Today in history–February 19

1473: Lawyer, diplomat, soldier, canon, and public official Mikolaj Kupernik (a/k/a Nicholas Copernicus) is born at Toruń, Poland.  He is best remembered for his hobby, astronomy.

1654: The English and Dutch sign the treaty that turns the Nieuw-Amsterdam colony over to England, which shows the same level of imagination as the Dutch by calling it New York.

1792: The U.S. Supreme Court issues Chisholm v. Georgia, its first case to mention “breach of contract.”  The decision has to be overruled by the 11th amendment.

1846: The first U.S. state government is installed in Texas, replacing the old national government.

1878: Thomas A. Edison patents the phonograph.  The invention came about somewhat by accident, since he was trying to invent a telegraphic repeater.

1881: Kansas becomes the first U.S. state to prohibit sales of alcoholic beverages.

1913: A tradition is born as the first prizes are put into Cracker Jack boxes.

1922: Ed “The Perfect Fool” Wynn (born Isaiah Edward Leopold), blackballed after a 1919 actors’ strike, becomes the first major vaudeville star to sign with the new medium called “radio.”

1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order to place Americans of Japanese descent in internment camps.

1965: Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code goes into effect in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

1985: The Coco-Cola Co. introduces Cherry Coke.