History in 30th Mar

Reagan assassination attempt

President Ronald Reagan is shot by John Hinckley, Jr. while leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. While aiming at Reagan Hinckley also wounded White House Press Secretary James Brady, Washington D.C. police officer Timothy Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. Hinckley was later found not guilty due to insanity, and is currently confined to a mental institution.
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15th amendment adopted

Secretary of State Hamilton Fish announces the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which grants suffrage to all men of voting age, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or former servitude. While many African-Americans voted during Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws imposed on them disenfranchised millions of minority voters due to poll taxes, literacy tests, and widespread voter intimidation.
Seward purchases Alaska

Secretary of State William Seward finalizes the Alaska Purchase from the Russian Empire for $7.2 million, with the Senate confirming the treaty ten days later. The purchase, satirized as "Seward's Folly", would prove its value as gold, oil, and other natural resources, not to mention natural beauty, would later be discovered across Alaska.
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