March 4th in history

Today is Vermont Admissions Day (1791)
http://www.shgresources.com/vt/history/

and Town Meeting Day in Vermont
http://www.sec.state.vt.us/TownMeeting/citizens_guide.html

other events on March 4th:

1595 Robert Southwell English poet, hanged for becoming a Catholic priest
1791 Vermont admitted as 14th state (1st addition to the 13 colonies)
1792 Oranges introduced to Hawaii

1793 President Washington's 2nd inauguration, shortest speech (133 words)

"Fellow Citizens: I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.

Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony."

1797 John Adams inaugurated as 2nd President of US
1801 1st President inaugurated in Washington DC (Thomas Jefferson)

1809 Madison becomes 1st President inaugurated in American-made clothes

1829 Unruly crowd mobs White House during President Jackson inaugural ball
1835 Giovanni Schiaparelli born in Italy, astronomer (discovered canals of Mars)
1837 City of Chicago incorporates

1841 Longest inauguration speech (8,443 words), William Henry Harrison, who also served the shortest term, dying a month later of pheumonia. (I'm not inserting his long speech here - if you want to see it, check http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres26.html )

1861 Lincoln inaugurated as 16th President; 1st time US has 5 former Presidents living
1863 Territory of Idaho established

1881 California becomes 1st state to pass plant quarantine legislation
1885 Grover Cleveland inaugrated as 1st Democratic President since Civil War

1888 Knute Rockne born, Norwegian/US football player/coach (Notre Dame)
1894 Great fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings destroyed

1901 1st advanced copy of inaugural speech - William McKinley's 2nd term (Jefferson-National Intelligencer)
1909 US prohibits interstate transportation of game birds

1909 Harry B Helmsley born in New York NY, billionaire builder (Empire State Building)
1917 Jeannette Rankin (Representative-Republican-MT) becomes 1st female member of Congress
1924 "Happy Birthday To You" published by Claydon Sunny

1925 President Coolidge's inauguration broadcast live on 21 radio stations

1930 Coolidge Dam in Arizona dedicated
1933 FDR inaugrated as 32nd President, pledges to pull US out of Depression & says "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"
1934 Jane van Lawick-Goodall ethologist/chimp expert (1974 Walker Prize)
1936 1st flight of airship Hindenburg, Germany

1944 1st US bombing of Berlin
1952 Ronald Reagan marries Nancy Davis
1955 1st radio facsimile transmission sent across the continent
1958 Patricia Heaton born in Cleveland OH, actress (Debra-Everybody Loves Raymond)
1964 Jimmy Hoffa convicted of jury tampering
1966 John Lennon says "We (Beatles) are more popular than Jesus"

1979 US Voyager I photo reveals Jupiter's rings
1985 Virtual ban on leaded gas ordered by EPA
1996 Minnie Pearl country comedienne (Grand Ole Opry), dies at 84

1997 Brazil Senate allows women to wear slacks
1997 President Clinton bans federally funded human cloning research