This Day In History, March 14th.
Five Historical Events That Happened on March 14th.
Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, sells her kingdom to Venice in 1489.
During the French Wars of Religion, the Battle of Ivry takes place in France in 1590, resulting in a decisive victory for King Henry IV over the Catholic League.
Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin in 1794, revolutionizing the cotton industry and significantly increasing demand for slaves in the American South.
In the United States, the Gold Standard Act is signed into law, establishing gold as the sole standard for redeeming paper currency.
In Dallas, Texas, a jury convicts Jack Ruby of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
This Day In History, March 14th, 1489: The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
Catherine Cornaro reigned over Cyprus, a Mediterranean island that was a part of the Venetian Republic. Due to political pressure from other powers in the region, including the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Genoa, she was forced to abdicate and sell her kingdom to Venice in 1489. Venice agreed to pay her an annual pension and bestowed the title "Queen of Jerusalem and Cyprus" upon her. Catherine Cornaro then relocated to Venice, where she spent the rest of her life as an arts and culture patron.
1590: Battle of Ivry takes place in France during the French Wars of Religion, resulting in a decisive victory for King Henry IV over the Catholic League.
During the French Wars of Religion, the Battle of Ivry was fought on March 14, 1590. The conflict was between the Protestant forces of King Henry IV of France and the Catholic League, a powerful alliance of Catholic nobles and other supporters. The battle took place in Normandy, France, near the town of Ivry.
Despite outnumbering the Catholic League, Henry IV led his army to a decisive victory. During the battle, his famous rallying cry "Follow my white plume!" became a symbol of his leadership and bravery. The victory was a watershed moment in the French Wars of Religion, cementing Henry's position as King of France.
1794: Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, revolutionizing the cotton industry and leading to a significant increase in the demand for slaves in the American South.
On March 14, 1794, American inventor Eli Whitney was granted a patent for his cotton gin invention. The cotton gin was a machine that separated cotton fibers from their seeds quickly and easily, revolutionizing the cotton industry and making cotton production much more profitable.
The increased demand for cotton, however, resulted in a significant increase in the demand for slave labor in the American South. This was due to the labor-intensive nature of cotton production, which required a large number of workers to pick and process the cotton. As a result, the cotton gin indirectly aided the expansion of the slave trade and the slavery system in the United States.
1900: The Gold Standard Act is signed into law in the United States, which establishes gold as the only standard for redeeming paper currency.
President William McKinley signed the Gold Standard Act of 1900 into law on March 14, 1900. The act made gold the sole standard for redeeming paper currency in the United States, effectively converting the US dollar into a form of gold currency.
The value of a country's currency was fixed to a certain amount of gold under the gold standard, and paper currency could be exchanged for gold at a fixed rate. This system stabilized currency exchange rates and facilitated international trade. However, it limited governments' ability to stimulate their economies through monetary policy because they couldn't simply print more money without having gold reserves to back it up.
Most countries abandoned the gold standard during the twentieth century as they sought more flexible monetary policies in response to economic crises such as the Great Depression. In 1971, the United States formally abandoned the gold standard.
1964: A jury in Dallas, Texas, finds Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
The trial of Jack Ruby, the man who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, began in Dallas, Texas on March 14, 1964. Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy, two days after the assassination in November 1963.
Ruby was found guilty of murder with malice by a jury after a six-day trial, and he was sentenced to death. His conviction, however, was later overturned on appeal, and he was granted a new trial. Ruby died in prison from lung cancer in 1967, before the new trial could begin. The circumstances surrounding President John F. Kennedy's assassination and the deaths of Oswald and Ruby remain the subject of much debate and controversy.