On This Day: January 9

This is the 9th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: Connecticut

In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Connecticut has enjoyed 350 years of constitutional government, from the Fundamental Orders of 1638 to the present Constitution of 1965. Connecticut was designated the "Constitution State" by the General Assembly in 1959. As early as the 19th Century, John Fiske, a popular historian from Connecticut, made the claim that the Fundamental Orders of 1638/39 were the first written constitution in history. Some contemporary historians dispute Fiske's analysis. However, Simeon E. Baldwin, a former Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, defended Fiske's view of the Fundamental Orders in "Osborn's History of Connecticut in Monographic Form" by stating that "never had a company of men deliberately met to frame a social compact for immediate use, constituting a new and independent commonwealth, with definite officers, executive and legislative, and prescribed rules and modes of government, until the first planters of Connecticut came together for their great work on January 14th, 1638-9." The text of the Fundamental Orders is reproduced in Section I of this volume and the original is on permanent display at the Museum of Connecticut History at the State Library. Connecticut has also been known as the "Nutmeg State," the "Provisions State," and the "Land of Steady Habits."

Holidays

Feast day of Saints Julian and Basilissa, St. Berhtwald of Canterbury, St. Peter of Sebastea, St. Waningus or Vaneng, and St. Marciana of Rusuccur.

Panama: Martyrs' Day.

Philippines: Feast of the Black Nazarene.

Events

1719 - Philip V of Spain declared war on France.

1768 - Englishman Philip Astley staged the first modern circus, in London.

1788 - Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America.

1793 - Jean-Pierre-Francois Blanchard made the first manned free-balloon flight in America, at Philadelphia, watched by President George Washington.

1799 - British prime minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

1861 - Mississippi seceded from the Union.

1951 - The United Nations headquarters opened in New York City.

1972 - In Hong Kong harbor, the Queen Elizabeth passenger line was destroyed by fire.

Births

1890 - Karel Capek, Czech writer and playwright.

1908 - Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and critic.

1913 - Richard Milhous Nixon, first American president to resign from office (following his involvement in the Watergate scandal).

1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), American actress, dancer, stripper.

1941 - Joan Baez, American singer and activist.

Deaths

1873 - Napoleon III, French emperor.