TODAY IN history

In 1478, Sir Thomas More, lord chancellor of England during the English Reformation, was born. More, the author of “Utopia,” was executed for high treason by Henry VIII in 1535 because he refused to recognize the king as head of the church in England.

In 1758, the Governor and Council of Nova Scotia passed resolutions organizing Canada’s first legislature.

In 1792, free land was offered to U.S. citizens settling in Canada.

In 1804, the inventor of the steel plow, John Deere, was born in Vermont.

In 1812, Charles Dickens, considered the greatest writer of the Victorian period, was born in Portsmouth, England.

In 1827, the first ballet to be performed in the U.S., “The Deserter,” was presented at the Bowery Theatre in New York City.

In 1837, British nurse Florence Nightingale left for the Crimean War. She paved the way for modern-day nursing and later became the first female recipient of the British Order Of Merit.

In 1971, women in Switzerland won the right to vote and hold office.