On This Day
What Happened on December 12 in History
8 events that happened on December 12, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
Colonial America and the Revolution
1787
Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
The ratifying convention voted 46 to 23. Pennsylvania was the first large state to approve the Constitution and the first where opponents mounted a serious challenge.
Source: history.com; govinfo.gov
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1870
Joseph Rainey of South Carolina became the first African American member of the U.S. House.
Rainey won a special election with more than 86 percent of the vote to fill a vacant seat. He went on to serve on a range of committees during his years in Congress.
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1901
Guglielmo Marconi received the first radio signal sent across the Atlantic Ocean.
Listening on Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland, with an antenna held aloft by a kite, Marconi picked up the Morse code letter "s" sent from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, more than 2,000 miles away.
Source: history.com; pbs.org
1937
Japanese warplanes sank the U.S. gunboat Panay on China's Yangtze River.
The neutral, clearly marked vessel was escorting American evacuees from Nanking. Two sailors and a civilian were killed, and Japan, calling the attack a mistake, paid $2 million in reparations.
Source: history.com
The Cold War
1963
Kenya became independent from Britain.
Independence came a decade after the Mau Mau uprising against colonial rule, which Britain had crushed at great human cost. The United States recognized the new nation the same day.
Source: history.com; history.state.gov
1967
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," a landmark film about interracial marriage, opened in theaters.
Sidney Poitier played a Black doctor engaged to a white woman whose parents were played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. It was Tracy and Hepburn's last film together.
Source: history.com
The Modern Era
2000
The Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore halted the Florida recount in the presidential election.
The decision overturned a Florida Supreme Court order for manual recounts of disputed ballots. Vice President Al Gore then conceded, leaving George W. Bush as president-elect.
Source: law.cornell.edu; millercenter.org
2015
World leaders reached the Paris Agreement on climate change at the UN summit in Paris.
The pact, agreed at the COP21 conference, set long-term goals for all nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures.
Source: un.org