Today in History for Nov. 13: On this date: In 354, African theologian Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, was born in Numidia, now Algeria. Augustine wrote many works that had a dominant influence on later Western Christian theology.
In 1637, Sir David Kirk was made co-proprietor and governor general of Newfoundland by King Charles I. Kirk, a privateer, had captured Quebec from the French in 1629. In 1705, slaves in New France were declared ‘movable property'.
In 1775, American revolutionary forces led by General Richard Montgomery captured Montreal after Gov. Gen. Guy Carleton surrendered the city.
In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." In 1794, U.S.
President George Washington sent an army into western Pennsylvania to put down the Whiskey Rebellion, which was provoked by an excise tax in 1791. In 1805, Viennese butcher Johann Lahner invented a new sausage -- he called it a frankfurter. In 1833, the scientific study of meteors began when more than 200,000 shooting stars were sighted over eastern North America.
The spectacle prompted many to believe the world was coming to an end. In 1914, New York debutante Mary Phelps Jacob was granted the first patent for a brassiere. In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to the public, providing access between lower Manhattan and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.
In 1936, King Edward VIII told Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin he intended to marry twice.
