Today in 1920, nearly 52 years after they first convened, members of the Connecticut Women’s Suffrage Association watched as the Connecticut General Assembly finally ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving all American women the right to vote. For decades, Connecticut suffragists had picketed, petitioned, and frequently found themselves arrested as they…
Tag: political history
August 26: 42 Years After Independence, Connecticut Finally Gets A Constitution.
Today in 1818, delegates to the state’s first ever Constitutional Convention gathered at the State House in Hartford for the first time, charged with the formidable task of restructuring Connecticut state government by creating the state’s first formally written constitution. Writing a new constitution was no small task, given the social, cultural, and political…
July 26: Long Before People Were “Woke,” These Abraham Lincoln Supporters Were “Wide Awakes”
The idea of being “woke” to the dimensions of racial injustice in America entered mainstream public awareness with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. But more than 150 years earlier, a group of young Abraham Lincoln supporters in Hartford declared themselves “Wide…
July 16: Connecticut Saves the U S Constitutional Convention From Collapse
Today in 1787, the vision of a new federal government for the fledgling United States of America was saved from the scrap heap of history as the delegates to the Constitutional Convention narrowly voted to adopt a key provision advanced by delegates from Connecticut. That provision is known to history as the Connecticut Compromise…
July 5: Connecticut’s Other (for 177 Years) State Capitol
From 1701 through 1878, the Colony (and later State) of Connecticut had not one, but two capital cities: Hartford and New Haven. During these 177 years of shared governance, each co-capital built a series of State Houses to host the Connecticut General Assembly, which would meet in Hartford and New Haven on alternating years….
June 30: The Highest Award a Civilian Can Receive
On June 30, 1947, President Harry Truman awarded Dean Acheson the Medal for Merit, a special honor given to civilians for “exceptionally meritorious conduct” in service of the Allied powers during World War II. The Medal for Merit was awarded for a period of 10 years, from 1942 – 1952. It was the highest…
June 21: “Poor Judgment” Costs a Governor His Job
“I acknowledge that my poor judgment brought us here,” said John Rowland to a sea of reporters standing on the back lawn of the Connecticut Governor’s Mansion in Hartford. The date was June 21, 2004, and Rowland was announcing his resignation amid a federal corruption investigation and impeachment inquiry. His Lieutenant Governor, M. Jodi…
June 13: The Rare but Shameful Censure of a Sitting U. S. Senator
Today in 1967, the U.S. Senate took up the motion that would lead to the formal censure of second-term Connecticut Senator Thomas J. Dodd for financial improprieties. The motion to censure stemmed from accusations that Dodd had used funds from his reelection campaign for personal use. Dodd became one of only eight people ever…
May 31: Rev. Thomas Hooker Declares “the People” the Foundation of Government
To many students of Connecticut history and colonial America, Thomas Hooker is considered the “founding father” of Connecticut. A Puritan minister who journeyed from England to Holland to Massachusetts in search of a place where he could preach his message of reformed Christianity free from persecution, Hooker served with distinction as the first established…
May 28: Preparing Connecticut Women for Full Citizenship
On May 21, 1919, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of legislation that would give American women the right to vote — legislation that would eventually become the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Even though the legislation still had to be approved by the U.S. Senate and ratified by 3/4…
May 25: First He Invented the Soap Opera. Then He Entered Politics.
When Chester Bowles and his friend William Benton founded the Benton and Bowles ad agency in 1929, they had two accounts and 12 thousand dollars. Seven years later – in the midst of the Great Depression – it was the sixth largest ad agency in America, with annual billing of over 10 million dollars….
April 29: The Man Who Saved the Constitution & Designed the U.S. Supreme Court
Oliver Ellsworth, who played a critical role in drafting both the U.S. Constitution and designing the federal court system and U.S. Supreme Court, was born today in 1745 in Windsor. A graduate of the College of New Jersey (modern-day Princeton), Ellsworth served as Connecticut state attorney for Hartford County. In 1777, he was elected…