March 2

March 2 is the 62nd day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1776 to 1962 — a span of 186 years. The entry that anchors it: Texas Revolution, 1836.

In the years around independence, the date turns political. In 1776, American Revolutionary War — Patriot militiamen from Georgia and South Carolina attempted to resist the British action to seize and remove supply ships anchored at Savannah, Georgia.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1807, the U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country. Then, in 1836, Texas Revolution — at a convention of delegates in Washington-on-the-Brazos, the Mexican state of Texas adopted a declaration of independence, establishing the Republic of Texas.

In the postwar nineteenth century the date tracks a nation rebuilding. In 1867, the U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act. Ten years on, in 1877, Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.

In the first half of the twentieth century the date turns technological. In 1901, the U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops. Then, in 1937, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1962, Playing for the Philadelphia Warriors, American basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks, which remains an NBA record.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on March 2: DeWitt Clinton (1769), American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of New York; Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779), American physician and politician, 15th United States Secretary of War; Sam Houston (1793), American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas; Alexander Bullock (1816), American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Massachusetts; and Carl Schurz (1829), German-American general, lawyer, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior.

March 2 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Ulric Dahlgren (1864), American colonel; Jubal Early (1896), American general; Champ Clark (1921), American lawyer and politician, 41st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and Ben Harney (1938), American pianist and composer.

The date carries formal observance as well — National Read Across America Day (United States). March 2 carries 8 entries spread across 186 years. None of the people in them knew they were sharing a date; that is a pattern only visible looking back.