War Sparks Northern Secession Movement – Today In Southern History
18 June 1812
On this date in 1812…
U.S. President James Madison signed a congressional declaration of war against Great Britain, marking the beginning of the War of 1812. The war would be bitterly opposed by New England states and led to their threatened secession at the Hartford Convention despite the fact that the war was mainly fought by Southern troops on Southern soil.
Other Years:
1730 – Seven Cherokee representatives met with Britain’s King George II at Windsor Castle in London to acknowledge him as the sovereign of all the Cherokee people.
1847 - American photographer Thomas Martin Easterly takes the earliest known photograph of lightning in St. Louis, Missouri
1864 – The federal siege of Petersburg, Virginia began.
1941 - In his 18th world heavyweight title defense Joe Louis knocked out Billy Conn in 13th round
1948 – The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted its International Declaration of Human Rights, a document the United States government has steadfastly refused to sign.
1959 – Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long was committed to the Louisiana State Mental Hospital. Still acting as governor, Long responded by firing the hospital’s director and replacing him with a supporter. The new director immediately proclaimed Governor Long to be perfectly sane.
1961 - KBMT TV channel 12 in Beaumont, Texas began broadcast
1982 - The punitive South-only Voting Rights Act of 1965 was extended the by US Senate on a 85-8 vote
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