On this day: February 15

Holidays

United States: Susan B. Anthony Day.

United States: USS Maine Memorial Day.

Canada: Flag Day

Events

1758 - The first mustard, made by Benjamin Franklin, went on sale in America.

1804 - New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery.

1842 - In New York City, adhesive postage stamps were used for the first time.

1879 - President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

1898 - The USS Maine, sent to Cuba on a friendly visit, exploded and sank in Havana harbor, killing 260 crew members. The origin of the explosion is unknown. This incident led to the Spanish-American War.

1933 - An assassin aiming at President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt had his aim deflected and instead killed Anton J. Cermak, mayor of Chicago.

1942 - British forces in Singapore surrendered to Japanese, after their worst defeat of World War II.

1965 - The new Canadian Maple Leaf national flag was raised above Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

1969 - R. G. Edwards of the Cambridge Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge, England, made the first in vitro fertilization of human egg cells.

1971 - Great Britain and Ireland switched to decimal-based currency.

1978 - Boxer Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight boxing crown.

2004 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the Daytona 500 six years to the day after his father won his only Daytona 500.

2005 - YouTube, a popular video-sharing Web site, is started.

Births

1564 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer.

1797 - Henry Steinway, American piano maker.

1820 - Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist.

1929 - Graham Hill, British two-time Formula One World Champion.

1935 - Roger Chaffee, a U.S. Navy pilot who became an American astronaut in the Apollo program.

1951 - Jane Seymour, an English actress

1954 - Matt Groening, American cartoonist; Simpsons creator.

1964 - Chris Farley, American actor and comedian.