This Week in History 11.3-11.8
On this day in History
Nov. 3
On this date in 1911, Chevrolet officially entered the automobile market to compete with the Ford Model T, which was created by Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company back on Oct. 1, 1908.
The Chevrolet Car Company was originally founded by Louis Chevrolet and General Motors founder William C. Durant. The duo even received help from managing partners William Little and Dr. Edwin R. Campbell.
During the 100 plus years of its existence, Chevrolet emerged as one of the top auto companies throughout the world. Since 1912, Chevy produced a wide variety of cars and trucks, making over 200 million vehicles in the process while 180 million of those vehicles were produced in North America alone.
In 2010, Chevrolet hit its peak by selling a total of 4.26 million vehicles around the world and the company became the top selling automotive brand in the United States by Jan. 2011. The company’s top headquarters are located in Detroit and Osaka, Japan.
Nov. 4
On this date in 2008, Democratic candidate and former U.S. Senator Barack Obama made history by becoming the first African-American to be elected as United States President. Obama accomplished this by defeating Republican candidate John McCain in the race.
Prior to the campaign, Obama was a Senator from Illinois and his running mate was Senator Joe Biden while McCain was a Senator from Arizona and his running mate was Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. The objective of both parties was to improve the economy because it faced a severe financial crisis, the worst since the recession of the 1930’s.
The election reached its conclusion on Nov. 4, 2008 and Barack Obama won decisively by receiving more votes than John McCain with 365 electoral votes along with 69,498,516 popular votes. Obama also made history in another way by becoming the first Democrat in nearly a half-century to receive the largest percentage of the popular vote.
Nov. 5
On this date in 1872, Susan B. Anthony defied the law of Women’s Suffrage in the United States by becoming the first female to vote for the 1872 Presidential Election between Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley.
Anthony was arrested two weeks later by a U.S. Deputy Marshal, put on trial, and was sentenced to a $100.00 fine without imprisonment. Before her trial, Anthony spread her arguments to wide audiences and held a speaking tour that covered all 29 towns of Monroe Country, where the trial was going to be held.
During her speaking tour, Susan B. Anthony’s objective was to inform the citizens that no matter who you are or what you do, you should always have the right to vote in the United States of America. Anthony also quoted famous American documents, like the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the New York Constitution to prove her point. She quoted famous American figures, like James Madison and Thomas Paine, as well.
Susan B. Anthony died on March 13, 1806 at the age of 86 in her house in Rochester, NY. She left a legacy on the American people and it swayed politicians to change their views about the laws that she preached about.
Following Anthony’s death, the New York State Senate passed a resolution in remembrance of her courage and efforts to gain equal rights for women. On Aug. 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed to give women the right to vote and on that same date sixteen years later, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postal stamp to honor Susan B. Anthony.
Nov. 6
On this date in 1869, the first official intercollegiate American Football game took place in New Brunswick, NJ. The game was played between Rutgers College and the College of New Jersey (currently Princeton University).
The inaugural college football season took place in 1869 and it was much different than the form of the collegiate game that we watch today. Back then, the football was shaped like a sphere, each team consisted of 25 players, and teams could not run with the football.
In the first game on Nov. 6, 1869, Rutgers defeated Princeton by a score of 6-4. There was a rematch that took place a week later between the two teams on Princeton’s campus and Princeton won that game by a score of 8-0 to split the series. At the end of the season, Princeton and Rutgers split the first collegiate football national championship.
The teams were supposed to meet in a third game, but the contest never took place because the officials of both colleges were complaining about how more of a focus should be on the games rather than academics and studying.
Changes were made to the rules that the two teams followed during their head-to-head series in 1869. The first game where teams could play with 11 men on opposite sides, run with the football, and used an oval-shaped ball was in an 1875 contest between Harvard University and Tufts University.
Nov. 7
On this date in 1914, the first issue of The New Republic magazine was published and the magazine focused on liberal and progressive politics along with the great changes that were established by the middle-class to make improvements to the nations’ economy and society.
The New Republic was founded by Herbert Croly, Walter Lipmann, and Walter Weyl. Finances were contributed by heiress Dorothy Payne Whitney and her husband Willard Straight, who maintained the majority ownership of the magazine.
Many famous authors and writers contributed to the magazine, including W.E.B. Du Bois, John Dewey, and George Orwell. Now, a 100-year tradition just got passed down to Chris Hughes, who took over the ownership and editor-in-chief responsibilities of The New Republic in 2012. Hughes was best remembered for founding Facebook alongside Mark Zuckerberg.
The magazine served as a weekly for most of its existence with new editions coming out quite regularly. The New Public is published about 20 times a year with a circulation of about 50,000 publications.
Nov. 8
On this date in 1889, Montana was admitted to the Union as the 41st U.S. State. The state name is actually Spanish for mountain and it is located in the Western United States. Its capital is Helena and its largest city is Billings.
Montana is bordered by other mountainous states, such as Idaho, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota and it is also bordered by three Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
Mountain ranges are a very common tourist attraction in Montana as most of the 100 mountains are concentrated in the Western half of the state. Most of the mountains are part of the Northern Rockies and other ranges, like the Absaroka and Beartooth that are located in South Central Montana, are part of the Central Rockies.
The state has two nicknames, Big Sky Country and The Treasure State and it is the fourth largest state in the country behind Alaska, Texas, and California. It ranks 44th in population and 48th in population density. The state is slightly larger than Japan with a total area of 147,046 square miles.
