Today in history

March 3

1863
In the midst of the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passed a conscription act that produced the first wartime draft of American citizens. The act called for registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, including aliens with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1. Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. This clause led to bloody draft riots in New York City, where protesters were outraged that exemptions were effectively granted only to the wealthiest citizens.

1871
Congress declares that all Native Americans are “wards of state,” nullifying all treaties.

1913
Over 5,000 women march on Washington to demand right to vote.

1961
The Village Council in the Inuit town of Point Hope, Alaska, formally objected, in a letter to President Kennedy, to the chain explosion of five atomic bombs in the nearby above-ground “Project Chariot” tests. The project entailed using atomic explosions to create a harbor near Point Hope in northwest Alaska.

Edward Teller “Father of the hydrogen bomb” arrives to promote plans for Project Chariot

1968
Mexican/Chicano students walf out of Los Angeles high schools, calling for an end to racist policies.
2003
In the first-ever worldwide theatrical act of dissent, at least 1,029 readings of Lysistrata, the Aristophanes anti-war comedy, took place to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Performed in 59 countries (including Iraq), the play tells of Athenian and Spartan women who unite to deny their lovers sex in order to stop the 22-year-long Peloponnesian war. Desperate for intimacy, the men finally agree to lay down their swords and see their way to achieving diplomatic peace.