TODAY is Monday, March 22, the 81st day of 2010. There are 284 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1765, Britain enacted the Stamp Act of 1765 to raise money from the American colonies. (The Act was repealed the following year.)

In 1820, US naval hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron near Washington, DC.

In 1882, US President Chester Alan Arthur signed a measure outlawing polygamy.

In 1917, the United States became the first country to recognise the provisional government of Russia after the fall of the monarchy.

In 1945, the Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.

In 2000, journeying to the cradle of Christianity, Pope John Paul II knelt and prayed in Bethlehem at the traditional spot of Jesus' birth.

In 2004, top Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City.

Thought for Today

"Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?" — Marcel Marceau, French mime (1923-2007).