February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 333 days remaining until the end of the year or 334 days in a leap year.^[1] In the United States, it is observed as National Freedom Day, a commemoration established by President Harry S. Truman in 1949 to honor the signing by President Abraham Lincoln on February 1, 1865, of the joint congressional resolution proposing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery.^[2][3][4] Significant events associated with the date include the convening of the first session of the Supreme Court of the United States on February 1, 1790, in New York City, marking the initial operation of the judicial branch under the Constitution.^[5] On February 1, 1861, Texas approved its Ordinance of Secession by a convention vote, becoming the seventh state to declare independence from the Union amid escalating sectional tensions leading to the Civil War.^[6][7] These milestones underscore the date's recurring role in pivotal American legal, political, and constitutional developments.^[8]

Events

Pre-1600

In 1327, Edward III was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey, aged 14, following the forced abdication of his father Edward II; effective control of the realm remained with Edward's mother, Queen Isabella of France, and her ally Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, until a coup in 1330 restored the young king's personal authority.^[9] On February 1, 1587, Elizabeth I signed the death warrant authorizing the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin and rival claimant to the English throne, whom English authorities had convicted of treason for involvement in the Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth and install Mary as queen; Mary was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle on February 8.^[10][9]

1601–1900

In 1622, an alliance between the English East India Company and Safavid Persia captured the Portuguese-held island fortress of Ormuz in the Strait of Hormuz, severing Portugal's monopoly on lucrative spice and silk trade routes in the Persian Gulf and marking a key victory in European colonial rivalries. On February 1, 1709, Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued from Juan Fernández Islands after four years of self-imposed exile, an ordeal that provided Daniel Defoe with the primary inspiration for his 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe, influencing maritime survival narratives and colonial adventure literature. February 1, 1790, marked the inaugural session of the United States Supreme Court in New York City, with Chief Justice John Jay presiding over a brief meeting that established the judicial branch's operational framework under the recently ratified Constitution. France's National Convention declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic on February 1, 1793, initiating the broader War of the First Coalition during the French Revolutionary Wars, as revolutionary leaders sought to export republican ideals amid internal radicalization and external monarchist threats. The Texas secession convention adopted the Ordinance of Secession on February 1, 1861, by a vote of 166 to 8, formally dissolving the state's union with the United States in response to disputes over slavery and states' rights, paving the way for Texas's joining of the Confederacy weeks later.^[11]

1901–present

On February 1, 1917, Imperial Germany proclaimed the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against all merchant shipping in the Atlantic Ocean, abandoning prior restraints to maximize U-boat effectiveness amid World War I stalemate, a decision that prompted the United States to sever diplomatic relations days later and declare war in April.^[12] On February 1, 1933, Chancellor Adolf Hitler requested and obtained the dissolution of the Reichstag from President Paul von Hindenburg, paving the way for new elections amid political instability and enabling the Nazi Party's consolidation of power through subsequent violence and the Enabling Act.^[9] The United States launched Explorer 1, its first artificial satellite, on February 1, 1958 (UTC), from Cape Canaveral using a modified Jupiter-C rocket; the 31-pound payload, designed by James Van Allen, detected the Van Allen radiation belts and marked America's entry into the Space Race four months after Sputnik 1.