into orbit.
My apologies for the long absence. It was a busy week in other areas, and as I was starting to choose events for last Friday's issue the lights went out. Part of the bucolic charm of island life is that we aren't the first to have power restored.
1865 - The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or anyplace subject to their jurisdiction." Former Confederate states were required to ratify the amendment as a condition of being restored to the Union, thus providing the necessary state approvals.
1898 - Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the first official land speed record at Acheres Park near Paris: 39.25 miles per hour in a Jeantaud electric automobile. The Jeantaud may have been the first automobile with a steering wheel instead of a tiller.
1915 - US president Woodrow Wilson, a year after the death of his wife Ellen, married a widow named Edith Boling Galt. Following Wilson's stroke and partial paralysis in October 1919 the first lady effectively ran the presidential office and severely limited access to Wilson.
1944 - Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet encountered a typhoon northeast of Samar. Unable to refuel in the rough water, the deballasted destroyers USS Hull, USS Monaghan, and USS Spence sank, 21 other ships were damaged, and about 800 men were lost. It was the worst weather loss of the US Navy in the 20th century.
1958 - The Department of Defense Project SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was launched, providing the first direct and relayed radio broadcasting capability from earth orbit.
1970 - An underground nuclear test codenamed Baneberry at the Nevada Testing Site resulted in a mushroom cloud of radioactive steam to an altitude of 8,000 feet. Iodine 131 from the release was tracked in significant levels in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, and Nebraska, traces reached Maine.
Republic Day, Niger - Commemorates the 1960 creation of a republic and the adoption of the new constitution following independence from France on 3 August of the same year.
1709 - Tsarina Elizaveta Petrovna, Russian politician - Born at Moscow to Peter Alexeiovich Romanov (Peter the Great) and Catharine Skavronska before they were wed. Avoided court intrigue, but inspired a handful of army officers to follow her in deposing Tsarina Anna on 25 November 1741, crowned Empress of All Russia on 25 April 1742, repealed every law passed since her father's death. Secretly married an uneducated Ukrainian named Oleksiy Rozum (later knows as Alexey Razumovsky) in the fall of 1742, a shepherd who had been brought to Moscow because of his exceptional bass voice. Rozum was never publicly acknowledged but became quite wealthy and held the rank of field marshal. Greatly supporter of French art and Italian architecture, built the Winter Palace at Petrograd, spent so freely on clothes that her credit was suspended by some French designers. Lacking legal issue of her own,brought her nephew Peter to court as well as Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst to become Peter's bride, Sophia was rechristened Catherine and wed the Grand Duke Peter 25 August 1745. During her reign Russia prevailed in the War of the Austrian succession and the Seven Years War, to the distress of Prussia's Frederick the Great. Found that she looked good in pants and ordered a series of balls called Metamorphoses in which the women wore men's clothes and the men (including the ranking generals) were required to wear hoop skirts with countless petticoats. Patroness of the Orthodox church, led many pilgrimages Russian monasteries. Sponsored the educators Peter and Alexander Shouvalov, founding Moscow University and The Academy of Arts in Petrograd. Died at Petrograd on 25 December 1761, leaving her nephew Peter as heir to the throne. Funeral held 3 February 1762, coffin was on display with a single handful of earth upon its lid for three weeks as mourners filed past, buried next to parents 27 February.
Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.
- Henry Peter Brougham
If this world were what it seems it should be, it is clear that it would be impossible for one man to enslave another.
- Voltaire
There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.
- Helen Keller
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
- Abraham Lincon
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Copyright 2000 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely. Please forward the complete message including this copyright notice.