26Saloop
Saloop was a drink made out of ground orchid tubers, which was a popular 18th century alternative to coffee or tea until it became rumored to cure venereal disease. After that drinking it in public became shameful.
27. In 1777, a girl named Sybil Ludington went on a night ride to warn American forces of the approaching British. She rode 40 miles which was more than twice the distance covered by Paul Revere. She started the ride at 9 p.m. and ended the ride around dawn. She was only 16 years old at that time.
28. One of the 13 articles in the 1781 US Articles of Confederation states that if Canada wants to be admitted into the United States, it will automatically be accepted.
29. There have been 5 attempts to ban coffee throughout history, the last attempt being in 1777 by Frederick the Great of Prussia who issued a manifesto declaring beer’s superiority over coffee. He believed that coffee interfered with the country’s beer consumption.
30. In December 1777, Morocco became the first nation to recognize the United States, and together they maintain the United States' longest unbroken treaty.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Ewen MacDonald
A man named Ewen MacDonald was hanged in 1752 but regained consciousness after being taken to the dissection theatre. When the surgeon who was meant to dissect his body discovered the supposedly dead man sitting upright on the operating table, he promptly bludgeoned MacDonald to death with a mallet.
32. Macaroni was an 18th-century expression for fops who dressed in high fashion with tall, powdered wigs. The joke being made in "Yankee Doodle" is that Americans were allegedly naive enough to believe that a feather in the hat was a sufficient mark of a macaroni.
33. 18th Century Norwegian swashbuckler Peter Tordenskjold once ran out of ammo during a sea battle so he sent his enemy a letter thanking him for “a fine duel” and asking him to send more ammo so they could carry on. The two crews then toasted each other’s health and went their separate ways.
34. Whipping Tom was the nickname given to two serial spankers in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. "On seeing an unaccompanied woman, he would grab her, lift her dress, and slap her buttocks repeatedly before fleeing. He would sometimes accompany his attacks by shouting “Spanko!”
35. In the 18th century, a clockmaker named John Harrison claimed that he could build a clock that was accurate to within a second over a 100-day period. It triggered widespread ridicule during that time. A clock was built to his exact specifications only in 2015. It was declared the “most accurate mechanical clock.”
