| Year | Event
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|---|
| 1791 | The guillotine accepted as form of execution. It symbolized the leveling between classes during the Revolution by eliminating the previous distinction between the execution of elites (beheading) and commoners (hanging). The guillotine was often portrayed as a “feminine” form of execution, and bourgeois males were expected to demonstrate superiority by embracing death without displaying emotion at their executions.
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| 1846 | US declares war on Mexico with the goal of picking up more real estate. The war ends 2 years later with the signing of the Treaty of Guadeloupe on February 2, 1848.
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| 1898 | The U.S. Congress declared war on Spain for the start of the Spanish-American War. [We were so innocent then. We now have determined that major wars can be fought without a "declaration" in spite of what the Constitution may say about it. The citizens see nothing wrong with that.]
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| 1920 | Iraq is placed under British mandate.
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| 1988 | "Child Abuse prevention, Adoption, and Family Services Act" is enacted into Public Law 100-294.
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| 1990 | FinCen, Big Brother's computerized eyeballs that monitor all financial transactions, yours and mine, (necessary to fight "money laundering", we're told) is established by Executive Order (EO's allow bypassing the cumbersome congressional approach to law making).
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| 2000 | "Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA)", H.R. 106-185, signed into law. The law was created as a result of public outcry against the horrific seizures of properties (homes, cars, money) by the government in the name of "fighting the Drug War." Unfortunately the Senate substituted a government version of the bill in the dark of the night and much of the desired reform never saw the light of day.
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