(edited from Wikipedia)
"
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marriage to the union of one man and one woman, and it further allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states.

In the 1980s, same-sex marriage had opposition especially from socially conservative groups. Congressman Bob Barr and Senator Don Nickles, both members of the Republican Party, introduced the bill that became DOMA in May 1996. It passed both houses of Congress by large, veto-proof majorities, with opposition coming from approximately one-third of the Democratic caucus in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Clinton criticized DOMA as "divisive and unnecessary". He nonetheless signed it into law in September 1996.

Section 2 of the act allowed states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages conducted by other states. Section 3 codified non-recognition of same-sex marriages for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, social security survivors' benefits, immigration, bankruptcy, and the filing of joint tax returns. It also excluded same-sex spouses from the scope of laws protecting families of federal officers, laws evaluating financial aid eligibility, and federal ethics laws applicable to opposite-sex spouses.

After its passage, DOMA was subject to numerous lawsuits and repeal efforts. In United States v. Windsor (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court declared Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause, thereby requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages conducted by the states.

In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Court held that same-sex marriage was a fundamental right protected by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling required all states to perform and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, leaving Section 2 of DOMA as superseded and unenforceable.

On December 13, 2022, DOMA was repealed by the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act which was signed into law by President Joe Biden, who previously voted in favor of DOMA as a Senator of Delaware.

Respect for Marriage Act

The Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA; H.R. 8404) is a landmark United States federal law passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It repeals the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), requires the U.S. federal government and all U.S. states and territories to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial civil marriages in the United States, and protects religious liberty. Its first version in 2009 was supported by former Republican U.S. Representative Bob Barr, the original sponsor of DOMA, and former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA in 1996. Iterations of the proposal were put forth in the 111th, 112th, 113th, 114th, and 117th Congresses.

The final version of the bill divided American religious groups morally opposed to same-sex marriage; it was supported by some as a suitable compromise between the rights of LGBT couples and religious liberty, a position that was taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was prominently opposed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention due to their views on sexual ethics. Religious groups that supported the bill in support of their LGBT parishioners include the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church (USA).

117th Congress (2021–2023)

The Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in June 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In his concurrence, Justice Clarence Thomas postulated that the court should revisit other past cases which granted rights based on substantive due process, including the right of same-sex marriages from Obergefell, leading to concerns from lawmakers.

First House vote

In July 2022, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI), Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) announced the re-introduction of the Respect for Marriage Act, which was revised to include protections for interracial marriages to codify Loving v. Virginia. The Act passed the House (267–157) on July 19, 2022, with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting in the affirmative.

Senate passage

The Senate initially planned to vote on the bill before the 2022 midterm elections. However, because it was unclear whether it would receive enough votes to end debate, the consideration of the bill was delayed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. On November 14, 2022, a group of bipartisan senators, including Rob Portman (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced they had reached an amendment compromise to include language for religious protections and clarify that the bill did not legalize polygamous marriage. The amendment specifies that nonprofit religious organizations will not be required to provide services for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage. Shortly after, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he would bring the modified bill to the Senate floor.

On November 16, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on the motion to proceed (62–37) to the amended bill. All 50 Democratic senators and 12 Republicans (Roy Blunt, Richard Burr, Shelley Moore Capito, Susan Collins, Joni Ernst, Cynthia Lummis, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, Mitt Romney, Dan Sullivan, Thom Tillis, and Todd Young) voted in favor of advancing the bill.

On November 29, 2022, the Senate voted 61–36 to pass the bill. Voting in favor of the bill were 49 Democrats and the same 12 Republicans who had voted to advance it. Two Republicans (Ben Sasse and Patrick Toomey) and one Democrat (Raphael Warnock, who co-sponsored the bill) did not vote.

Second House vote

On December 8, 2022, the House passed (258–169–1) the Senate's version of the Act, with 39 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting in the affirmative.

Signing into law

On December 13, 2022, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law in a ceremony that was held on the White House lawn. Pelosi, Schumer, Harris, and Biden all spoke at the event, which also featured performances by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C, as well as musicians Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper. Gina Nortonsmith and Heidi Nortonsmith, the lesbian couple who was one of seven same-sex couples who sued the state of Massachusetts for same-sex marriage rights in the 2003 Goodridge v. Department of Public Health case, were among those who spoke at the event as well.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Marriage_Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respect_for_Marriage_Act

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On This Day: Lenape tribe land in PA swindled; no relief from 21st century courts - Sep. 20, 1737
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363877

On This Day: Jamestown burned, followed later by harsher slavery and race laws - September 19, 1676
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363789

On This Day: Sep. 18 death prophecy comes true. Seer's life spared. - in the year 96
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363670

On This Day: The Emperor of the United States comes forward - Sep. 17, 1859
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363597

On This Day: Would-be settlers sneak in early to gain land - Sep. 16, 1893
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363540

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
The Walking Purchase was a 1737 treaty between the Penn family, the original proprietors of the Province of Pennsylvania, later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Lenape native Indians. Encyclopædia Britannica refers to the treaty as a "land swindle".

A legal suit was filed almost 300 years later over the continuing dispute. In the 2004 court case, Delaware Nation v. Pennsylvania, the Delaware Tribe, one of three later federally-recognized Lenape tribes, and its descendants in the 21st century [disputed] the original so-called "purchase" in 1737, but the U.S. District Court granted the Commonwealth's motion to dismiss. It ruled that the case was nonjusticiable, even if the Delaware Nation's allegations of fraud were true. This ruling held through several appealed actions made through several levels of the United States courts of appeals. The Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear the case, thereby upholding the lower courts' decision.

[The specious "walk" described below concluded on September 20, 1737].

The District Court recounted the Delaware Nation's allegations:

Penn's sons were less interested than their father in cultivating a friendship with the Lenape. Thomas Penn, in particular, is reportedly responsible for executing The Walking Purchase of 1737, pursuant to which Thomas Penn approached the Lenape chiefs and "falsely represented an old, incomplete, unsigned draft of a deed as a legal contract." Thomas Penn represented to the Lenape chiefs that some fifty years prior, the ancestors of the Lenape had signed documents stating that the "land to be deeded to the Penns was as much as could be covered in a day-and-a-half's walk." Believing that their forefathers had made such an agreement, the Lenape Chiefs agreed to the terms of the deed and consented to the day-and-a-half walk.

The Lenape chiefs trusted that the "white men" would take a leisurely walk through the tangled Pennsylvanian forests along the Delaware River. The Lenape chiefs were not aware that they were about to lose a significant amount of land. Unbeknownst to the Lenape, Thomas Penn took measures to ensure that the distance covered by his "walkers" would be as large as possible. Among other things, Thomas Penn had a straight path cleared through the forests and hired three of the fastest runners in the province. "[H]e and his agents spent weeks mapping their route-which went northwest rather than north as the treaty specified-hacking trails out of the woods."

In addition, Thomas Penn promised that the fastest runner would receive five pounds sterling and 500 acres of land. In the end, the runners of the Walking Purchase of 1737 procured 1,200 square miles [more than 1 million acres] of Lenni Lenape land in Pennsylvania. Included in the land procured was land commonly referred to as the "Forks of the Delaware," which contained the parcel of land at the center of this dispute, "Tatamy's Place."

The Lenape complained to the King of England about the execution of the "walk" by Penn and his agents to no avail. In response, the Lenape began their movement westward in compliance with their ancestors' purported agreement to the terms of the Walking Purchase's deed. Over a hundred years later, experts examining the deed concluded it likely was a forgery. As a result of the Walking Purchase, members of the Lenape, now recognized as The Delaware Nation, were segregated into pockets or parcels of land surrounded by non-tribal settlers.

The Delaware Tribe leaders appealed for assistance to the Iroquois confederacy tribe to the north, who claimed hegemony over the Delaware River, but the Iroquois leaders decided that it was not in their best interest to intervene on behalf of their southern neighbors since Iroquois leader Captain Logan already made a deal with the Iroquois to support the colonial side. As a result, the Lenape vacated the Walking Purchase lands in present-day eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey.

Lenape chiefs Lappawinsoe, Manawkyhickon, Sassoonan, Nenatcheehunt, and others continued protesting the arrangement, since the Lenape were forced into Shamokin and Wyoming River valleys, which were already crowded with other displaced tribes. Some Lenape later moved further west into the Ohio Country in present-day Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and to southern and western regions in colonial New France in present-day Quebec. Because of the Walking Purchase, the Lenape grew to distrust the Pennsylvania government.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Purchase

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On This Day: Jamestown burned, followed later by harsher slavery and race laws - September 19, 1676
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363789

On This Day: Sep. 18 death prophecy comes true. Seer's life spared. - in the year 96
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363670

On This Day: The Emperor of the United States comes forward - Sep. 17, 1859
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363597

On This Day: Would-be settlers sneak in early to gain land - Sep. 16, 1893
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363540

On This Day: The Nazi flag becomes the exclusive national flag of Germany - Sep. 15, 1935
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363470

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia.

Thousands of Virginians from all classes (including those in indentured servitude) and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching the settlement [on September 19, 1676]. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists. Government forces arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control.

Bacon's rebellion was the first rebellion in the North American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part. The alliance between European indentured servants and Africans (a mix of indentured, enslaved, and Free Negroes) disturbed the colonial upper class.

They responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705. While the rebellion did not succeed in the initial goal of driving the Native Americans from Virginia, it did result in Berkeley being recalled to England.

Aftermath

In order for the Virginia elite to maintain the loyalty of the common planters in order to avert future rebellions, one historian commented, they "needed to lead, rather than oppose, wars meant to dispossess and destroy frontier Indians." He elaborated that this bonded the elite to the common planter in wars against Indians, their common enemy, and enabled the elites to appease free whites with land. Taylor writes, "To give servants greater hope for the future, in 1705 the assembly revived the headright system by promising each freedman fifty acres of land, a promise that obliged the government to continue taking land from the Indians."

Bacon promised his army tax breaks, predetermined wages, and freedom from indentures, "so long as they should serve under his colors." Indentured servants both black and white had joined the frontier rebellion. Seeing them united in a cause alarmed the ruling class. Historians believe the rebellion hastened the hardening of racial lines associated with slavery, as a way for planters and the colony to control some of the poor.

For example, historian Eric Foner writes, "The fear of civil war among whites frightened Virginia's ruling elite, who took steps to consolidate power and improve their image: for example, restoration of property qualifications for voting, reducing taxes, and adoption of a more aggressive American Indian policy." Some of these measures, by appeasing the poor white population, may have had the purpose of inhibiting any future unification with the enslaved black population.

Virginia Slave Codes of 1705

The Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 were a series of laws enacted by the Colony of Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1705 regulating the interactions between slaves and citizens of the crown colony of Virginia. The enactment of the Slave Codes is considered to be the consolidation of slavery in Virginia, and served as the foundation of Virginia's slave legislation.

All servants from non-Christian lands became slaves. There were forty one parts of this code each defining a different part and law surrounding the slavery in Virginia.

The laws were devised to establish a greater level of control over the rising African slave population of Virginia. It also socially segregated white colonists from black enslaved persons, making them disparate groups and hindering their ability to unite. Unity of the commoners was a perceived fear of the Virginia aristocracy, who wished to prevent repeated events such as Bacon's Rebellion, occurring 29 years prior.

Context

Before the passing of the 1705 Virginia Slave Code Act, African Americans served as indentured servants. This law, after being passed, transformed servitude into slavery, turning many African Americans from extended servitude to a bonded and forced lifetime commitment to slavery.

Short Summary of [selected] Part[s]

I : Any servant brought to the country who is Christian and above nineteen will serve until they reach twenty four.

IV: All servants brought into the country, who were not Christians in their home country with a few exceptions will be considered and treated as slaves. Even if they convert to Christianity later, they will still be bought and sold as slaves.

XI: States that no individuals, such as Negroes, mulattos, Indians, Jews, Moors, Muslims, or other non-Christians, will be allowed to purchase Christian servants. If any person from the aforementioned groups purchases a Christian white servant, that servant will automatically become free.

XV: States that no person is allowed to buy, sell, or receive any form of currency or goods from a servant or slave without the permission of their master or owner.

XVII: States that if a female servant has a child out of wedlock with a Negro or mulatto, in addition to completing her designated years of service, she must pay fifteen pounds in current Virginia currency. This is the same case, if a free Christian white woman has a child out of wedlock with a Negro or mulatto. Then the child will serve as a servant until they reach the age of thirty-one.

XIX: States that it is unlawful to intermarry between English or other white individuals and Negroes or mulattos especially if said English is freed.

XX: States that no minister of the Church of England or any other person within the colony and dominion is allowed to knowingly marry a white person with a Negro or mulatto, or vice versa.

XXXIV: If a slave resists their master, owner, or any other person who is authorized by the master or owner to correct them, and as a result, the slave is killed, it shall not be considered a felony. As well as if a negro, mulatto, or Indian, whether enslaved or free, raises a hand in opposition against a non-negro, non-mulatto, or non-Indian individual, they shall receive punishment.

XXXVIII: For every slave killed, in pursuance of this act, or put to death by law, the master or owner of such slave shall be paid by the public.

XXXIX: To determine the compensation for a slave who has been killed or put to death as mentioned earlier, it is required that the true value of the slave be assessed. The court clerk will then provide a certificate of the assessed value to the assembly along with other public claims.

XL: To ensure the proper enforcement of this act and to prevent any servants or slaves from claiming ignorance of its provisions, the church-wardens of each parish will be responsible for providing a true copy of the act and recording it in the parish register book at the expense of the parish.

Contents of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705

These codes effectively embedded the idea of slavery into law by the following devices: These codes: established new property rights for slave owners, allowed for the legal, free trade of slaves with protections granted by the courts, established separate courts of trial, prohibited slaves from going armed without written permission, whites could not be employed by any blacks, allowed for the apprehension of suspected runaways, the harboring of another person's slaves was deemed illegal, jail time for any whites who married people from the Indian or African American Descent.

White Christians, especially, were allowed to take control and advantage of African American slaves in any way they wished without any repercussions. Being white and Christian at that time was one of the most power-defining traits because it was a virtual free pass and entitlement to treat enslaved people however one wished. This also applied to the promotion of free white people to "hunt" down and capture escaped enslaved peoples, even with a reward system to promote said captures.

Non-Whites Purchasing of Slaves or Indentured Servants

Non-Whites were unable to purchase any white Christian for indentured servitude. Even if said non-whites were Christian, they could still not purchase white Christian servants, especially if they were of Indian or African American descent. If someone of these said descents were to inherit a white Christian servant, the servant would be freed.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_Rebellion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Slave_Codes_of_1705

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On This Day: Sep. 18 death prophecy comes true. Seer's life spared. - in the year 96
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363670

On This Day: The Emperor of the United States comes forward - Sep. 17, 1859
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363597

On This Day: Would-be settlers sneak in early to gain land - Sep. 16, 1893
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363540

On This Day: The Nazi flag becomes the exclusive national flag of Germany - Sep. 15, 1935
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363470

On This Day: The British Empire skips from Wed. Sep. 2 to Thu. Sep. 14 - in the year 1752
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363409

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
Larginus Proclus was a Germanic soothsayer in the 1st century AD. Using a method of divination based on interpretation of lightning, he predicted that the Roman emperor Domitian would die on a certain day [18 September 96].

He was in consequence sent by the governor of Germany to Rome, where he was condemned to death by the emperor himself. The punishment was deferred so that he could be executed after the prophesied date of death. However, Domitian was indeed assassinated on the date Larginus Proclus had prophesied, so his punishment was commuted and he was awarded 400,000 sesterces from Domitian's successor Nerva.

Assassination

Domitian was assassinated on 18 September 96 in a conspiracy by court officials. A highly detailed account of the plot and the assassination is provided by Suetonius.

He alleges that Domitian's chamberlain Parthenius played the main role in the plot, and historian John Grainger cites Parthenius' likely fear over Domitian's recent execution of Nero's former secretary Epaphroditus as a possible motive. The act itself was carried out by a freedman of Parthenius named Maximus, and a steward of Domitian's niece Flavia Domitilla, named Stephanus.

According to Suetonius, a number of omens had foretold Domitian's death. The Germanic soothsayer Larginus Proclus predicted the date of Domitian's death and was consequently sentenced to death by him.

Several days prior to the assassination, Minerva had appeared to the emperor in a dream. She announced that she had been disarmed by Jupiter and could no longer give Domitian her protection. According to an auspice he had received, the Emperor believed that his death would be at midday. As a result, he was always restless around that time.

On the day of the assassination, Domitian was distressed and repeatedly asked a servant to tell him what time it was. The servant, who was himself one of the plotters, lied to the emperor, telling him that it was already late in the afternoon. Apparently put at ease, the Emperor went to his desk to sign some decrees. Stephanus, who had been feigning an injury to his arm for several days and wearing a bandage to allow him to carry a concealed dagger, suddenly appeared:

...he pretended that he had discovered a plot, and was for that reason granted an audience: whereupon, as the amazed Domitian perused a document he had handed him, Stephanus stabbed him in the groin. The wounded Emperor put up a fight, but succumbed to seven further stabs, his assailants being a subaltern named Clodianus, Parthenius's freedman Maximus, Satur, a head-chamberlain and one of the imperial gladiators.

During the attack, Stephanus and Domitian had struggled on the floor, during which time Stephanus was stabbed by the emperor and died shortly afterward. Domitian's body was carried away on a common bier and unceremoniously cremated by his nurse Phyllis.

Later, she took the emperor's ashes to the Flavian Temple and mingled them with those of his niece, Julia. He was 44 years old. As had been foretold, his death came at midday.

Cassius Dio, writing nearly a hundred years later, suggests that the assassination was improvised, while Suetonius implies it was a well-organized conspiracy, citing Stephanus' feigned injury and claiming that the doors to the servants' quarters had been locked prior to the attack and that a sword Domitian kept concealed beneath his pillow as a last line of personal protection against a would-be assassin, had also been removed beforehand.

Dio included Domitia Longina among the conspirators, but in light of her attested devotion to Domitian—even years after her husband had died—her involvement in the plot seems highly unlikely. The precise involvement of the Praetorian Guard is unclear. One of the guard's commanders, Titus Petronius Secundus, was almost certainly aware of the plot. The other, Titus Flavius Norbanus, the former governor of Raetia, was a member of Domitian's family.

Domitian

Domitian was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. Described as "a ruthless but efficient autocrat", his authoritarian style of ruling put him at sharp odds with the Senate, whose powers he drastically curtailed.

After the death of his brother, Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard. His 15-year reign was the longest since that of Tiberius. As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the border defenses of the empire, and initiated a massive building program to restore the damaged city of Rome.

Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia (Scotland), and in Dacia, where Domitian was unable to procure a decisive victory against King Decebalus. Domitian's government exhibited strong authoritarian characteristics. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, and by nominating himself perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals.

As a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and the army, but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate. Domitian's reign came to an end in 96 when he was assassinated by court officials. He was succeeded the same day by his advisor Nerva. After his death, Domitian's memory was condemned to oblivion by the Senate, while senatorial and equestrian authors such as Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Suetonius propagated the view of Domitian as a cruel and paranoid tyrant. Modern revisionists instead have characterized Domitian as a ruthless but efficient autocrat whose cultural, economic, and political programs provided the foundation of the peaceful second century.

Accession [of Nerva]

On 18 September 96, Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy organised by court officials.The Fasti Ostienses, the Ostian Calendar, records that the same day the Senate proclaimed Marcus Cocceius Nerva emperor. This was the first time the Roman Senate actually chose a new emperor rather than simply ratifying formally a choice made by either a previous emperor in his testament or an army or the Praetorian Guard.

Despite his political experience, this was a remarkable choice. Nerva was old and childless, and had spent much of his career out of the public light, prompting both ancient and modern authors to speculate on his involvement in Domitian's assassination, although his probable lack of involvement would have made him acceptable to the Domitianic faction.

According to Cassius Dio, the conspirators approached Nerva as a potential successor prior to the assassination, which indicates that he was at least aware of the plot. Suetonius by contrast does not mention Nerva, but he may have omitted his role out of tactfulness. Considering the works of Suetonius were published under Nerva's direct descendants Trajan and Hadrian, it would have been less than sensitive of him to suggest the dynasty owed its accession to murder.

On the other hand, Nerva lacked widespread support in the Empire, and as a known Flavian loyalist his track record would not have recommended him to the conspirators. The precise facts have been obscured by history, but modern historians believe Nerva was proclaimed Emperor solely on the initiative of the Senate, within hours after the news of the assassination broke. Although he appeared to be an unlikely candidate on account of his age and weak health, Nerva was considered a safe choice precisely because he was old and childless.

Furthermore, he had close connections with the Flavian dynasty and commanded the respect of a substantial part of the Senate. Nerva had seen the anarchy which had resulted from the death of Nero; he knew that to hesitate even for a few hours could lead to violent civil conflict.

Rather than decline the invitation and risk revolts, he accepted. The decision may have been hasty so as to avoid civil war, but neither the Senate nor Nerva appears to have been involved in the conspiracy against Domitian.

Following the accession of Nerva as emperor, the Senate passed damnatio memoriae on Domitian: his statues were melted, his arches were torn down and his name was erased from all public records. In many instances, existing portraits of Domitian, such as those found on the Cancelleria Reliefs, were simply recarved to fit the likeness of Nerva. This allowed quick production of new images and recycling of previous material.
"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larginus_Proclus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerva

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On This Day: The Emperor of the United States comes forward - Sep. 17, 1859
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363597

On This Day: Would-be settlers sneak in early to gain land - Sep. 16, 1893
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363540

On This Day: The Nazi flag becomes the exclusive national flag of Germany - Sep. 15, 1935
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363470

On This Day: The British Empire skips from Wed. Sep. 2 to Thu. Sep. 14 - in the year 1752
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363409

On This Day: French rule in North America in tatters, as Quebec falls - Sep. 13, 1759
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363253

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
On September 17, 1859, [Joshua] Norton hand-delivered the following letter, declaring himself "Emperor of these United States", to the offices of the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin:

At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last 9 years and 10 months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall, of this city, on the 1st day of February next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.

— NORTON I., Emperor of the United States.

The paper printed the letter in that evening's edition, for humorous effect, and thus began Norton's whimsical 21-year "reign" over the United States.

Norton had no formal political power, but was treated deferentially in San Francisco nevertheless, and currency issued in his name was honored in some of the establishments he frequented. Some considered Norton to be insane or eccentric, but residents of San Francisco and the city's larger Northern California orbit enjoyed his imperial presence and took note of his frequent newspaper proclamations.

Though Norton received free ferry and train passage and a variety of favors, such as help with rent and free meals, from well-placed friends and sympathizers, the city's merchants also capitalized on his notoriety by selling souvenirs bearing his image. "San Francisco lived off the Emperor Norton," Norton's biographer William Drury wrote, "not Norton off San Francisco".

On January 8, 1880, Norton collapsed at the corner of California and Dupont (now Grant) streets and died before he could be given medical treatment. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, upwards of 10,000 people lined the streets of San Francisco to pay him homage at his funeral. Norton has been immortalized as the basis of characters in the literature of Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, [and others].

[Prior life]

Norton was born in England but spent most of his early life in South Africa. Leaving Cape Town, probably in late 1845, he arrived in Boston, via Liverpool, in March 1846 and San Francisco in late 1849. For the first few years after arriving in San Francisco, Norton made a successful living as a commodities trader and real estate speculator. However, he was financially ruined following a failed bid to corner the rice market during a shortage prompted by a famine in China. He then lost a protracted lawsuit in which he tried to void his rice contract, and his local prominence faded.

Imperial acts

Norton issued numerous decrees on matters of state. Norton spent most of his daylight hours inspecting the streets, spending time in parks and libraries, and paying visits to newspaper offices and old friends in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. In the evenings, he often was seen at political gatherings or at theatrical or musical performances.

He wore an elaborate blue uniform with gold-plated epaulettes, at some time given to him secondhand by officers of the United States Army post at the Presidio of San Francisco. He embellished that with a variety of accoutrements, including a beaver hat decorated with a peacock or ostrich feathers and a rosette, a walking stick and an umbrella. In the course of his rounds, he took note of the condition of the sidewalks and cable cars, the state of repair of public property, and the appearance of police officers. He also often had conversations on the issues of the day with those he encountered.

Norton issued his own money in the form of scrip, or promissory notes, which were accepted from him by some restaurants in San Francisco. The notes came in denominations between fifty cents and ten dollars, and the few surviving ones are collector's items that routinely sell for more than $10,000 at auction.

[Various decrees]

Norton issued a decree on October 12, 1859, to formally abolish the United States Congress. In it, he observed:

fraud and corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice; that open violation of the laws are constantly occurring, caused by mobs, parties, factions and undue influence of political sects; that the citizen has not that protection of person and property which he is entitled.

Norton issued a mandate in 1862 ordering both the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches to publicly ordain him as "Emperor", hoping to resolve the many disputes that had resulted in the Civil War.

Norton then turned his attention to other matters, both political and social. In a proclamation dated August 12, 1869, and published in the San Francisco Daily Herald, he declared the abolition of the Democratic and Republican parties, explaining that he was "desirous of allaying the dissensions of party strife now existing within our realm."

The failure to treat Norton's adopted home city with appropriate respect was the subject of a particularly stern edict that often is cited as having been written by Norton in 1872, although evidence is elusive for the authorship, date, or source of this decree:

Whoever after due and proper warning shall be heard to utter the abominable word "Frisco", which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor, and shall pay into the Imperial Treasury as penalty the sum of twenty-five dollars.

Norton was occasionally a visionary, and some of his imperial decrees exhibited profound foresight. He is said to have issued instructions to form a League of Nations, he explicitly forbade any form of conflict between religions or their sects, and he issued several decrees calling for the construction of a suspension bridge or tunnel connecting Oakland and San Francisco.

Foreign diplomacy

Throughout his reign, Norton commented on the policies and actions of foreign governments, issuing proclamations and sending letters to foreign leaders in attempts to establish congenial and fruitful relations with them and their countries and, if he felt it necessary, to cajole better behavior.

In 1862, Mexico was invaded by French Emperor Napoleon III after not being able to pay war reparations following the disastrous Reform War. Napoleon installed the Habsburg Maximilian I as his puppet ruler. That news quickly reached the United States and a man in San Francisco suggested that Emperor Norton take the title "Protector of Mexico", both because no-one had been appointed protector, and because of a popular legend stating Norton was the son of Napoleon III. Norton happily obliged, adding the title to many of his proclamations, but he later would revoke the title, stating, "It is impossible to protect such an unsettled nation".

Norton wrote many letters to Queen Victoria, including a suggestion that they marry to strengthen ties between their nations. That proved futile because the queen never responded.

Norton also sent a number of letters to Kamehameha V, the King of Hawaii at the time, regarding an estate in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Near the end of his reign, Kamehameha would refuse to recognize the democratic U.S. government, instead opting to only recognize Norton as sole leader of the United States.

In popular culture

Details of Norton's life story may have been forgotten, but he has been immortalized in literature. Mark Twain resided in San Francisco during part of Emperor Norton's public life, and modeled the character of the King in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on him. Robert Louis Stevenson made Norton a character in his 1892 novel, The Wrecker. Stevenson's stepdaughter Isobel Osbourne mentioned Norton in her autobiography, This Life I've Loved, stating that he "was a gentle and kindly man, and fortunately found himself in the friendliest and most sentimental city in the world, the idea being 'let him be emperor if he wants to.' San Francisco played the game with him."

In more modern times, the life of Emperor Norton is the inspiration for L'Empereur Smith, a Lucky Luke comic book adventure published in 1976. Norton also appears as a character in the comic book The Sandman, Vol. 2, No. 31, "Three Septembers and a January", by Neil Gaiman and Shawn McManus, and is voiced by John Lithgow in the audio book version of the comic. He appeared briefly in Captain America Comics #11.

There have been a number of television adaptations of the Norton story. In the June 15, 1956, episode of the western anthology series Death Valley Days, titled "Emperor Norton", Parker Garvie played the title character. In the February 27, 1966, episode of the western television series Bonanza, titled "The Emperor Norton", Sam Jaffe played the title role.

Since 1974, the Imperial Council of San Francisco has been conducting an annual pilgrimage to Norton's grave in Colma, California, just outside San Francisco. In January 1980, ceremonies were conducted in San Francisco to honor the 100th anniversary of the death of "the one and only Emperor of the United States".

The Emperor Norton Trust, founded and based in San Francisco from 2013 to 2019, and originally known as The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, is a non-profit that engages in research, education, and advocacy to advance the legacy of Emperor Norton.

[Even more about Emperor Norton in popular culture]

[the second link below contains extensive information, organized as follows:]

Literature
Biography and nonfiction
Novels, stories and plays
Comic book series
Role-playing games
Music
Operas, musicals and songs
Ensembles and bands
Television
Film
Radio
Comedy and comic strips
Internet
Blogs
Video games
Food
LGBT
Emperor Norton performers
Groups that hold Emperor Norton as a patron saint
Fraternal
Religion
Annual celebrations

Public tributes

There have been perennial efforts to name major public San Francisco landmarks after Emperor Norton or to enact other permanent local tributes to him.

In February 2023, San Francisco Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin introduced a resolution to add "Emperor Norton Place" as a commemorative name for the 600 block of Commercial Street. The resolution was adopted by the Supervisors, and approved by Mayor London Breed in April 2023, with signage installed in early May.
"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton_in_popular_culture

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On This Day: Would-be settlers sneak in early to gain land - Sep. 16, 1893
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363540

On This Day: The Nazi flag becomes the exclusive national flag of Germany - Sep. 15, 1935
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363470

On This Day: The British Empire skips from Wed. Sep. 2 to Thu. Sep. 14 - in the year 1752
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363409

On This Day: French rule in North America in tatters, as Quebec falls - Sep. 13, 1759
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363253

On This Day: Ship of Gold sinks with 425 souls and 30,000 pounds of gold - Sep. 12, 1857
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363171

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
The Land Run of September 16, 1893 was known as the Cherokee Strip Land Run. It opened 8,144,682.91 acres (12,726 square miles or about 3.3 million hectares) to settlement. The land was purchased from the Cherokees. It was the largest land run in U.S. history, four times larger than the Land Rush of 1889.

It was part of what would later become the U.S. state of Oklahoma in 1907.

[Supposed to start at noon]

The Land Run itself began at noon on September 16, 1893, with an estimated 100,000 participants hoping to stake claim to part of the 6 million acres and 40,000 homesteads on what had formerly been Cherokee grazing land. It would be Oklahoma's fourth and largest land run.

Four land offices for the run were specially set up to handle the event – in Perry, Enid, Woodward, and Alva. Infantry troops were stationed at those sites in an attempt to maintain order, while Cavalry troops were stationed at encampments near Alva, Bluff Creek, Chilocco, Clear Creek, Hennessey, Pond Creek, South Wharton, and Waynoka.

Despite that, 'Sooners' – those who started before the designated time – still managed to sneak in and secure some of the best locations, especially in the eastern third of the Outlet and at many of the townsites. With demand for the land far outstripping that which was available, a majority of the participants did not actually secure a claim for themselves.

Sooners

Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, were to be opened to American settlement in 1889. President Benjamin Harrison officially proclaimed the Unassigned Lands open to settlement on April 22, 1889. As people lined up around the borders of the Oklahoma District, they waited for the official opening. It was not until noon that it officially was opened to settlement. The name derived from the "sooner clause" of Proclamation 288 — Opening to Settlement Certain Lands in the Indian Territory, which stated that anyone who entered and occupied the land prior to the opening time would be denied the right to claim land.

The designation "Sooner" initially had a very negative connotation. While "Boomers" were merely expressing "pioneer spirit" in their desire to take and settle former Indian territory, Sooners were essentially stealing from other white settlers by cheating on the claim requirements to get better land.

However, these negative connotations rapidly cooled as time passed after 1889 and land claims were settled. By the time of statehood, Sooner had become an affectionate term for Oklahomans as a whole with a whiff of rebellion. In 1908, the University of Oklahoma football team adopted the nickname "Sooners". The U.S. state of Oklahoma has been popularly nicknamed the "Sooner State" since the 1920s.

[Some Sooners would hide in ditches]

Sooners were often deputy marshals, land surveyors, railroad employees, and others who were able to legally enter the territory early. Sooners who crossed into the territory illegally at night were originally called "moonshiners" because they had entered "by the light of the moon." These Sooners would hide in ditches at night and suddenly appear to stake their claim after the land run started, hours ahead of legal settlers.

Relationship with Boomers

The term Boomer relating to Oklahoma refers to participants in the "Boomer Movement," white settlers who believed the Unassigned Lands were public property and open to anyone for settlement, not just Native American tribes. Their reasoning came from a clause in the Homestead Act of 1862, which said that any settler could claim 160 acres (0.65 km2) of public land. Some Boomers entered and were removed more than once by the United States Army.

Those who actually observed the official start of the land run and began the race for free land often found choice sections of land already occupied by Sooners or, in some cases, by Boomers. Problems with Sooners continued with each successive land run; in an 1895 land run as much as half of the available land was taken by Sooners. Litigation between legitimate land-run participants and Sooners continued well into the 20th century, and eventually the United States Department of the Interior was given ultimate authority to settle the disputes.

Cherokee Outlet

The Cherokee Outlet was one of three areas the Cherokee Nation had acquired after resettlement to lands in present-day eastern Oklahoma in 1835 as part of the Treaty of New Echota.

After the issuance of Benjamin Harrison's Presidential Proclamation, which forbade all grazing leases in the Cherokee Outlet after October 2 of 1890 effectively eliminated tribal profits from cattle leases, the Cherokee came to an agreement to sell these lands to the government at a price ranging from $1.40 to $2.50 per acre the following year. Part of their agreement was that individual Cherokees were permitted to establish claims in the Outlet, an option many of them took advantage of.

At the same time, droughts, sharply declining agricultural prices, and the Panic of 1893 precipitated many to begin gathering in Kansas's boomer camps. Tension was high as the numbers of potential settlers waiting in tents or makeshift dwellings increased in the anticipation running up to the opening up of the last large remaining portion of tillable land that still remained in the public domain.

Aftermath

The counties of Kay, Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble, and Pawnee were named following the run. Prior to the run, these seven counties had been assigned the letters K through Q, respectively. Upon Oklahoma's statehood in 1907, four additional counties — Alfalfa, Ellis, Harper, and Major — were created in the Cherokee Outlet using existing land from Woods, Kay, and Woodward counties.

While there were certainly success stories, not all land claimants found prosperity. Despite the opportunity afforded by free land, many of the new towns were overbuilt, while some farmers found their land claims unsuitable for farming, resulting in many claims being abandoned by the end of the year.
"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Run_of_1893
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooners
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_run

---------------------------------------------------------

On This Day: The Nazi flag becomes the exclusive national flag of Germany - Sep. 15, 1935
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363470

On This Day: The British Empire skips from Wed. Sep. 2 to Thu. Sep. 14 - in the year 1752
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363409

On This Day: French rule in North America in tatters, as Quebec falls - Sep. 13, 1759
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363253

On This Day: Ship of Gold sinks with 425 souls and 30,000 pounds of gold - Sep. 12, 1857
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363171

On This Day: "The other 9/11" - coup, followed by reign of violence - Chile, Sep. 11, 1973
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363061

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
After the Nazi Party came to power on 30 January 1933, the black-red-gold flag was banned; a ruling on 12 March established two legal flags: the reintroduced black-white-red imperial tricolour national flag and the flag of the Nazi Party.

On 15 September 1935, one year after the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg and Hitler's elevation to the position of Führer, the dual flag arrangement was ended, with the exclusive use of the Nazi flag as the national flag of Germany. One reason may have been the "Bremen incident" of 26 July 1935, in which a group of demonstrators in New York City boarded the ocean liner SS Bremen, tore the Nazi Party flag from the jackstaff, and tossed it into the Hudson River.

When the German ambassador protested, US officials responded that the German national flag had not been harmed, only a political party symbol. The new flag law  was announced at the annual party rally in Nuremberg, where Hermann Göring claimed the old black-white-red flag, while honoured, was the symbol of a bygone era and under threat of being used by "reactionaries".

The design of the Nazi flag was introduced by Hitler as the party flag in mid-1920, roughly a year before (29 July 1921) he became his political party's leader: a flag with a red background, a white disk and a black swastika in the middle. In Mein Kampf, Hitler explained the process by which the Nazi flag design was created: It was necessary to use the same colours as Imperial Germany, because in Hitler's opinion they were "revered colours expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honour to the German nation." The most important requirement was that "the new flag ... should prove effective as a large poster" because "in hundreds of thousands of cases a really striking emblem may be the first cause of awakening interest in a movement." Nazi propaganda clarified the symbolism of the flag: the red colour stood for the social, white for the movement's national thinking and the swastika for the victory of Aryan humanity and the victory of productive humanity.

An off-centred disk version of the swastika flag was used as the civil ensign on German-registered civilian ships and was used as the jack on Kriegsmarine (the name of the German Navy, 1933–1945) warships. The flags for use on sea had a through and through image, so the reverse side had a "left-facing" swastika; the national flag was right-facing on both sides.

From 1933 to at least 1938, the Nazis sometimes "sanctified" swastika flags by touching them with the Blutfahne (blood flag), the swastika flag used by Nazi paramilitaries during the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. This ceremony took place at every Nuremberg Rally. It is unknown whether this tradition was continued after the last Nuremberg rally in 1938.

At the end of World War II, the first law enacted by the Allied Control Council abolished all Nazi symbols and repealed all relevant laws. The possession of swastika flags is forbidden in several countries since then, with the importation or display of them forbidden particularly in Germany.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany#Nazi_Germany_and_World_War_II_(1933%E2%80%931945)

(edited from article)
"
[Anti-Semitic Description in Mein Kampf]

In 1920, Adolf Hitler decided that the Nazi Party needed its own insignia and flag. For Hitler, the new flag had to be “a symbol of our own struggle” as well as “highly effective as a poster.” On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, this flag became the official emblem of the Nazi Party. In Mein Kampf, Hitler described the Nazis' new flag: “In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic.”
"
https://www.si.edu/object/nmah_1357427

(edited from article)
"
Hate on Display

The flag of Nazi Germany has become one of the most potent hate symbols worldwide. It consists of a black swastika in a white circle over a red background (the colors are the same as the Imperial German flag). Originally developed as the flag of the Nazi Party in 1920, it also became the flag of Germany itself after the Nazis took power in 1933. Various elements of the Nazi government and Nazi Party developed many variations and forms of the basic Nazi flag.

Since World War II, white supremacists, especially neo-Nazis, have adopted the Nazi flag and its variants for their own. In countries where the Nazi flag is specifically prohibited, such as Germany, neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist groups often try to get around the ban by substituting some other symbol for the swastika. Such variations often occur even in places like the United States, where the original Nazi flag is legal.
"
https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/nazi-party-flag

---------------------------------------------------------

On This Day: The British Empire skips from Wed. Sep. 2 to Thu. Sep. 14 - in the year 1752
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363409

On This Day: French rule in North America in tatters, as Quebec falls - Sep. 13, 1759
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363253

On This Day: Ship of Gold sinks with 425 souls and 30,000 pounds of gold - Sep. 12, 1857
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363171

On This Day: "The other 9/11" - coup, followed by reign of violence - Chile, Sep. 11, 1973
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363061

On This Day: The Lattimer massacre, a turning point for mine workers - Sep. 10, 1897
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363027

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
Through enactment of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, Great Britain and its possessions (including parts of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, by which time it was necessary to correct by 11 days. Wednesday, 2 September 1752, was followed by Thursday, 14 September 1752.

Adoption of the Gregorian Calendar

The adoption of the Gregorian Calendar was an event in the early modern history of most cultures and societies, marking a change from their traditional (or "old style" ) dating system to the modern (or "new style" ) dating system – the Gregorian calendar – that is widely used around the world today. Some states adopted the new calendar from 1582, some did not do so before the early twentieth century, and others did so at various dates between. A number of jurisdictions continue to use a different civil calendar. For many the new style calendar is only used for civil purposes and the old style calendar remains used in religious contexts.

The Gregorian calendar was decreed in 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas by Pope Gregory XIII, to correct an error in the Julian calendar that was causing erroneous calculation of the date of Easter. The Julian calendar had been based upon a year lasting 365.25 days, but this was slightly too long; in reality it is about 365.2422 days, and so over the centuries, the calendar was increasingly out of alignment with the earth's orbit. The average year in the Gregorian calendar is 365.2425 days.

Although Gregory's reform was enacted in the most solemn of forms available to the Church, the bull had no authority beyond the Catholic Church and the Papal States. The changes he was proposing were changes to the civil calendar, over which he had no formal authority. They required adoption by the civil authorities in each country to have legal effect. The bull became the canon law of the Catholic Church in 1582, but it was not recognised by Protestant churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, and a few others. Consequently, the days on which Easter (and related events in the Liturgical calendar) were celebrated by different Christian churches diverged.

Adoption in Catholic countries [mostly in 1582]

Catholic states such as France, the Italian principalities, Poland–Lithuania, Spain (along with her European and overseas possessions), Portugal, and the Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire were first to change to the Gregorian calendar. Thursday, 4 October 1582, was followed by Friday, 15 October 1582, with ten days skipped. Countries which did not change until the 18th century had by then observed an additional leap year (1700), necessitating the dropping of eleven days. Some countries did not change until the 19th or 20th century, necessitating one or two further days to be omitted from the calendar.

Other Catholic countries soon followed.

Adoption in Protestant countries

Many Protestant countries initially objected to adopting a Catholic innovation; some Protestants feared the new calendar was part of a plot to return them to the Catholic fold.

The Lutheran Duchy of Prussia was the first Protestant state to adopt the Gregorian calendar. Under influence of its liege lord, the King of Poland, it agreed in 1611 to do so.

Denmark-Norway adopted the Gregorian calculation of Easter in 1774.

The European colonies of the Americas adopted the change when their mother countries did. New France and New Spain had adopted the new calendar in 1582. The Gregorian calendar was applied in the British colonies in Canada and the future United States east of the Appalachian Mountains in 1752.

Alaska remained on the Julian calendar along with the rest of Russia until 1867, when it was sold to the United States. At noon on Saturday, 7 October 1867 (Julian), the date changed to Friday, 18 October 1867 (Gregorian). Although the Julian calendar was 12 days behind the Gregorian calendar, only 11 days were skipped because Alaska also moved from the European side of the International Date Line to the American side.

Adoption in Eastern Europe

Many of the countries of eastern Europe were Eastern Orthodox or Islamic and adopted the Gregorian calendar much later than western Christian countries. The switch to the Gregorian calendar for secular use occurred in Eastern Orthodox countries as late as the 20th century – and some religious groups in some of these countries still use the "old style" (O.S.) Julian calendar for ecclesiastical purposes.

Adoption in East Asia

Japan, Korea, and China started using the Gregorian calendar on 1 January 1873, 1 January 1896, and 1 January 1912, respectively.

[In China], the public, however, resisted the change and continued to observe traditional holidays.

Islamic calendar

The Islamic calendar is a lunar one, so that there are twelve lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days, being 11 days shorter than a solar year. Consequently, holy days in Islam migrate around the solar year on a 32-year cycle. Some countries in the Islamic world use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, while retaining the Islamic calendar for religious purposes. For example, Saudi Arabia adopted the Gregorian calendar for the purpose of paying public sector staff effective 1 October 2016.

Present situation

The four countries which have not adopted the Gregorian calendar are Ethiopia, Nepal, Iran and Afghanistan.

Some countries use other calendars alongside the Gregorian calendar, including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Israel and Myanmar, and other countries use a modified version of the Gregorian calendar, including Thailand, Japan, North Korea and Taiwan.

While many religious organizations reckon their liturgical year by the Gregorian civil calendar, others have retained their own calendars. Alternative calendars are used in many regions of the world today to mark cycles of religious and astrological events.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_of_the_Gregorian_calendar

---------------------------------------------------------

On This Day: French rule in North America in tatters, as Quebec falls - Sep. 13, 1759
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363253

On This Day: Ship of Gold sinks with 425 souls and 30,000 pounds of gold - Sep. 12, 1857
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363171

On This Day: "The other 9/11" - coup, followed by reign of violence - Chile, Sep. 11, 1973
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363061

On This Day: The Lattimer massacre, a turning point for mine workers - Sep. 10, 1897
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363027

On This Day: United States buys New Mexico land from State of Texas - Sep. 9, 1850
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016362955

Later, the French try to take Quebec back, and almost succeed, but fail in the end.
The French troops then fall back to Montreal, but lose to a coordinated British attack.

(edited from Wikipedia)

"The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War. The battle, which began on 13 September 1759, was fought on a plateau by the British Army and Royal Navy against the French Army, just outside the walls of Quebec City. The battle involved fewer than 10,000 troops in total, but proved to be a deciding moment in the conflict between France and Britain over the fate of New France.

The culmination of a three-month siege by the British, the battle lasted about an hour. British troops commanded by General James Wolfe successfully resisted the column advance of French troops and Canadian militia under General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm. Both generals were mortally wounded during the battle; Wolfe died of gunshot wounds just as the French began to retreat and Montcalm died the next morning after receiving a musket ball wound just below his ribs. In the wake of the battle, the French evacuated the city.

The French forces would attempt to recapture Quebec the following spring, and in the Battle of Sainte-Foy, they forced the British to retreat within the walls. However, the French would never retake the city and, in 1763, France ceded most of its possessions in eastern North America to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris.

The decisive success of the British forces on the Plains of Abraham and the subsequent capture of Quebec became part of what was known in Great Britain as the "Annus Mirabilis" [wonderful year] of 1759.

Aftermath

In the wake of the battle [of Quebec], a state of confusion spread through the French troops. [The French Governor], de Vaudreuil, decided to abandon Quebec, ordering all of his forces to march west, leaving the garrison in Quebec under the command of Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay.

Meanwhile, the British settled in to besiege the city in conjunction with [the British] fleet [on scene]. Within days, on 18 September, [the combatants] signed the Articles of Capitulation of Quebec and the city was turned over to British control. The remaining French forces positioned themselves on the Jacques-Cartier River west of the city. The British Navy was forced to leave the St. Lawrence shortly after the capture of Quebec, lest pack ice close the mouth of the river.

The next April, before the ice left the rivers, the Chevalier de Lévis, Montcalm's successor as French commander, marched his 7,000 troops to Quebec. James Murray, the British commander, had experienced a terrible winter, in which scurvy had reduced his garrison to only 4,000.

On 28 April, Lévis' forces met and defeated the British at the Battle of Sainte-Foy, immediately west of the city (near the site of Université Laval today). This battle proved bloodier than that of the Plains of Abraham, with about 850 casualties on the French side and 1,100 on the British side. The French had defeated the British, but the British were able to withdraw within the walls of Quebec, to which the French laid siege.

A lack of artillery and ammunition, combined with British improvements to the fortifications, meant that the French were unable to take the city by storm. Both sides awaited reinforcements from Europe. The first ships to arrive, in mid-May, were part of a British fleet which had defeated Levis' support ships.

The [possible] success of the French army's offensive against Quebec in the spring of 1760 depended on the dispatch of a French armada, with fresh troops and supplies. [However], a naval battle fought at Quiberon Bay, just off the coast of France, proved the decisive battle. The Royal Navy destroyed the French fleet, meaning France could not send a reserve force to save New France.

Montreal

The Montreal campaign, also known as the fall of Montreal, was a British three-pronged offensive against Montreal which took place from July 2 to 8 September 1760. The campaign, pitted against an outnumbered and outsupplied French army. At Montréal, Lévis and 2,000 troops were confronted with 17,000 British troops.

The French capitulated, and the British took possession of Montreal, the largest remaining city in New France.

France formally ceded to the British in the Treaty of Paris, signed 10 February 1763.
"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Plains_of_Abraham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_campaign

---------------------------------------------------------

On This Day: Ship of Gold sinks with 425 souls and 30,000 pounds of gold - Sep. 12, 1857
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363171

On This Day: "The other 9/11" - coup, followed by reign of violence - Chile, Sep. 11, 1973
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363061

On This Day: The Lattimer massacre, a turning point for mine workers - Sep. 10, 1897
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016363027

On This Day: United States buys New Mexico land from State of Texas - Sep. 9, 1850
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016362955

On This Day: Deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history claims 6-12,000 lives - Sep. 8, 1900
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016362847

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
SS Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, was a 280-foot (85 m) sidewheel steamer that operated between Central America and the East Coast of the United States during the 1850s. The ship sank in a hurricane in September 1857, along with 425 of her 578 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg) of gold, contributing to the Panic of 1857.

Sinking

On September 3, 1857, 477 passengers and 101 crew left the City of Aspinwall, now the Panamanian port of Colón, sailing for New York City under the command of William Lewis Herndon. The ship was laden with 10 short tons (9.1 t) of gold prospected during the California Gold Rush. After a stop in Havana, the ship continued north.

On September 9, 1857, the ship was caught up in a Category 2 hurricane while off the coast of the Carolinas. By September 11, the 105 mph winds and heavy seas had shredded her sails, she was taking on water, and her boiler was threatening to fail. A leak in one of the seals between the paddle wheel shafts and the ship's sides sealed its fate. At noon that day, her boiler could no longer maintain fire. Steam pressure dropped, shutting down both the bilge pumps. Also, the paddle wheels that kept her pointed into the wind failed as the ship settled by the stern. The passengers and crew flew the ship's flag inverted (a distress sign in the US) to signal a passing ship. No one came.

A bucket brigade was formed, and her passengers and crew spent the night fighting a losing battle against the rising water. During the calm of the hurricane, attempts were made to get the boiler running again, but these failed. The second half of the storm then struck. The ship was now on the verge of foundering. Without power, the ship was carried along with the storm and the strong winds would not abate. The next morning, September 12, two ships were spotted, including the brig Marine. Only 100 passengers, primarily women and children, made their way over in lifeboats. The ship remained in an area of intense winds and heavy seas that pulled the ship and most of her company away from rescue. Central America sank at 8:00 that evening. As a consequence of the sinking, 425 people were killed. A Norwegian bark, Ellen, rescued an additional 50 from the waters. Another three were picked up over a week later, in a lifeboat.

Aftermath

In the immediate aftermath of the sinking, greatest attention was paid to the loss of life, which was described as "appalling" and as having "no parallel" among American navigation disasters. At the time of her sinking, Central America carried gold then valued at approximately US$8,000,000 (2021 value of $765 million, based on a gold price of $1,738.70 per troy ounce = $56,087 per kg).

Commander William Lewis Herndon, a distinguished officer who had served during the Mexican–American War and explored the Amazon Valley, was captain of Central America, and went down with his ship. Two US Navy ships were later named USS Herndon in his honor, as was the town of Herndon, Virginia. Two years after the sinking, his daughter Ellen married Chester Alan Arthur, later the 21st President of the United States.

Discovery of wreck and recovery of gold and artifacts

The ship was located by the Columbus-America Discovery Group of Ohio, led by Tommy Gregory Thompson, using Bayesian search theory. A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was sent down on September 11, 1988. Significant amounts of gold and artifacts were recovered and brought to the surface by another ROV built specifically for the recovery. The total value of the recovered gold was estimated at $100–150 million. A recovered gold ingot weighing 80 lb (36 kg) sold for a record $8 million and was recognized as the most valuable piece of currency in the world at that time. The Columbus-America Discovery Group's eventual discovery of the wreckage may have been spurred on by initial interest by Harry John, an heir to the Miller Brewing Company fortune who near the end of his life launched unsuccessful, haphazard treasure hunts funded by a supposedly charitable foundation he had run for decades.

Legal issues

Thirty-nine insurance companies filed suit, claiming that because they paid damages in the 19th century for the lost gold, they had the right to it. The team that found it argued that the gold had been abandoned. After a legal battle, 92% of the gold was awarded to the discovery team in 1996.

Thompson was sued in 2005 by several of the investors who had provided $12.5 million in financing, and in 2006 by several members of his crew, over a lack of returns for their respective investments. Thompson went into hiding in 2012. A receiver was appointed to take over Thompson's companies and, if possible, salvage more gold from the wreck, in order to recover money for Thompson's various creditors.

Thompson was located in January 2015, by United States Marshals Service agents and was extradited to Ohio to provide an accounting of the expedition profits. In November 2018, Thompson agreed to surrender 500 gold coins, but then claimed he had no access to the missing coins. On November 28, 2018, a jury awarded Investors $19.4 million in compensatory damages.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Central_America

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