21 Jan 1738, Ethan Allen, future #RevWar hero & key founder of the Republic of Vermont, is born in Litchfield, Connecticut. This farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, patriot and politician would lead a controversial rough & tumble life .
On this day in 1793, France's King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine before a Paris mob. "I pardon those who have occasioned my death," he supposedly says before the blade falls.