>>14176290 lb
Biden's remark about 150 years ago being on the Judiciary Committee:
Some happenings in 1871:
Queen Victoria's son, Albert Edward began conducting royal public appearances, and in this year, he led the opening of the Thames Embankment. Started in 1862, the Victoria Embankment starting from Millbank on the main, north (lef bank) was primarily designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette with architectural work on the embankment wall and river stairs by Charles Henry Driver. It incorporated the main low level interceptor sewer from the then limits of west London's growth, and an underground railway over which a wide road and riverside walkway were built and run today, shored up by the sturdy retaining wall along the tidal River Thames (the Tideway). In total, Bazalgette's scheme reclaimed 22 acres of land from the river. It prevented flooding, such as around what had been the remnants of Thorney Island, much of which was owned by the Duke of Westminster. Those waterfront hotels, supply warehouses and genteel "town houses" which had boat access by inlets and watergates lost this. From Battersea Bridge in the west, it includes Cheyne Walk, Chelsea Embankment, Grosvenor Road, Millbank, and Victoria Tower Gardens. Beyond the Houses of Parliament, it is named Victoria as it stretches to Blackfriars Bridge. This stretch incorporates part of the shared District/Circle Line bi-directional tunnel of the London Underground and passes Shell Mex House and the Savoy Hotel. It likewise incorporates gardens and open space, here at their greatest, and collectively known as the Embankment Gardens, which provide a peaceful oasis in the heart of Central London. The smaller and shorter Albert Embankment is on the south side of the river, opposite the Millbank section of the Thames Embankment. It was created by Bazalgette for the Metropolitan Board of Works and built by William Webster between July, 1866 and November, 1869. The Thames and Albert embankments are but a fraction of the 200 miles of walls that prevent the Thames from flooding adjoining lands, and which were begun in the Middle Ages.
Also the year, the Paris Commune, a group of anti-government Parisians, held the city for two months, resulting in a bloody conflict, putting down the uprising. As a result, Karl Marx wrote '"The Civil War in France"', defending the Commune.
Also this year, Randolph Spencer-Churchill and his older brother George were initiated into the rites of Freemasonry in the Churchill Lodge in London.
January, 1871: The unification of Germany had occurred, after which Otto Von Bismark reunited the Holy Alliance of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The Rothschild bank in Paris, headed by Alphonse, raised five billion francs France was to repay in reparations to the newly formed German Empire, and he also aided in stabilizing the economy.
Also this year, with Germany having emerged as a nation-state, at this time it developed a "special relationship" with Iran existing still today. Two years after Germany was put on the map as a new country, Nassereddin Shah of Iran arrived in Berlin for a state visit of unprecedented pomp. It is not hard to see why the two sides warmed up to each other. For over a century Iran had looked for a European power capable of counter-balancing the Russian and British empires having nibbled at the edges of Iranian territory in pursuit of their colonial ambitions. As for Germans, they saw Iran as their sole potential ally in a Middle East dominated by Britain and Russia.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4556/germans-iran
Also at this time, the Vatican enacts their Pastor aeternus, "The eternal shepherd", Pius IX defining papal infallibility.
Also this year, Mayer Rothschild was the first Jewish member of the House of Lords of Prussia.
February 24, 1871: Georgia adopted the 15th amendment, and was admitted to Congress, the last of the former Confederate states.
October 8, 1871: The Great Chicago Fire occurred.