From Historynet: Today in History March 10

49               Julius Caesar  crosses the Rubicon and invades Italy.

241             The Roman fleet sinks 50 Carthaginian ships in the Battle of Aegusa.

515             The building of the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem is completed.

1656          In the colony of Virginia, suffrage is extended to all free men regardless of their religion.

1776          ""Common Sense" by Thomas Paine  is published.

1785          Thomas Jefferson  is appointed minister to France.

1806          The Dutch in Cape Town, South Africa surrender to the British.

1814          Napoleon Bonaparte  is defeated by an allied army at the Battle of Laon, France.

1848          The treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo is signed which ends the United States' war with Mexico.

1876          Alexander Graham Bell  makes the first telephone call to Thomas Watson  saying "Watson, come here. I need you."

1893          New Mexico State University cancels its first graduation ceremony, because the only graduate was robbed and killed the night before.

1902          The Boers of South Africa score their last victory over the British, capturing British General Methuen  and 200 men.

1910          Slavery is abolished in China.

1924          The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York state law forbidding late-night work for women.

1927          Prussia lifts its Nazi ban, Adolf Hitler  is allowed to speak in public.

1933          Nevada becomes the first U.S. state to regulate drugs.

1941          Vichy France threatens to use its navy unless Britain allows food to reach France.

1943          Adolf Hitler  calls 

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel  back from Tunisia in North Africa.

1944          The Irish refuse to oust all Axis envoys and deny the accusation of spying on Allied troops.

1945          American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, killing 100,000.

1947          The Big Four meet in Moscow to discuss the future of Germany.

1948          Author Zelda Fitzgerald  (wife of 

F. Scott ) dies in a fire at Highland Hospital.

1953          North Korean gunners at Wonsan fire on the USS Missouri, the ship responds by firing 998 rounds at the enemy position.

1954          President Dwight Eisenhower  calls Senator Joseph McCarthy  a peril to the Republican Party.

1966          The North Vietnamese capture a Green Beret camp at Ashau Valley.

1969          James Earl Ray  pleads guilty to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King  and is sentenced to 99 years in jail.

1971          The Senate approves a Constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18.

1975          The North Vietnamese Army attacks the South Vietnamese town of Buon Ma Thout, the offensive will end with total victory in Vietnam.

1980          Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini , lends his support to the militants holding the American hostages in Tehran.

1982          The United States bans Libyan oil imports, because of the continued support of terrorism.

1987           The Vatican condemns surrogate parenting as well as test-tube and artificial insemination.