Historical Events on December 12

Here are some historical events that happened on December 12:

1. 1787: Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution.

2. 1800: Washington, D.C. was established as the capital of the United States.

3. 1870: Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first African American to be sworn into the United States House of Representatives.

4. 1917: In World War I, British General Edmund Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot after the Ottoman Empire surrendered the city.

5. 1937: Japanese forces captured the Chinese city of Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, began shortly thereafter.

6. 1941: The United States declared war on Germany and Italy, entering World War II.

7. 1963: Kenya gained its independence from British colonial rule.

8. 1985: Arrow Air Flight 1285, a military charter plane, crashed after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. All 256 people on board, mostly U.S. servicemen, were killed.

9. 2000: The United States Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore effectively ended the recount of presidential ballots in Florida, leading to George W. Bush's victory in the 2000 presidential election.

10. 2015: The Paris Agreement, a global treaty to address climate change, was adopted by 196 countries during the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

These are just a few examples, and many more events, both significant and less known, have occurred on December 12 throughout history.