| Year | Event
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| 1690 | The first paper money was issued in America, by Anglo colonists to pay soldiers in the war against Quebec.
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| 1865 | A peace conference was held between principles of the North and the South in the hopes of ending the War Between the States. If failed due to the harsh terms of Mr. Lincoln, especially the denial of the right to secede.
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| 1870 | The 15th Amendment, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude", was ratified by the states.
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| 1887 | The U.S. Congress passes the Electoral Count Act, designed to prevent the sort of confusion that marred the 1876 presidential election. Individual states now will be responsible for determining their own electoral vote counts.
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| 1913 | On this date, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified -- some say illegally. This amendment created the income tax.
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| 1917 | A German submarine sinks the U.S. ship Housatonic off the coast of Sicily with only one hour's warning to the crew, leading the U.S. to break off diplomatic relations with Germany.
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| 1963 | In Vietnam the "Strategic Hamlet" resettlement program begins, whereby scattered rural populations in South Vietnam are forcibly resettled into fortified villages defended by local militias. The purpose of the program was to keep peasants from being influenced by the Communists. Sadly, the hamlets were soon infiltrated by the Vietcong, which meant that they had to be bombed.
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| 1968 | The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) elects Yasser Arafat as chairman.
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| 1994 | President Clinton acts to end the 19-year-old U.S. embargo on trade with Vietnam {pdf}.
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| 2002 | George W. "Not over my dead body" Bush (R) sent Congress a $2.12 trillion spending plan, the largest in the nation's history and the first to break $2 trillion. [Good thing Republicans are committed to cutting back government spending!]
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