December 18 ...

In 1787 New Jersey became the third state to ratify the US Constitution. In 1796 the Monitor (Baltimore, MD) was published as the first Sunday newspaper. In 1865 slavery was abolished in the US with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. In 1898 a new automobile speed record was set at 39 mph. In 1912 the US Congress prohibited the immigration of illiterate persons. In 1915 the Battle of Verdun ended after 10 months; also on this day, President Woodrow Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt at her Washington home. In 1917 the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution -- the prohibiton of alcohol -- was passed by Congress. In 1940 Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation "Barbarossa" was launched in June 1941. In 1950 NATO foreign ministers approved plans to defend Western Europe, including the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary. In 1956 Japan was admitted to the UN. In 1957 the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania went online, becoming the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the US; it was taken out of service in 1982. In 1969 Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder. In 1970 divorce became legal in Italy. In 1972 the US began the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War; the attack ended 12 days later. In 1998 the US House of Representatives began debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning President Bill Clinton.