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TIL when future US President James Buchanan was a Senator, he bought his whiskey weekly in 10-gallon quantities from well-known whiskey merchant Jacob Baer in Washington, D.C. Buchanan considered Baer's whiskey to be "finer than the best Monongahela."

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w40E TIL it used to be illegal for men to go bare-chested. After staging protests and getting a flurry of press attention, they finally won the right in the 1930s.
ROk7 TIL Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees in order to make booze for frontiersmen, as the type of apple he planted was almost inedible.
p8orb TIL about an African American man who was shot by authorities during a protest in Boston. His name was Crispus Attucks, and he took two musket balls in the chest. First death of the American Revolution. Attucks was said to be exhibiting "mad behavior" and his shooters were acquitted.
d8mD9 TIL originally, porcelain shipped from China to Europe was packed in tea to prevent breakages. By the late 18th century the demand for tea had grown so dramatically that instead, porcelain was shipped with tea to act as ballast
4XD4X TIL Friction ridge skin impressions (fingerprints) were used as proof of a person’s identity in China over 2000yrs ago.