December 18

Today in History
• 1777 - 1st US national Thanksgiving Day, commemorating General Burgoyne's surrender
• 1787 - New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the US constitution
• 1796 - 1st US newspaper to appear on Sunday (Baltimore Monitor)
• 1859 - South Carolina declared an "independent commonwealth"
• 1865 - 1st US cattle importation law passed
• 1898 - First automobile speed record set of 63 kph (39 mph)
• 1865 - 13th Amendment ratified, slavery abolished
• 1920 - 1st U.S. postage stamps printed without the words United States or US


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Arabic Language Day
• Bake Cookies Day
• Guru Ghasidas Jayanti in Chhattisgarh
• National Crime Junkie Day
• National Twin Day
• Qatar Independence Day
• Republic Day of Niger
• Republic Day of Qatar

Birthdays
• 1707 - Charles Wesley, co-founder, Methodist movement
• 1709 - Elizabeth, empress of Russia, to Peter the Great and Catherine I
• 1803 - William Allen, born in Edenton, North Carolina, Ohio Governor 1974 - 1876
• 1856 - Joseph John Thomson, Eng, physicist discovered electron, Nobel 1906
• 1863 - French Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, Sarajevo/WW I
• 1888 - Robert Moses, power broker, built Long Island and New York City parks and roads
• 1913 - Willy Brandt, Herbert Frahm, German chancellor, 1969 - 1974, Nobel 1971
• 1945 - Birenda Bir Bikram, King of Nepal