I love history. I want to share a bit of history that I am sure you never heard or learned about in school. If you did, I'd like to know where you went to school.
On June 27, 1844, an American man was assassinated. He was a peculiar man. He was running for president under a very progressive platform at the time, and running as an Independent. He was the first presidential candidate to be assassinated in American history, and I am curious how many of you know who I am talking about? (Keep reading and you'll find out)
He originally had no aspirations of becoming president. He had written the five leading presidential candidates of an injustice happening to Americans and others living in America. None of them seemed to take his grievances seriously. So, he decided to run. His platform is not common for this date in history, and truly shows how much of an extraordinary man he was. Some would find it curious that he did not include his grievance (the one above) on his platform. I can only guess it was because he knew if these other things were taken care of; then perhaps that one would too.
He wanted to have "Congress “pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from members of Congress.” Keep in mind this was sixteen years before Lincoln came on the scene. He also wanted to decrease the amount of money congress was receiving. I'm guessing one of the reasons he wanted to do this was to cover the cost of freeing Americans living under the injustice of slavery. He wanted to grow America from coast to coast, but ONLY with the consent of the Native Americans. There were many more things his platform included, but I won't be a spoiler for those of you who want to find out on your own.
[Side note: This man was ahead of his time with respect to his views on women. In 1842, he organized a women's organization that today is among the largest women's organization in the world. These women were allowed to have a voice among men, and they had leadership positions. Keep in mind the date: 1842. If you Google the question: "What was life like for women in the 1800s?" You would see that women were not encouraged to have a career, they could not be educated like men, they were considered second-class citizens, they were subject to their fathers then later to their husbands, they could not vote, and even own land without a man. Most of the rights in subsequent years given to women were for married women only, which means they were still subject to a man's rule. Women could not get a credit card or even a bank account without their husband until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974. The first woman's bank opened in 1975. (This is my mom's generation...just to give you some perspective on the date.) I tried to find the year they could own land on their own as a single woman, but I couldn't find that information. I kept finding conflicting information on-line about which state was the first, and the year. It makes it hard to know what the truth is about this information. If anyone knows, please feel free to comment. So, you see how a man giving women a voice and allow them to take on leadership roles in their society during this time was extremely rare.]
Many believed he was a potential to win the election the year he ran, and become the next POTUS. Others stated they believed if he did not win this election; then he would win the next one. His ideas on government were becoming popular and so was he. Some believe it was because of this that he was assassinated. Others believed it was because of his religious beliefs.
Do you know who was assassinated on this date in history?
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