Shays Rebellion kicked off 232 years ago today - August 29, 1786

It was 232 years ago today - barely 10 years after the revolutionary war began in 1776 - that the first major rebellion (revolution) shook colonial America.  On August 29, 1786, protesters shut down the court house in Northampton, Massachusetts, and prevented it from conducting its normal business. 

Shays' Rebellion, as it would come to called, set in motion a number of things - not least of which the Constitutional Convention that would do away with the Articles of Confederation and replace them with the Constitution that we have today.

Why am I posting about Shays' Rebellion, apart for the arbitrary anniversary date (232)?  Because next week kicks off the Fall semester and one of the classes I'm teaching is -- Constitutional Law!  While we don't spend too much time covering it, Shays' Rebellion is on the syllabus for the first class meeting :D

fall of the berlin wall - 25th anniversary!

25 years ago today, bovember 9, 1989, the berlin wall was torn down by the berliners separated by it.  five years ago, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall i wrote:

twenty years ago today, november 9, 1989, the infamous symbol of soviet oppression, the berlin wall, finally crumbled at the hands of free people! that historic event paved the way for the subsequent reunification of germany - and, ultimately, the collapse of the soviet union and end of the cold war. the world hasn't be the same since!

while nothing will take away from the greatness of that moment, in the five years since i wrote that in 2009, it seems as if the cold war is about to return - thanks, singled handedly, to the efforts of president putin and his efforts to dismember and reclaim the ukraine.

but i won't dwell on the negatives - because in those five years i managed a trip back to berlin the following year - in november, 2010!  that closed the circle of my pre-fall of the wall visit back in the summer of 1984 and the post-wall city, 26 years later. that visit even included a fantastic reunion with my old friend from high school, phil - who's lived there since there the early 1980's.

check out this coverage of the city's celebration - which includes 8,000 glowing balloons to recreate the wall!

bonus army evicted from washington 80 years ago today

on july 28, 1932, president hoover ordered the u.s. military to remove the "bonus army" (more than 40,000 marchers, most of whom were world war one veterans and their families) from washington d.c. - following the failed efforts by the local police to disperse the army.  the earlier effort by the metro police had resulted in the shooting deaths of two veterans when the mob assaulted two police officers who tried to disperse the crowd.

it was after the mob assault on the police officers that president hoover ordered the full scale removal of the bonus army.  in charge of the soldiers tasked to "evict" the marchers from their makeshift camps was none other than general douglas macarthur.  assisting him in the operation was then major george patton. macarthur's chief aide was the major dwight eisenhower!  the veterans and their families were driven out of the camps and then the tents and belongings were burned.

the veteran's, in the midst of the great depression, were trying to get congress to authorize immediate payment of their service certificates - that were due to mature in in the early 1940s (20 years after they were awarded to the soldiers).  while the 1932 effort failed, subsequent efforts did result in the 1936 congress authorizing the early payment of the "bonus" certificates.

fall of the berlin wall - 20th anniversary!

twenty years ago today, november 9, 1989, the infamous symbol of soviet oppression, the berlin wall, finally crumbled at the hands of free people! that historic event paved the way for the subsequent reunification of germany - and, ultimately, the collapse of the soviet union and end of the cold war. the world hasn't be the same since!

berlin has a special place in my world. i spent most of the summer of 1984 traipsing around europe with a eurorail pass. the biggest chunk of that time was spent in italy, but the emotional highpoint of that summer was probably the week i spent in west berlin with a good friend. and of that time, our trip across the wall to east berlin was the most eye-opening experience of my then 21 years on this planet.

i made the obligatory visit to "checkpoint charlie" - now part of a museum exhibit - and the nearby museum of the wall. i purchased a poster of the iconic image of an east german solider tossing away his rifle and escaping to the west (by jumping over the barbed wire that would eventually grow into the wall). that poster still hangs in my office today - 25 years later.



check out this great coverage of the anniversary celebration.

november 25, 2008: the 225th anniversary of new york city evacuation day!

even most die-hard new yorker would be pressed to remember the anniversary of evacuation day - the day 225 years ago, when the last british troops left new york city, following the end of the revolutionary war! the final evacuation of british troop took place almost 2 years after the "battle of yorktown" - the last military engagement of the war.

to celebrate, general washington rode triumphantly back into new york city. his return was a fitting tribute since it was the british victory at the battle of brooklyn (august, 1776), followed by washington's strategic retreat to manhattan and, the eventual capture of manhattan when washington continued the retreat to new jersey, that set the stage for the british occupation of new york.

evacuation day was celebrated annually in new york until the first world war! the boston evacutation day is still celebrated in parts of massachussetts - and the holiday just happens to coincide with st. patrick's day!

the anniversary will be celebrated today at federal hall.