The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was a document drawn up during the French Revolution that listed the human and civil rights of all men; also a book by Thomas Paine written in 1791 that argued that revolution was permissible in certain situations.
Rights of Man
Fact of the Day
The earliest book of English table manners was written by Daniel of Beccles in the time of Henry II. It prohibited elbows on tables, talking with full mouths and scratching armpits. It also gave guidance on what to do if the wife of the host were to make a pass at a guest: he should feign illness.
Quote of the Day
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
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~ Anne Frank
On This Day
41 Claudius was proclaimed Roman Emperor by the Praetorian Guard.
1327 Edward II was deposed by his wife, Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer. They replaced him with his 10 year old son, Edward III, and for three years they ruled through him.
1533 King Henry VIII secretly married the newly-pregnant Anne Boleyn, even though he was still married to Catherine of Aragon.
1554 Thomas Wyatt gathered 4000 men in Kent, starting the Wyatt Rebellion against Queen Mary and her choice of Spanish husband.
1627 Father of modern chemistry, Robert Boyle, was born in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland.
1942 Thailand declared war on the United States and Britain following intensive bombing by the Allies.
1945 The German offensive campaign in the Ardennes, which came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge, ended in Allied victory.