On this day, December 8th:
1775, American Revolution: Americans begin siege of Quebec. Colonel Benedict Arnold and General
Richard Montgomery lead an American force in the siege of Quebec. The
Americans hoped to capture the British-occupied city and with it win
support for the American cause in Canada.
1776, American Revolution: George Washington's retreating army crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War.
1863, Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln offers his conciliatory plan for reunification
of the United States with his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
President Lincoln needed to make some preliminary plans for postwar reconstruction.
1925: Sammy Davis Jr., the American performer famous for his singing, dancing and comedy routines, was born.
1941 WWII: The United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1941, WWII: Montanan Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a
dedicated lifelong pacifist (a person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable), casts the sole Congressional vote against
the U.S. declaration of war on Japan. She was the only member of
Congress to vote against U.S. involvement in both World Wars, having
been among those who voted against American entry into World War I
nearly a quarter of a century earlier.
1980: John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, the rock group that
transformed popular music in the 1960s, is shot and killed by a deranged fan in New York City.
1987: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a
treaty calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
1993: President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).