March 3
1791 - The U.S. Congress passed a resolution that created the U.S. Mint.
1803 - The first impeachment trial of a U.S. Judge, John Pickering, began.
1812 - The U.S. Congress passed the first foreign aid bill.
1817 - The first commercial steamboat route from Louisville to New Orleans was opened.
1845 - Florida became the 27th U.S. state.
1845 - The U.S. Congress passed legislation overriding a U.S. President’s veto. It was the first time the Congress had achieved this.
1845 - An Act of Congress established uniform postal rates throughout the nation. The act went into effect on July 1, 1845.
1849 - The U.S. Department of the Interior was established.
1849 - The Gold Coinage Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. It allowed the minting of gold coins.
1849 - The U.S. Congress created the territory of Minnesota.
1851 - The U.S. Congress authorized the 3-cent piece. It was the smallest U.S. silver coin.
1857 - Britain and France declared war on China.
1863 - Free city delivery of mail was authorized by the U.S. Postal Service.
1875 - The U.S. Congress authorized the 20-cent piece. It was only used for 3 years.
1878 - Russia and the Ottomans signed the treaty of San Stenafano. The treaty granted independence to Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and the autonomy of Bulgaria.
1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) was incorporated in New York as a subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company.
1885 - The U.S. Post Office began offering special delivery for first-class mail.
1894 - The "Atlantis" was first published. It was the first Greek newspaper in America.
1900 - Striking miners in Germany returned to work.
1903 - In St. Louis, MO, Barney Gilmore was arrested for spitting.
1903 - The U.S. imposed a $2 head tax on immigrants.
1904 - Wilhelm II of Germany made the first recording of a political document with Thomas Edison's cylinder.
1905 - The Russian Czar agreed to create an elected assembly.
1906 - A Frenchman tried the first flight in an airplane with tires.
1908 - The U.S. government declared open war on on U.S. anarchists.
1909 - Aviators Herring, Curtiss and Bishop announced that airplanes would be made commercially in the U.S.
1910 - J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announced his withdrawal from business to administer his father's fortune for an "uplift in humanity". He also appealed to the U.S. Congress for the creation of the Rockefeller Foundation.
1910 - In New York, Robert Forest founded the National Housing Association to fight deteriorating urban living conditions.
1910 - Nicaraguan rebels admitted defeat in open war and resorted to guerrilla tactics in the hope of U.S. intervention.
1915 - The motion picture "Birth of a Nation" debuted in New York City.
1918 - The Treaty of Brest Litovsky was signed by Germany, Austria and Russia. The treaty ended Russia's participation in World War I.
1923 - The first issue of Time magazine was published.
1930 - "Flying High" opened at the Apollo Theatre in New York City.
1931 - The "Star Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key, was adopted as the American national anthem. The song was originally a poem known as "Defense of Fort McHenry."
1938 - A world record for the indoor mile run was set by Glenn Cunningham. He ran the distance in 4 minutes, 4.4 seconds.
1939 - In Bombay, Ghandi began a fast to protest the state's autocratic rule.
1941 - Moscow denounced the Axis rule in Bulgaria.
1945 - Superman encountered Batman and Robin for the first time on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
1945 - During World War II, Finland declared war on the Axis.
1952 - "Whispering Streets" debuted on ABC Radio.
1952 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld New York's Feinberg Law that banned Communist teachers in the U.S.
1956 - Morocco gained its independence.
1959 - The San Francisco Giants had their new stadium officially named Candlestick Park.
1969 - Apollo 9 was launched by NASA to test a lunar module.
1969 - Sirhan Sirhan testified in a Los Angeles court that he killed Robert Kennedy.
1972 - NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecrafte was launched.
1973 - Japan disclosed its first defense plan since World War II.
1974 - About 350 people died when a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed just after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris.
1978 - The remains of Charles Chaplin were stolen from his grave in Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. The body was recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.
1980 - The submarine Nautilus was decommissioned. The vessels final voyage had ended on May 26, 1979.
1985 - Women Against Pornography awarded its ‘Pig Award’ to Huggies Diapers. The activists claimed that the TV ads for diapers had "crossed the line between eye-catching and porn."
1985 - The TV show "Moonlighting" premiered.
1987 - The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a package of $30 million in non-lethal aid for the Nicaraguan Contras.
1991 - 25 people were killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed while on approach to the Colorado Springs airport.
1991 - Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers. The scene was captured on amateur video. (California)
1994 - The Mexican government reached a peace agreement with the Chiapas rebels.
1995 - A U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia ended. Several gunmen were killed by U.S. Marines in Mogadishu while overseeing the pull out of peacekeepers.
1999 - In Egypt, 19 people were killed when a bus plunged into a Nile canal.
2017 - The Nintendo Switch was released.
2019 - An unmanned demonstration flight of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the Internation Space Station.
