On This Day: March 3

This is the 62nd day of the year.

Fact of the Day: liqueur names

Liqueur names come from a variety of sources. Some reflect the liqueur's origin, for example curacao, named after the island in the Caribbean where it was first made, or Benedictine after the Benedictine monks who first created it. Other names are derived from the taste of the liqueur, for example amaretto, which comes from the Italian word amaro meaning 'bitter,' and some are named for their ingredients such as absinthe from the Greek word apsinthion meaning 'wormwood.'

Holidays

Feast day of St. Ailred of Rievaulx, St. Cunegund, empress, St. Marinus of Caesarea, St. Non, St. Winwaloe, St. Anselm of Nonantola, St. Artelais, St. Chef, and St. Emeterius.

Morocco: National Day.

Japan: Peach Festival (Mom no sekku) or Dolls' Festival (Hinamatsuri).

Bulgaria: Liberation Day.

Malawai: Martyr's Day.

Events

1791 - Congress established the U.S. Mint.

1791 - The District of Columbia was organized, establishing a non-partisan home for the federal government.

1820 - Congress passed the Missouri Compromise, a bill that temporarily resolved the slavery issue in the U.S. and succeeded in keeping the Union together for more than 30 years.

1845 - Florida became the 27th state.

1849 - U.S. Department of the Interior, initially called the Home Department, was established.

1849 - Congress created the Minnesota Territory.

1861 - Czar Alexander II abolished serfdom.

1863 - U.S. Congress passed a conscription act that produced the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history.

1885 - The U.S. Post Office began offering special delivery for first-class mail.

1918 - Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, abandoning the Allied war effort and granting independence to its Polish and Baltic territories, the Ukraine, and Finland.

1931 - "The Star-Spangled Banner" officially became the national anthem of the United States.

1951 - "Mr. Wizard," explaining the mysteries of science to children, premiered on TV.

1969 - Apollo 9 was launched to test the lunar landing module.

1991 - After police pursuit, robbery parolee Rodney King was stopped and beaten, and the police brutality was captured on video.

1991 - Latvia and Estonia voted to secede from the Soviet Union.

1999 - Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky appeared on national television to explain her affair with President Bill Clinton.

2002 - Voters in Switzerland approved joining the United Nations, after almost 200 years of formal neutrality.

Births

1831 - George Pullman, American industrialist, inventor of railroad sleeping car.

1847 - Alexander Graham Bell, American, teacher of the deaf, inventor of telephone, founder of Bell Telephone Company.

Deaths

1959 - Lou Costello, American comedian.

1987 - Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kominski), comic actor and entertainer.