February 3
1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln defeat forces of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts with many retreating to New York, Vermont and New Hampshire to regroup.
1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by Congress.
1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified
1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified
1917 – In a 2 hour speech to a joint session of Congress, President Woodrow Wilson announces his decision to sever diplomatic relations with Germany due to the German chancellor declaring the resumption of unlimited submarine warfare.
1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet long.
1958 – The Benelux Economic Union treaty is signed in The Hague
1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
1961 – The U.S Air Force begins Operation Looking Glass, starting a constant 24/7/365 flight of command and control “Doomsday Planes” with the capability of taking direct control of the U.S. nuclear force if necessary.
1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
1984 – Doctor John Buster and a research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the United States announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
1994 – Space Shuttle mission STS-60 launches Shuttle Discovery, with Sergei Krikalev as the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
1995 – Space Shuttle mission STS-63 launches Shuttle Discovery, with Eileen Collins aboard as the first woman to pilot the Shuttle
1998 – A U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.