1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,200 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Eves. I just wanted to let you 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: know that you'll be hearing an episode from me and 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: an episode from Tracy V. Wilson today. I hope you 4 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: enjoyed the show. Welcome to this Day in History class 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: from how Stuff Works dot com and from the desk 6 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: of Stuff you Missed in History Class. It's the show 7 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: where we explore the past one day at a time 8 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: with a quick look at what happened today in history. Hello, 9 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry. Welcome to the podcast. I am sitting 10 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: in for Tracy V. Wilson this week. It is December, 11 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 1: so if you celebrate Christmas, I hope you're having a 12 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: merry Christmas. But on this day in seventeen fifty eight, 13 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: a very important thing happened. Hallie's comment returned. That was 14 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: important because it had been predicted and it confirmed the 15 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: work that Edmund Halley had been doing. Edmund Halley, you 16 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: will also sometimes hear it pronounced Holly sometimes Haley, but 17 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: Haley is generally considered wrong, and whether Hallie or Holly 18 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: is correct is a matter of some debate. I'm going 19 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: with Hallie and Edmund Halley first spotted the comment that 20 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: would later be named for him in six eight two. 21 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: To be clear, this was not the first time this 22 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: comment had been spotted, It was just the first time 23 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: that Edmund Halley saw it. Comments prior to Halley's work 24 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: in astronomy were often associated with an assortment of misconceptions. Historically, 25 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: they had been thought to be omens sent by deities, 26 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: harbingers of some sort, or sometimes just unpredictable and unexplained 27 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: anomalies of the sky. In Sight four, Hallie paid a 28 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: visit to Isaac Newton to discuss issues of celestial motion, 29 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: and this meeting has become in and of itself something 30 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: of a famed moment in astronomy history, a pivotal discussion 31 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: that resulted in an expansion of human knowledge regarding how 32 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: the universe works. Newton, working on some of the ideas 33 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,639 Speaker 1: that he and Halle had discussed and sort of putting 34 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: together some of the things that he had already been 35 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: working on, eventually published his work Mathematical Principles of Natural 36 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: Philosophy that's also known common only as Prince Shipia, which 37 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: is an abbreviation of its original Latin title and how 38 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: he actually edited Prince Shipia and he paid for his printing. 39 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: He believed in it so much so he became intimately 40 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: acquainted with its contents, including Newton's calculations on elliptical orbits. 41 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,239 Speaker 1: Edmund Halley began meticulously analyzing the orbits of twenty four 42 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: comets sightings that were on record. It was using those 43 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: calculations that Halley noticed that the orbits of the comets 44 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: that had been seen and reported in Fife and sixteen 45 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: o seven appeared to be the same one that he 46 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: had seen in sixteen two. With additional examination of the 47 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: data he had available, Edmund Halley determined that the comment 48 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: was on an orbit that took about seventy six years 49 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: to circle the Sun, with variables such as planetary gravity 50 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: shifting the time to be slightly longer or shorter, and 51 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: using that information, he then predicted that the comet would 52 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: once again fly by the Earth in late seventeen fifty 53 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: eight or release seventeen fifty nine. When Halle initially made 54 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: this prediction, he seemed pretty confident about it, writing quote, 55 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: I can undertake confidently to predict the return of the 56 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: comment in seventeen fifty eight, though over the years his 57 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: language and discussing this whole matter became less assertive. He 58 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: started saying things like I may venture to foretell in 59 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: a preface to discussing his prediction, But throughout he was 60 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: constantly refining his astronomical tables, and eventually he felt fairly 61 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: certain once again of the time frame that he had 62 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: set for the commets predicted return. And there were other 63 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: astronomers working on this idea as well. Alexis Claude Cleirout, 64 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: for example, came to the conclusion that the comment would 65 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: return in seventeen fifty nine, in the spring, not seventeen 66 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: fifty eight. Edmund Halley died in seventeen forty two, so 67 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: he did not live long enough to see if his 68 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: prediction was accurate, and he knew that would be the case, 69 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: and he famously wrote, quote, if it should return according 70 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: to our predictions, impartial posterity will not refuse to acknowledge 71 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: that this was first discovered by an Englishman, and just 72 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: as Edmund Halley had predicted, on Christmas seventeen fifty eight, 73 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: the comet was seen in the night sky, and this 74 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: was lauded as a massive validation for the work of 75 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: both Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley. Shortly after the comets 76 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: Christmas Day reappearance. French astronomer Nicola Luis de la Chai, 77 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 1: who also worked on calculating comet orbits, gave the comet 78 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: Hallie's name. Its official designation is actually one P slash halle. 79 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: Since the eighteenth century, numerous sightings of astronomical events have 80 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: been determined to have been sightings of Halley's comment. The 81 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: oldest documented sighting that is believed to have possibly been 82 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: Halley's commet happened in four sixty six b c E 83 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: and was visible from ancient Greece. The next time the 84 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: comet is expected to pass by Earth is the summer 85 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: of one. I want to thank Eve's Jeff Cote for 86 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: her work on the research for this episode, and Casey 87 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: Pegram and Chandler Mains for they're always incredible and professional 88 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,359 Speaker 1: audio work. If you would like to subscribe to the podcast, 89 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: you can do so. You can find This Day in 90 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: History on Apple Podcasts, on the I Heart Radio app, 91 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: and wherever else you get your podcasts. Stick around tomorrow 92 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: because we're gonna talk a little bit about a fairly 93 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: new holiday tradition. Welcome back, everyone, I'm Eves and you're 94 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 1: listening to This Day in History class a show where 95 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: we peel back a new layer of history every day. 96 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: The day was December one. The Baptist War, also known 97 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,600 Speaker 1: as the Christmas Rebellion, began in the British colony of Jamaica, 98 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,559 Speaker 1: gathering the support of up to sixty thousand enslaved people. 99 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: It was one of the largest slave uprising in the 100 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 1: British West Indies and contributed to Britain's abolition of slavery 101 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: two years later. At the time of the uprising, Jamaica 102 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: was home to more enslaved people than free people. Enslaved 103 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: people were forced to labor on sugar plantations, and harsh 104 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:26,279 Speaker 1: punishments were common. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Enslaved 105 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 1: people led many resistance efforts. Buying and selling enslaved people 106 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: was banned in the British Empire in eighteen o seven, 107 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: but people could continue to own them. But by eighteen 108 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: thirty one, the abolition movement was well underway in the 109 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: United Kingdom and anti slavery resistance was taking place across 110 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: the British Empire. Jamaican planters voiced their opposition to emancipation 111 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: as the issue of slavery was being debated in British Parliament, 112 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: and many black people in Jamaica were taught reading, writing, 113 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: and religion by missionaries. That meant that they too were 114 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: keeping up with a slavery debate across the British Empire. 115 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: Enslaved Baptist preacher Samuel Sharp led many people to believe 116 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: that emancipation was coming soon, or that Britain had granted 117 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: their freedom and the masters were withholding it. And an 118 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: economic downturn that affected impoverished white people made some of 119 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: them allies with enslaved people who called for emancipation. Preachers 120 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: also used Christian theology to argue that they should have 121 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: only one master, and that was Jesus. On top of that, 122 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: many enslaved people believed that Baptist missionary Thomas Burchell would 123 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: return to Jamaica from his trip to England with the 124 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: paper declaring their freedom. When he came back empty handed, 125 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: their anger escalated. Samuel Sharpe, who was afforded limited freedom 126 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: of movement as a leader, went about planning a strike. 127 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: He and other leaders of the resistance encouraged others to 128 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: join the strike. Missionaries discouraged people from joining the effort. 129 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: And refused their assistance, though some were later accused used 130 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: of contributing to the cause regardless, On December one, enslaved 131 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: black labors went on a general strike. Many of the 132 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: strikers were Christian, particularly Baptists. Led by Samuel Sharp, they 133 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: advocated for basic freedoms, better working conditions, and a living wage. 134 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: They refused to return to work until their demands were met, 135 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: but when their demands were refused and words spread that 136 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: the British planned on using force, the strike turned into 137 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,599 Speaker 1: an all out revolt. On December, rebellion erupted on the 138 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: Kensington estate near Montego Bay. They looted and burned plantations 139 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: across western Jamaica, and white people fled town. The uprising 140 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: only lasted until the first week of January as the 141 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: British brutally suppressed it. Troops and militia were sent to 142 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: quell the uprising, and though the rebels put up a fight, 143 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: they were overpowered by the colonial forces. Some scattered resistance continued, 144 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: but plantation owners and the Jamaican government retaliated after the 145 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: rebellion was over by killing many enslaved people and burning 146 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: churches where they worshiped. Around two hundred and seven of 147 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,200 Speaker 1: the enslaved laborers and fourteen white people were killed during 148 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: the uprising. More than three hundred more enslaved people were 149 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: later executed for involvement in the revolt, including Samuel Sharp. 150 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: The Baptist War did not end slavery in Jamaica, it 151 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 1: did help convince more people that slavery was not politically 152 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: viable anymore, as it resulted in a lot of property 153 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: damage and loss of life. In eight thirty three, the 154 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: Parliament of the UK passed the Slavery Abolition Act, making 155 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: the purchase and ownership of enslaved people illegal throughout much 156 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: of the British Empire, leading to emancipation in Jamaica. I'm 157 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:49,719 Speaker 1: each Chef Coote and hopefully you know a little more 158 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can keep 159 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: up with us on social media on Twitter, Facebook, and 160 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:01,080 Speaker 1: Instagram at t d I h C podcast. You can 161 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: also email us at this Day at I heart media 162 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:08,440 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks for listening. I hope to see you 163 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:19,440 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 164 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 165 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.