Good morning, Whitewater.
Summer begins today in Whitewater at 11:39 AM. This first day of summer in town will bring a mix of sunshine and clouds with a high of eighty-four. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 20m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 23.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1788, a necessary ninth state ratified the Constitution:
New Hampshire becomes the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land….
Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new constitution, and on May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after three months of debate moderated by convention president George Washington, the new U.S. constitution, which created a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances, was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.
Beginning on December 7, five states–Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut–ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July.
On this day in 1856, Milwaukee exports to Europe:
On this date the first vessel to leave Milwaukee for a European port departed. Loaded with 14,320 bushels of wheat from H. & J.F. Hill, the Dean Richmond left Milwaukee for Liverpool. She reached her destination on September 29, 1856. [Source: History of Milwaukee, Vol. II, pg. 10]