On This Day In History September 3

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour a cup of your favorite morning beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

On this day in 1783, the Treaty of Paris is signed ending the American Revolution

The treaty document was signed at the Hotel d’York – which is now 56 Rue Jacob – by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay (representing the United States) and David Hartley (a member of the British Parliament representing the British Monarch, King George III). Hartley was lodging at the hotel, which was therefore chosen in preference to the nearby British Embassy – 44 Rue Jacob – as “neutral” ground for the signing.

On September 3, Britain also signed separate agreements with France and Spain, and (provisionally) with the Netherlands. In the treaty with Spain, the colonies of East and West Florida were ceded to Spain (without any clearly defined northern boundary, resulting in disputed territory resolved with the Treaty of Madrid), as was the island of Minorca, while the Bahama Islands, Grenada and Montserrat, captured by the French and Spanish, were returned to Britain. The treaty with France was mostly about exchanges of captured territory (France’s only net gains were the island of Tobago, and Senegal in Africa), but also reinforced earlier treaties, guaranteeing fishing rights off Newfoundland. Dutch possessions in the East Indies, captured in 1781, were returned by Britain to the Netherlands in exchange for trading privileges in the Dutch East Indies.

The American Congress of the Confederation, which met temporarily in Annapolis, Maryland, ratified the treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784 (Ratification Day).[1] Copies were sent back to Europe for ratification by the other parties involved, the first reaching France in March. British ratification occurred on April 9, 1784, and the ratified versions were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784. It was not for some time, though, that the Americans in the countryside received the news due to the lack of communication.

 36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate.

301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world’s oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus.

590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory the Great

863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid.

1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard “the Lionheart”) is crowned at Westminster.

1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire.

1650 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Dunbar

1651 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Worcester – Charles II of England is defeated in the last main battle of the war.

1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London

1777 – Cooch’s Bridge – Skirmish of American Revolutionary War in New Castle County, Delaware where the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time.

1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1798 – The week long battle of St. George’s Caye begins between Spanish and British off the coast of Belize.

1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.

1803 – English scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.

1812 – 24 settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre.

1838 – Dressed in a sailor’s uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a Free Black seaman, future abolitionist Frederick Douglass boards a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from slavery.

1855 – Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan Massacre by attacking a Sioux village, killing 100 men, women, and children.

1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.

1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23.

1874 – The congress of the state of Mexico elevates Naucalpan to the category of Villa, with the title of “Villa de Juarez”.

1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.

1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule.

1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov reaches the highest point of the Soviet Union – Communism Peak (7495 m).

1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph

1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies.

1941 – Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs.

1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Lakhva Ghetto.

1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz, arriving three days later.

1945 – Three-day celebration was held in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2.

1950 – “Nino” Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers’ champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix.

1951 – The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its first episode on the CBS network.

1954 – The People’s Liberation Army begins shelling the ROC-controlled islands of Quemoy.

1954 – The German U-Boat U-505 begins its move from a specially constructed dock to its final site at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight.

1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state

1976 – Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars.

1994 – Sino-Soviet Split: Russia and the People’s Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.

2004 – Beslan school hostage crisis: Day 3: The Beslan hostage crisis ends with the deaths of over 300 people, more than half of which are children.