On February 28, 1933, German President Paul von Hindenburg issued the Presidential Decree for the Protection of People and State in response the burning of the Reichstag (the German Parliament building) on the previous day. More commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, the law suspended many key civil liberties, such as free press, habeas [...]

On February 28, 1877, the US Congress ratified the Manypenny Agreement with the Lakota Sioux, under which the United States took control of 900,000 acres of the Black Hills. Read the ratification act, which includes the terms of the Agreement. The Lakota argue to this day that the Agreement is illegal, was obtained by coercion [...]

On February 27, 1999, Nigerians elected Olusegun Obasanjo as the country’s President, ending 15 years of military rule under a series of dictators.

On February 27, 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, prohibiting a President from being elected to more than two terms in office. Watch Term Limits and American Government, a CATO Institute Policy Forum recorded on the 50th anniversary of the 22nd Amendment in 2001.

On February 26, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the National Banking Act into law, creating the American banking charter system. The Act furthermore created the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) within the Treasury Department. The law was furthermore intended to help raise money for the Civil War by pressing banks to buy federal [...]

On February 26, 1924, Adolf Hitler and several others were put on trial for treason in Munich in connection with an attempted putsch. Learn more about the Munich (or “Beer Hall”) Putsch and the subsequent trial of Hitler and his associates.

On February 25, 1982, In Campbell & Cosans v. The United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that parents can prevent teachers in the United Kingdom from striking their schoolchildren. At the time of the court’s decision, the UK was the only western European nation that permitted corporal punishment in schools.

On February 25, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, creating the Income Tax. Read more from FindLaw on the history and purpose of the 16th Amendment.

On February 24, 1976, the Republic of Cuba promulgated the Socialist Constitution of Cuba. The document solidified the socialist system in Cuba. It was the fifth Cuban constitution since the country’s independence in 1901 and the first since the Cuban revolution in 1959. The Socialist Constitution was subsequently amended in 1992 and 2002.

On February 24, 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall of the US Supreme Court ruled in Marbury v. Madison that any act of Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is null and void, thereby establishing the doctrine of judicial review. Watch an explanatory video featuring Professor Joel Grossman, a constitutional scholar in the Johns Hopkins University [...]