Today in history–March 6

1460: The Treaty of Alcaçovas, under which Portugal trades the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for West Africa and a player to be named later, goes into effect.

1820: President James Monroe signs the Missouri Compromise, which will stave off secession for another forty years, at which point the Supreme Court will intervene.

1834: The town of York, Upper Canada, is incorporated under the new name, “Toronto.”

1836: Government troops capture the Alamo, where rebels have been holding out for 13 days.

1857: The U.S. Supreme Court holds the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in Dred Scott v. Sandford.

1899: Bayer AG registers its trademark for acetylsalicylic acid, an old folk remedy derived from willow bark, which it calls “Aspirin.”

1905: James Robert Wills, who will give up a barber shop in Turkey, Texas, to invent “Western Swing,” is born near Kosse, Texas.  “It don’t matter who’s in Austin, Bob Wills is still the king.”

1926: The most powerful man in American who does not sit on the Supreme Court, Alan Greenspan, is born in New York City.