Today’s highlight

On Dec. 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified as Georgia became the 27th state to endorse it.

On this date

1790: Congress moved to Philadelphia from New York.

1907: The worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia.

1917: Some 2,000 people were killed when an explosives-laden French cargo ship, the Mont Blanc, collided with the Norwegian vessel Imo at the harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, setting off a blast that devastated the Canadian city.

1922: The Anglo-Irish Treaty, which established the Irish Free State, came into force one year to the day after it was signed in London.

1923: A presidential address was broadcast on radio for the first time as Calvin Coolidge spoke to a joint session of Congress.

1947: Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by President Harry S. Truman.

1957: America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed as Vanguard TV3 rose about four feet off a Cape Canaveral launch pad before crashing down and exploding.

1962: 37 coal miners were killed in an explosion at the Robena No. 3 Mine operated by U.S. Steel in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania.