December 20 Birthday
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina voted unanimously to secede from the Union. It was the first state to do so. Within six weeks, ten more states would follow, forming the Confederate States of America. South Carolina's declaration of secession cited "an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery." The Civil War began four months later when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. South Carolina had been the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation and the first to secede — it had a habit of going first. On December 20, 1989, 27,000 US troops invaded Panama to oust Manuel Noriega. The invasion lasted two weeks. 23 Americans and over 300 Panamanians were killed. Noriega took refuge in the Vatican embassy and was eventually coaxed out. He was tried and convicted of drug trafficking in the United States, then extradited to France, then to Panama, where he died in prison in 2017. People born on December 20 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Tanzanite and the birth flower is Holly. Historical events on December 20 include 1803: Louisiana Purchase formally completed — transfer ceremony in New Orleans, 1989: US invades Panama to oust Manuel Noriega (Operation Just Cause), 1860: South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the Union. Famous people born on December 20 include Harvey Firestone (1868), Irene Dunne (1898), Jonah Hill (1983).