John Mincher (1860 - 1916)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during John's lifetime.

In 1860, in the year that John Mincher was born, on December 20th, South Carolina seceded from the United States - the first state to do so. At the time, there were about 4 million people enslaved in the American South.

In 1884, by the time he was 24 years old, on August 5th, the cornerstone for the base of the Statue of Liberty - a gift from the people of France - was laid. 120,000 people - most donations were $1 - donated to the completion of the base. An 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus was also written to raise funds. That poem was included in the base of the statue and is well known today. The most famous phrase: "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

In 1896, when he was 36 years old, in April, the first study on global warming due to CO2 - carbon dioxide - in the atmosphere was published by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. Arrhenius concluded that human activity due to the Industrial Revolution would amplify CO2 in the atmosphere, causing a greenhouse effect. His conclusions have been extensively tested in the ensuing 100+ years and are still seen to hold true.

In 1900, John was 40 years old when the U.S. helped put down Boxer Rebellion. The Boxer Rebellion took place in China, where the presence of "outsiders" (foreigners) was resented. The United States, along with Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia, had business interests in China and these countries all sent troops to put down the Rebellion and keep China open to their presence and to Christian missionaries.

In 1916, in the year of John Mincher's passing, in June, the U.S. Congress authorized a plan to expand the armed forces over the next five years. Called the National Defense Act of 1916, the national law expanded the National Guard and Army (the Army added an aviation unit), created the Reserves, and gave the President expanded authority to federalize the National Guard. It also allowed the government to stockpile, in advance, materiel to be used in wartime.