What Happened Today

In terms of the actual events, describing the Boston Massacre as a "massacre" is a bit over the top, as most people pretty much agreed that a large protest got out of hand and that British troops overreacted by firing into a crowd. The "massacre" did see five people shot and killed, but it was even hard to make the claim that the British soldiers meant to kill anyone. Yet the publicity and propaganda around the event made both the British Army and the colonists play up the fault of the other side. This played into already mounting tensions that had begun with a series of taxes put on the colonies by the British Parliament in the 1760s. So when a protest gathered after the actions of a British private towards a young apprentice, the sides were ready to react angrily. In the aftermath of the Boston Massacre, though, tensions largely settled down. Notable colonial agitator John Adams defended Thomas Preston, the leader of the troops, and actually got him acquitted. Parliament even rolled back some of the problematic taxes. The idea that the Boston Massacre led to the American Revolution only makes sense years later.

As he mentioned at the start of his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for his second term in very different circumstances than prevailed in his first inauguration. Instead of staring down the barrel of a potential Civil War, Lincoln took the dais on the precipice of victory, having led the Union war effort and freeing the slaves. Therefore, Lincoln's address reflected on why the war happened, specifically pinpointing the role of slavery. Lincoln then invoked God's providence, noting that the price that would have to be paid for slavery might have to equal the unpaid debt of slavery. He stood as a victor, decrying the assumption made by Southerners that they had God on their side, while also subtly acknowledging the Union believed God was on their side as well. His famous final passage seemed to speak about reconciliation, but he also promised to bring the nation together in the newly forged Union, made from the war. Exactly how that would have played out is uncertain, though, because of one of the people in the crowd, Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth.

The Act for the "Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use" was brought about by the singular person of Anthony Comstock, who also took charge of enforcing the law. Comstock was days shy of turning 29 when the law passed in 1873 and was simply a very engaged and concerned citizen on the topic of obscene materials. The law forbid anything related to sex, birth control, or "obscenity" from being put in the mail, which was effectively banning all of it. Comstock was put in charge of enforcing this law, because he helped make the Congress aware of what he saw as a problem and was a vocal opponent of anything mentioning sex. As a "Postal Inspector," Comstock shined by going after anyone and everyone he believed was disseminating lewd materials. Comstock would continue in this role until his death in 1915. He would brag about destroying millions of images and literally tons of books, while also acknowledging his efforts were responsible for more than fifteen suicides of people he prosecuted.

In some sense, sports is one of those things that seems to not change quite as much as other aspects of life over time. Actually, legendary sports moments often reveal just how different sports were in the past. Wilt Chamberlain was a 7'1" giant, who also had a deft touch, elite athleticism, and tremendous skill, which would make him good today, but made him dominant in the 1960's. His ability to score fifty points in a game regularly was remarkable, and he broke the single game scoring record earlier in the 1962 season with 78 points. But when Chamberlain's Philadelphia Warriors played the down and out New York Knicks at the end of the season, the circumstances meant he could shatter that record. The teams were playing lax defense, and the Knicks were missing their starting center. Unusually, he also made the majority of his free throws. Yet the publicity at the time was odd. The game was played over 80 miles from Philadelphia in Hershey, Pennsylvania, as an attempt to broaden the NBA's meager fanbase. New York sportswriters did not attend, and no television broadcast exists. Still, he pulled off scoring 100 points in one game.

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were the first, actual governing document for the United States of America. Naturally, the process for drafting and ratifying the Articles of Confederation in July of 1776, just after the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. By late 1777, the full document is ready to go, but the full ratification could not happen until early 1781 because Maryland wanted other states to give up on their land claims west of the Ohio River. It should have been an auspicious omen for everyone involved. The Articles of Confederation were framed to avoid any sense that the federal government would have any supremacy over the sovereignty of the states except in foreign policy and trade. Practically speaking, that meant the Congress of the United States Assembled, the only real governmental body established by the Articles of Confederation, could not raise taxes, control an army, or even enforce anything. Eventually, these problems would make the states call for a convention to amend the Articles of Confederation, which made everyone decide to just create a whole new Constitution of the United States.

When the ATF descended on the Branch Davidian compound called the Mount Carmel Center outside Waco, Texas, their intention was simply to deliver a search warrant related to illegal firearms. Instead, a shootout occurred, which led to the death of four federal agents and six members of the Branch Davidians. Then a 51 day siege began. The Branch Davidians were an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists led by a strange man who was named Vernon Howell, but was calling himself David Koresh to emphasize his messianic qualities. Koresh was alleged to have committed various kinds of child abuse, as well as "marrying" girls as young as 13 in spiritual marriages to create a new "House of David" entirely of his children. All of this made authorities wary of the Branch Davidians, but the ATF raid and Federal standoff made the group famous. The end was notorious, as it ended with the death of Koresh and the majority of his followers in their own compound, but it should never be forgotten that the Federal agents had a legitimate search warrant when they approached the Mount Carmel Center and were fired on by Branch Davidians inside the compound.

As an act of arson, the Reichstag fire was not very damaging. No one died, and the Reichstag building, the home of the German parliament, remained standing even though the parliament could no longer meet there. Symbolically, the Reichstag fire cemented Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party's control over Germany. Hitler had been Chancellor of Germany for less than a month, and was trying to navigate a complicated multi-party stew. By blaming the Reichstag fire on a Communist Party conspiracy, the Nazis were able to get a decree passed that waived many human rights. Then Hitler was able to become the effective dictator of Germany in the wake of the Reichstag fire. The arsonist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was an ardent Communist, but also a violent weirdo with few connections. More prominent Communists were also tried for the crime. Later historians claimed the Nazis were behind setting the fire. In many ways, though, it does not matter who started the fire, only what the Nazis did afterward.

When a truck bomb went off in the underground parking garage for the World Trade Center, six people died and over a thousand were injured, while power was out in a large segment of Lower Manhattan. The urea-nitrate bomb was planted by a man named Ramzi Yousef. Yousef was a terrorist related to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but was also probably building up this plot largely on his own. He had recently come to America from a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, where his family was from and where he had spent time growing up. His intention always seemed to be to plant a bomb somewhere, and he gathered a group of followers. They weren't the cleverest group of criminals, as they rented the truck in someone's real name, claimed it was stolen, and went to retrieve the deposit. As the van was already traced, the plotters were discovered. Ramzi Yousef, though, was able to leave the country and then traveled throughout the world exploding bombs until he was arrested in Pakistan in 1997.

The most severe punishment the National Collegiate Athletic Association can hand down is cancelling one whole season, which was often called "the death penalty." In football, it happened exactly once, to the program at Southern Methodist University. SMU's actual violations were rather straightforward, as they were paying money to recruits and continuing large cash payments to their players once the arrived on campus. This made SMU a powerhouse in the early 1980s with stars like Craig James and Eric Dickerson. In the mid-1980s, the payments came to light, and the school was given sanctions for the 1985 and 1986 seasons. During the 1986 season, more problems were discovered when a dissatisfied former player told the loal press that he was given a large signing bonus and regular payments from SMU. Once the school was caught again, it was backed against a wall, but very few people thought the NCAA would bring the death penalty, as SMU's violations were not unique to SMU. Yet that is precisely what they did.

Strictly speaking, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether William Marbury should be seated as a Justice of the Peace for the District of Columbia by the Jefferson administration and specifically Secretary of State James Madison, who refused to recognize the appointment as it came from the previous Adams administration. More importantly, though, the decision in Marbury v. Madison established the principle of judicial review, the power of the Judicial Branch to declare laws and executive actions unconstitutional. Arguably, Chief Justice John Marshall should have recused himself, as he was the Secretary of State when Marbury was appointed. Yet Marshall sought to make sure the Supreme Court and the entire judicial system was a coequal branch of the government, something the Consitution did not make entirely clear. So even though the decision in Marbury v. Madison said Madison should seat Marbury to his appointment but that the Supreme Court could do nothing to force him to do so, the decision still had long lasting ramifications for the American government.