Today in history

On Dec. 20, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans.

In 1813 Congress established a system of internal revenue to raise government funds.

In 1820 Missouri imposed a $1 per year bachelor tax on unmarried men 21 to 50.

In 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.

In 1864 Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his “March to the Sea.”

In 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.

In 1963 the Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.

In 1971 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sworn in as president of Pakistan, returning that nation to civilian rule for the first time since 1958.

In 1973 Spanish Premier Luis Carrero Blanco was killed when assassins bombed his car in Madrid.

In 1978 former White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman was released from prison after serving 18 months for his role in the Watergate cover-up.

In 1995 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, NATO began its peacekeeping mission, taking over from the United Nations.

In 2005 a federal judge ruled “intelligent design” could not be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district.

In 2013 Utah legalized samesex marriage after a federal judge struck down the state ban on such unions.

In 2014 a gunman killed two New York City police officers in what officials called an “assassination” before turning the gun on himself.