Jeannette Pickering Rankin, the first woman ever elected to
Congress, took her seat in the U.S. Capitol as a representative
from Montana.

Born on a ranch near Missoula, Montana Territory, in 1880,
Rankin was a social worker in the states of Montana and
Washington before joining the women’s suffrage movement
in 1910.

Following her election as a representative, Rankin’s entrance
into Congress was delayed for a month as congressmen
discussed whether a woman should be admitted into the
House of Representatives.

Bronze statue of Rankin inside the Montana
State Capitol in Helena.

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826)

On February 17, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected
the third president of the United States. The election
constitutes the first peaceful transfer of power from
one political party to another in the United States.

By 1800, when he decided to run for president,
Thomas Jefferson possessed impressive political
credentials and was well-suited to the presidency.         

       
In addition to drafting the Declaration of
Independence, Jefferson had served in two
Continental Congresses, as minister to
France, as the nations first secretary of
state under George Washington and as
John Adams’ vice president.        

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin
meet to review a draft of the Declaration of Independence. 

Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

    
    
    
    
    
   
On this day in 1936, the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame elected its first members in Cooperstown, New York: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson.

‘Congress set January 7, 1789 as the date by which states were
required to choose electors for the country’s first-ever presidential election. A month later, on February 4, George Washington was
elected president by state electors and sworn into office on April
30, 1789.

Federal Hall in New York City

Camille Bohannon