Three hundred fifty years ago, in 1670, Suffield was formed as a distinct municipal corporation on October 12. Listed below are questions about events which occurred on October 12 in other years.
On October 12 in….
1. 1609, what children’s rhyme was published in London?
a. “Humpty Dumpty”
b. “Sing a Song of Sixpence”
c. “Three Blind Mice”
2. 1792, New Yorkers were the first to celebrate what holiday?
a. Leif Erikson Day
b. Oktoberfest
c. Columbus Day
3. 1692, William Phips, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, did what?
a. Dissolved the Plymouth Bay Colony
b. Placed a moratorium on the Salem Witch Trials
c. Recovered a large treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon
4. 1901, which President changed the name of the Executive Mansion to the White House?
a. William McKinley
b. Howard Taft
c. Theodore Roosevelt
5. 1999, the United Nations declared this day as
a. Y2K Problem Solved Day
b. The Day of 6 Billion
c. Pokémania Day
6. 1582, why was there no October 12 in the European Catholic countries?
a. October 12 was canceled to honor Philip d’Medici, who recently died
b. The recently introduced Gregorian calendar was out of sync with the equinoxes, so October 12 was skipped.
c. The Pope shortened October to stop pagan Halloween celebrations.
7. 1971, was the Equal Rights Amendment passed? Yes or No
8. 1864, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney died. His decision in what famous case was one of the sparks which led to the United States Civil War?
a. Fugitive Slave Law
b. Dred Scott
c. Amistad
9. 2007, who won the Nobel Peace Prize?
a. Nelson Mandela
b. Al Gore
c. Idi Amin
10. 1710, a man was born who became the 16th governor of Connecticut, serving during the Revolutionary War. Who was he?
a. Jonathan Trumbull
b. Oliver Wolcott
c. Clark Bissell
Answers
- “Three Blind Mice” was published in London.
- Columbus Day
- Placed a moratorium on the Salem witch trials. Although “witches” were hung after this date, Phips stopped the witch hunts, prohibited further arrests, and pardoned most of the accused.
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Day of 6 Billion – the 6 billionth baby was born in Bosnia.
- Skipped, October 5-14 were dropped from the calendar that year.
- Yes and No. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives on October 12 and the U.S. Senate on March 22, 1972. But only 35 states ratified it, instead of the 38 needed before the deadline. However, in January 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to approve the ERA, and in February 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove the 1982 deadline for the ERA’s ratification. The Senate has not yet voted to approve the extension of the ratification deadline, and several lawsuits both for and against the ERA are entering the courts.
- Dred Scott – Taney and the Court ruled that the people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants — whether or not they were slaves — were not included under the Constitution and could never be citizens of the United States. However, the 13th Amendment of the Constitution in 1865 abolished slavery in the United States.
- Al Gore and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won for spreading awareness of man-made climate change and laying the foundations for counteracting it.
- Jonathan Trumbull