On this date

1787 — New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1863 — In a speech to the Prussian Parliament, Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck declared, “Politics is not an exact science.” 1865 — The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect by Secretary of State William H. Seward. 1912 — Fossil collector Charles Dawson reported to the Geological Society of London his discovery of supposed early human remains at a gravel pit in Piltdown. (More than four decades later, Piltdown Man was exposed as a hoax.) 1917 — Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and sent it to the states for ratification. 1944 — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s wartime evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that “concededly loyal” Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained. 1956 — Japan was admitted to the United Nations. 1969 — Britain’s House of Lords joined the House of Commons in making permanent a 1965 ban on the death penalty for murder. 1972 — The United States began heavy bombing of North Vietnamese targets during the Vietnam War. (The bombardment ended 11 days later.) 1992 — Kim Young-sam was elected South Korea’s first civilian president in three decades. 2012 — The Greater Rome Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated that the 2012 NAIA National Championship football game generated close to $1.1 million for the local economy.