On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for
the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United
States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

On September 21, 1780, during the American Revolution, American
General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss
handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of
a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The
plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became
synonymous with the word “traitor.”

Arnold was born into a respected family in Norwich, Connecticut,
on January 14, 1741.  He died in London June 13, 1801 at age 60. He
had been in poor health for several months.

ED DANAHUE

Actress Sophia Loren (Sofia Villani Scicolone)
is 87years young today.

On September 19, 1957, the United States detonated a 1.7-kiloton
nuclear weapon in an underground tunnel at the Nevada Test Site
(NTS), a 1,375-square-mile research center located 65 miles north
of Las Vegas. The test, known as Rainier, was the first fully contained
underground detonation and produced no radioactive fallout. A
modified W-25 warhead weighing 218 pounds and measuring
25.7 inches in diameter and 17.4 inches in length was used
for the test. Rainier was part of a series of 29 nuclear weapons
and nuclear weapons safety tests known as Operation Plumbob
that were conducted at the NTS between May 28, 1957, and
October 7, 1957.

NEW YORK (AP) — A very special birth certificate will be auctioned
off later this year — a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution.

Sotheby’s announced Friday — appropriately on Constitution Day —
that in November it will put up for auction one of just 11 surviving
copies of the Constitution from the official first printing produced
for the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and for the
Continental Congress. It’s the only copy that remains in private
hands and has an estimate of $15-$20 million.