On this day in ...... 1775, the Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Advertiser published African Slavery In America, by Thomas Paine (right), a recent emigrant from England who'd become in America "one of the earliest and most influential" advocates for the abolition of slavery. "[T]he sentiments of JUSTICE AND HUMANITY," he argued in the essay, compelled abolition. Just 5 weeks later, America's 1st anti-slavery society formed in Philadelphia, with Paine as a member.
... 1917, hunger and cold caused rioting in St. Petersburg, Russia. A report cabled to The New York Times predicted: "I do not personally believe there can be serious trouble while the Duma is sitting." Days later, however, Russia's ruler dissolved that parliamentary body; in response, the Duma forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate. (credit for portrait of 1896 coronation of tsar and tsarina)
