Andrew Jackson Franklin (born 1827)

In 1827, in the year that Andrew Jackson Franklin was born, on February 28th, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad - the B&O - was incorporated. The B&O became the first railroad to carry both people and freight and was Maryland's answer to the Erie Canal. Construction began on July 4th, 1828.

In 1854, on May 30th, the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law. The act created both the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, which would determine for themselves if they would be pro-slavery or free. Both territories allowed slavery but it caused contention within the territories.

In 1916, suffragette Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives as a Representative at large from Montana. She was the first woman to hold an elected Federal office. Holding the office for two years, she ran again in 1940 and served another two year term. Montana had granted women unrestricted voting rights in 1914, 6 years before women got the vote nationally.

In 1971, in March, Congress passed the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which lowered the voting age to 18 (from 21). It was a response to the criticism that men could fight at 18, but not vote for the policies and politicians who sent them to war. The states quickly ratified the Amendment and it was signed into law on July 1st by President Richard Nixon.

In 1998, on December 19th, the House of Representatives initiated impeachment charges against U.S. President Bill Clinton. He was subsequently acquitted of these charges by the Senate on February 12th.