February 10, 1763

1763 The Treaty of Paris was signed officially ending the French and Indian War. Among the treaty’s provisions was a stipulation that the middle of the Mississippi River would be the dividing line between British and French claims. Britain restored Cuba to Spain, which in turn gave up all claims to Florida and other claims to the east of the Mississippi River. Although Georgia was not mentioned in the treaty, the impact on the colony was that its new western boundary was the Mississippi River. Before, Georgia’s western boundary claim had been the Pacific Ocean.

February 10, 1787

1787 Georgia’s House of Assembly named William Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Pierce, George Walton, William Houston, and Nathaniel Pendleton as Georgia’s commissioners to the Philadelphia constitutional convention.

February 10, 1787

1787 Gov. George Mathews signed an act of the House of Assembly making it illegal for any person to "wilfully or maliciously cut out or disable the tongue, put out an eye, slit the nose, bite or cut off the ear, nose or lipp, or cut off or disable any limb or member of any person or persons within this State, in so doing, to maim or disfigure in any of the manners before mentioned." The penalty for the first offense was a fine of ??100 (half of which went to the injured person) and having to stand in the pillory for up to two hours.

February 10, 1907

1907 Civil rights activist and politician Grace Towns Hamilton was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her undergraduate degree from hometown Atlanta University, before completing her master’s degree at Ohio State University. She held teaching positions at the Atlanta School of Social Work, Clark College, and LeMoyne College in Memphis, while maintaining an active interest in the civil rights movement. Hamilton served as executive director of the Atlanta Urban League from 1943-1960, and also sat on the board of the Southern Regional Council and the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, as well as many other voluntary positions. But she made her most lasting mark by becoming the first African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1965. She served in Georgia House of Representatives until 1984. Today, a chair in the Emory University political science department is named in her honor.

February 10, 1939

1939 Gov. E.D. Rivers signed a joint resolution calling on Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt to expedite construction of a flood control/hydroelectric dam at Clark’s Hill on the Savannah River. Despite Roosevelt’s Georgia connections, construction of what would become known as the Clarks Hill Reservoir did not begin until 1946, with the dam and lake completed in 1954. In the 1980s, the name of the reservoir was changed to J. Strom Thurmond Lake and Dam.

February 10, 1946

1946 Georgia-born Jackie Robinson -- major league baseball’s first black player -- married Rachel Isum.

February 10, 1964

1964 After 12 days of debate and voting on 125 amendments, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a vote of 290-130. The bill prohibited any state or local government or public facility from denying access to anyone because of race or ethnic origin. It further gave the U.S. Attorney General the power to bring school desegregation law suits. The bill allowed the federal government the power to bring school desegregation law suits and to cut off federal funds to companies or states who discriminated. It forbade labor organizations or interstate commercial companies from discriminating against workers due to race or ethnic origins. Lastly, the federal government could compile records of denial of voting rights. After passage in the House, the bill went to the Senate, which after 83 days of debate passed a similar package on June 19 by a vote of 73 to 27. President Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation on July 2. Later, future Georgia governor Lester Maddox would become the first person prosecuted under the Civil Rights Act.

February 10, 1967

1967 The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. That amendment provided that in the case of a vice president’s become president, the new president would name a new vice president, subject to confirmation by a majority vote of both houses of Congress.