The Constitution of the United States of America was signed
by 39 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia. Supporters of the document waged
a hard-won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out
of 13 U.S. states.

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Attempting to stitch together a nation mired in a
bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln made a last-ditch, but carefully calculated, decision regarding the institution of slavery in America.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, the Continental
Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which
proclaims the independence of the United States of America
from Great Britain and its king.

The Assembly Room in Independence Hall in Philadelphia,
where the Second Continental Congress adopted the
Declaration of Independence.

John Hancock
(January 23, 1737 – October 8, 1793)

Draft of the Declaration of Independence being presented
to Congress.  

On January 14, 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty
of Paris (above), ending the War for Independence.

In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was also the name of the agreement
that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Britain officially
agreed to recognize the independence of its 13 former colonies
as the new United States of America.

In addition, the treaty settled the boundaries between the United
States and what remained of British North America.

SANDY KOZEL

Introducing… The Beatles is the first Beatles album released in the United States. Originally scheduled for a July 1963 release, the LP
came out on 10 January 1964, on Vee-Jay Records, ten days before Capitol‘s Meet the Beatles!. The latter album, however, entered the
U.S. album chart one week before the former. Consequently, when
Meet The Beatles! peaked at #1 for eleven consecutive weeks, Introducing…The Beatles stalled at #2 where it remained nine consecutive weeks. It was the subject of much legal wrangling,
but ultimately, Vee-Jay was permitted to sell the album until late
1964, by which time it had sold more than 1.3 million copies. On 24
July 2014 the album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA.