Friday, August 21st. The American Bar Association was founded on this date in 1878 in Saratoga Springs, New York. One-hundred attorneys from 21 states were present at its first meeting. The legal profession then was far different from what we know today. There was no National Code of Ethics, lawyers generally worked alone and trained under a system of apprenticeship. Today, there are some 1.27 million lawyers in the U.S., as the ever-swelling number of civil and criminal cases, and federal and local regulatory requirements, engages the profession. Washington, D.C. has the greatest number of lawyers per capita, with about 52,000 in a population of 659,000. Across the U.S, there are about 187,000 legal services establishments. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.
Saturday, August 22nd. Two ordinary items found in many or most American households both trace their creation by New York City residents to this date in August. In 1865, the first liquid soap was patented by William Sheppard. His formula flowed from mixing a pound of regular soap with 100 pounds of ammonia solution, then dissolving it in water to the consistency of molasses. And in 1939, Julian Seth Kahn received a patent for an “apparatus for mixing a liquid with a gas” — a spray can for whipped cream. Of course, aerosols didn’t stop with whipped cream. Today in the U.S., soap and detergent manufacturing is a $23 billion a year business. The 161 metal can manufacturing establishments make over $15 billion in annual sales. Profile America is in its 19th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sunday, August 23rd. The War of Independence was barely over when the young United States faced a secession movement. On this date in 1784, several counties in a vast territory appended to North Carolina combined to seek admittance as the state of Franklin. These counties were on the eastern fringe of the large tract stretching from the Allegheny Mountains to the Mississippi. In 1785, Franklin fell short of the votes in Congress for admittance, but existed for a few years as an independent republic. Reabsorbed into U.S. territory in the 1790s, the area now forms the northeast portion of Tennessee. If the notional state of Franklin existed today, the latest Census estimates of its counties’ population is around 893,000, and would make it 46th in size among 51 states and the District of Columbia. Profile America is in its 19th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.