Jan. 10 history: 'Common Sense'

In 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his influential pamphlet, “Common Sense,” which argued for American independence from British rule. How Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense' Helped Inspire the American Revolution | HISTORY

In 1861, Florida became the third state to secede from the Union.

In 1863, the London Underground had its beginnings as the Metropolitan, the world’s first underground passenger railway, opened to the public with service between Paddington and Farringdon Street.

In 1870, John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. 

In 1901, a drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas, produces an enormous gusher of crude oil, coating the landscape for hundreds of feet and signaling the advent of the American oil industry. 

In 1920, the League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, asked Congress to impose a surcharge on both corporate and individual income taxes to help pay for his “Great Society” programs as well as the war in Vietnam.

In 1984, the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

In 2002, Marines began flying hundreds of al-Qaida prisoners in Afghanistan to a U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2003, North Korea withdrew from a global treaty barring it from making nuclear weapons.

In 2007, the Democratic-controlled House voted 315-116 to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.

In 2011, a judge in Austin, Texas, ordered former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to serve three years in prison for his money laundering conviction. (DeLay’s conviction was ultimately overturned.) (History.com 01/10/24)