March 3

1776 – The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau, Bahamas, during the Revolution.

1779 –A small contingent of Continental regulars supported by a larger force of North Carolina and Georgia patriot militia is routed by a slightly smaller force of British regulars and loyalist militia at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.

1791 – Congress passes the Internal Revenue Act  providing for taxes on distilled liquor and tobacco products inciting what would later be called the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.

1820 – Having been sent the bill after passage in the House of Representatives over a year previous, the Senate passes the Missouri Compromise act

1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.

1849 – The Territory of Minnesota is created

1873 – Congress passes the Comstock Act, making it illegal to send any “obscene literature and articles of immoral use” through the mail.

1891 – The Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming is established as the first national forest in the US

1910 – John D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy.

1924 – Kemal Atatürk completes his reform of Turkey into a secular state with the deposing of Caliph Abdülmecid II, ending the Ottoman Caliphate.

1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.

1938 – The Dammam oil well No. 7 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, makes the first oil strike in the country.

1969 – NASA launches Apollo 9 with astronauts, James A. McDivitt
David R. Scott and Russell L. Schweickart aboard, to test the lunar module in Earth orbit.

1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405, a Fairchild-Hiller FH-227, crashes in a housing area in Albany, New York, killing 16 of the 48 passengers and crew aboard.

1991 – United Airlines Flight 585, a Boeing 737, crashes on its final approach to Colorado Springs killing all 25 passengers and crew aboard and injuring 1 person on the ground.

2005 – Steve Fossett, piloting the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, becomes the first person to fly an airplane non stop around the world solo without refueling.