Dec. 6 history: Slavery abolished

Dec. 6 history

In 1790, Congress moved to Philadelphia from New York.

In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified as Georgia became the 27th state to endorse it.

In 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers place a 9-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of an impressive monument to the city's namesake and the nation's first president, George Washington. 

In 1907, the worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia.

In 1923, a presidential address was broadcast on radio for the first time as Calvin Coolidge spoke to a joint session of Congress. 

In 1947, Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by President Harry S. Truman.

In 1957, America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed as Vanguard TV3 rose about four feet off a Cape Canaveral launch pad before crashing down and exploding.

In 1969, a free concert by The Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway in Alameda County, California, was marred by the deaths of four people, including one who was stabbed by a Hell’s Angel. Murder at the Altamont Festival brings the 1960s to a violent end | December 6, 1969 | HISTORY

In 1973, House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew. 

In 1998, in Venezuela, former Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, who had staged a bloody coup attempt against the government six years earlier, was elected president.

In 2017, President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital, defying warnings from the Palestinians and others around the world that he would be destroying hopes for Mideast peace.

In 2021, the Justice Department said it was ending its investigation into the 1955 lynching of the Black teenager Emmett Till, who was killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi.

In 2022, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election that ensured Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s term. (History.com 12/06/23)

TODAY: The fourth Republican presidential debate is on tonight at from The University of Alabama at 7 p.m. CT, and here’s how you can watch it.