Today in history

On March 29, 1867, Britain’s Parliament passed, and Queen Victoria signed, the British North America Act creating the Dominion of Canada, which came into being the following July.

In 1638, Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware.

In 1912, British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, his doomed expedition stranded in an Antarctic blizzard after failing to be the first to reach the South Pole, wrote the last words of his journal: “For Gods sake look after our people.”

In 1936, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler claimed overwhelming victory in a plebiscite on his policies.

In 1943, World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began.

In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. (They were executed in June 1953.)

In 1962, Jack Paar hosted NBC’s “Tonight” show for the final time. (Johnny Carson debuted as host the following October.)

In 1971, a jury in Los Angeles recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. (The sentences were later commuted.)

In 1973, the last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.

In 1984, under cover of early morning darkness, the Baltimore Colts football team left its home city of three decades and moved to Indianapolis.

In 1992, Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton acknowledged experimenting with marijuana “a time or two” while attending Oxford University, adding, “I didn’t inhale and I didn’t try it again.”

Ten years ago: A defiant, Democratic-controlled Senate approved, 51-47, legislation calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year (however, supporters of the bill were unable to muster enough votes to override a promised veto by President George W. Bush). West Virginia beat Clemson, 78-73, for its first NIT title in 65 years.

Five years ago: A divided House approved, 228-191, a $3.6 trillion Republican budget recasting Medicare and imposing sweeping cuts in domestic programs. Stanford routed Minnesota 75-51 to win the NIT title.

One year ago: President Barack Obama told the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta that opioid abuse needed to be a higher-priority issue for the federal government.

“To silence criticism is to silence freedom.” — Sidney Hook, American philosopher and author (1902-1989).