Paul Brandus - This Day in Presidential History

January

1801 : The White House celebrated its first New Years Day with a reception hosted by President John Adams and his wife Abigail (the term First Lady would not be used until decades later). Dinner was served and guests were entertained by the U.S. Marine Band. It was the White House debut of the bandthe Presidents Ownwhich consisted of eight to ten musicians.

Adams, the second U.S. president and the first to live in the White House, had only been a resident there for two monthsbut was already a lame duck, having been beaten by Thomas Jefferson in the nasty election of 1800. And the White House itself, still unfinished, wasnt even called the White House: in those days it was referred to as the Presidents Palace, Presidential Mansion, or Presidents House. Builtlargely by slavesbetween 1792 and 1800 at a cost of $232,000 (about $75 million today), the imposing mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be the largest residence in the United States until after the Civil War.

1802 : Thomas Jeffersons Danbury Letter. In one of the most important letters ever written by a president, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the First Amendment to the Constitution created a wall of separation between church and state.

A group of Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, had written him to complain that because their state had an official religionthe colony of Connecticut had been founded by Calvinist Protestantsit was an infringement upon their own religious liberty. What religious privileges we enjoy, they told Jefferson, we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights.

Jefferson sympathized with the Connecticut Baptists, writing that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship. By noting the First Amendment, Jefferson was saying that the federal government had no right to legislate, or get involved in, anyones religious views. But it did not prevent states from having official churches. Connecticut eventually did away with its official religion in 1818.

1863 : President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, liberating slaves held in the rebellious states. The proclamation also allowed black men to fight for the Unionas war casualties mounted, every man was needed. On April 13, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed, formally abolishing slavery. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction, it stated. It was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865.

1942 : Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Declaration of the United Nations . The president and leaders from twenty-five other countries fighting the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan pledged that America and the Allied nations allies would use their full resources to defeat Hitlerism, which was identified as a threat to life and human rights. The term United Nations would be extended after the war to 1946 world organization.

Quote of the Day

I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.

Abraham Lincoln, on signing the Emancipation Proclamation

The White House has been home to a head of statethe president of the United Stateslonger than kings and queens have resided in Londons Buckingham Palace. John Adams moved into the White House on November 1, 1800thirty-seven years before Buckingham Palace became the official residence of the British monarch.

January

1974 : Richard M. Nixon lowered the speed limit to save gas. As the United States reeled under a crippling Arab oil embargowhich caused shortages of gasoline nationwidethe president signed a bill lowering the U.S. speed limit to 55 mph. In late 1973, as the embargo began to hurt the U.S. economy, he asked Americans to drive less and for gas stations to close for twenty-seven hours on weekends. Nixon also called for limits on commercial air travel, and during the holidays urged citizens not to hang Christmas lights.

1980 : Jimmy Carter told the Soviet Union Nyet. Outraged over the Soviet invasion of Afgha nista n, the president asked the Senate to postpone deliberation of SALT IIa nuclear arms control treatywith the Kremlin. He also ordered the American ambassador at Moscow, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., home. Carters actions sent a signal to the Soviets that dtentethe era of friendlier political and economic relations that had begun during the Nixon administration was over.