On March 11, 1779, Congress established the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to help plan, design and prepare environmental
and structural facilities for the U.S. Army.

Made up of civilian workers, members of the Continental Army
and French officers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers played
an essential role in the critical Revolutionary War battles at
Bunker Hill, Saratoga and Yorktown.

Mississippi River improvements made by the Corps of
Engineers in 1890.

On March 2, 1807, the U.S. Congress passes an act to “prohibit
the importation of slaves into any port or place within the
jurisdiction of the United States…from any foreign kingdom,
place, or country.” It would go into effect at the start of the
following year.

Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, 
was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African
American ever to sit in Congress.

During the Civil War, Revels, a college-educated minister,
helped form African American army regiments for the Union
cause, started a school for freed men, and served as a
chaplain for the Union army.

Hiram Rhodes Revels (
September 27, 1827 – January 16, 1901)

Hiram Rhodes Revels bust by Edmond’s Bob Willis.

On February 10, 2014, Shirley Temple Black, who as a child in the
1930s became one of Hollywood’s most successful stars, died at
her Woodside, California, home at age 85.

The plucky, curly-haired performer sang, danced and acted in
dozens of films by the time she was a teen; as an adult, she
gave up making movies and served as a U.S. diplomat
under four presidents.

1935

The first Congress of the United States approved 12 amendments
to the U.S. Constitution, and sent them to the states for ratification.

The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were designed to
protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, guaranteeing the freedom
of speech, press, assembly, and exercise of religion; the right to
fair legal procedure and to bear arms; and powers not delegated
to the federal government were reserved for the states and the
people.

Influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the Bill of Rights
was also drawn from Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, drafted by
George Mason in 1776.

GEORGE MASON (1725 – 1792)