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TIL of William A. Jackson, a former slave who had served Jefferson Davis. He routinely observed communications between Davis and other Confederate officials. When he fled north in 1861, he gave the Union detailed information about Confederate military deployments, supply issues, and planning.

wolko TIL the Jeffersonians sought to align the American economy more with agriculture than industry. Part of their motive to do so was Jefferson's fear that the over-industrialization of America would create a class of wage slaves who relied on their employers for income and sustenance.
4g8o TIL All humans have the ability to see ultraviolet light, but it is passively filtered out by the eye’s lens. People who undergo surgery to remove the lens can detect ultraviolet light.
gGpW TIL that the difference between inland seas and lakes is that inland seas are formed as the result of oceans spilling over onto land during warm geological periods.
MvXb TIL that due to time dilation its possible to travel anywhere in the galaxy within a human lifetime. A ship accelerating constantly at 1g (earth gravity) could travel to the center of the milky way and back in 40 years.
N45N TIL that a floating British base was abandoned until a rogue DJ moved there. He declared the floating fortress the Principality of Sealand. He raised a flag, named himself Prince and his wife Princess. Sealand withstood court challenges, and remains an independent nation to this day.