This Month in History – February
February 2, 1848 – The war between the U.S. and Mexico ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In exchange for $15 million, the U.S. acquired the areas encompassing parts or all of present day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas.
February 3, 1870 – The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing the right of citizens to vote, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
February 3, 1913 – The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting Congress the authority to collect income taxes.
February 6, 1933 – The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted. It set the date for the Presidential Inauguration as January 20th, instead of the old date of March 4th. It also set January 3rd as the official opening date of Congress.
February 7, 1795 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting the powers of the Federal Judiciary over the states by prohibiting Federal lawsuits against individual states.
February 10, 1967 – The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, clarifying the procedures for presidential succession in the event of the disability of a sitting president.
February 12, 1999 – The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in the U.S. Senate ended. On Article 1 (charging Clinton with perjury), 55 senators, including 10 Republicans and all 45 Democrats, voted not guilty. On Article 2 (charging Clinton with obstruction of justice), the Senate split evenly, 50 for and 50 against the President. With the necessary two-thirds majority not having been achieved, President Clinton was thus acquitted on both charges.
February 19, 1942 – Internment of Japanese Americans began after President Franklin Roosevelt issued an Executive Order requiring those living on the Pacific coast to report for relocation. Over 110,000 persons shut down their businesses, sold off their property, quit school, and moved inland to the relocation centers.
February 20, 1962 – Astronaut John Glenn became the first American launched into orbit. Traveling aboard the “Friendship 7” spacecraft, Glenn reached an altitude of 162 miles (260 kilometers) and completed three orbits in a flight lasting just under five hours.
February 24, 1867 – The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson. The vote followed bitter opposition by the Radical Republicans in Congress toward Johnson’s reconstruction policies in the South. The effort to remove him failed in the Senate by just one vote.
February 26, 1848 – The Communist Manifesto pamphlet was published by two young socialists, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It advocated the abolition of all private property and a system in which workers own all means of production, land, factories and machinery.
February 27, 1950 – The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting the president to two terms or a maximum of ten years in office.
Source: The History Place – This Month in History
This Month in Masonic History – February
February 9, 1909 – On this date in 1909, Harry S. Truman received his 1st degree in Belton Lodge #450, Missouri.
February 11, 1988 – A group of Masonic leaders met with President Ronald Reagan. The Grand Master of Washington, DC presented the President with a certificate, and the Scottish Rite and Shrine made him an honorary member of those bodies.
February 18, 1909 – U.S. President William Howard Taft received his 1st degree in Kilwinning Lodge #356, Cincinnati, Ohio.
February 19, 1811 – the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia was formed in Washington, D.C.
February 23, 1887 – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle received his 2nd degree.
Source: What Happened on this Date in Masonic History – Paul M. Bessel’s Freemasonry Index