February 3

On This Day In History
	1870: Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified On this day in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race and intending to ensure, with the Fourteenth Amendment, the civil rights of former slaves.
"The Man with the (Carpet) Bags"; cartoon by Thomas Nast, 1872, depicting the Southern
Biography Of The Day
	Felix Mendelssohn One of the most celebrated figures of the early Romantic period, German composer Felix Mendelssohn, born this day in 1809, largely observed Classical models and practices while initiating key aspects of Romanticism.
Felix Mendelssohn, painting by Eduard Magnus, c. 1845.
More Events On This Day In History
	1959 American rock 'n' roll singer Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash at age 22.
	1924 Former U.S. president Woodrow Wilson died in Washington, D.C.
1917	1917 Not yet involved in World War I, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany after the Germans announced their intention to practice unrestricted submarine warfare.
1913	1913 The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, granting Congress the authority to levy income taxes, was ratified.
1894	1894 The first American steel ship, the Dirigo, was launched from Bath, Maine.
1865	1865 In a personal meeting with Confederate representatives, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln offered liberal pardons in exchange for the South quitting the Civil War, with reunion as a precondition of peace—an offer that was rejected.
1690	1690 Massachusetts issued the first paper money in the American colonies.
	1468 German craftsman, inventor, and printer Johannes Gutenberg died in Mainz.