Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1831-1832 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia (the two Danubian Principalities that were to become the basis of the modern Romanian state). The official onset of a common Russian protectorate lasting until 1854, and itself officially in place until 1858, the document signified a partial confirmation of traditional government (including rule by the hospodars). Conservative in its scope, it also engendered a period of unprecedented reforms which provided a setting for the Westernization of local society. The Regulament offered the two Principalities their first common system of government.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulamentul_Organic

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1606: Guy Fawkes was executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot against the English Parliament and King James I. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes)

1747: The London Lock Hospital, the first clinic specialising in the treatment of venereal diseases, was opened. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Lock_Hospital)

1946: In Yugoslavia, a new constitution established the six constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia)

1961: Aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, Ham the Chimp became the first higher primate to travel in outer space. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_2)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Science is clearly one of the most profound methods that humans have yet devised for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning. Truth and meaning, science and religion; but we still cannot figure out how to get the two of them together in a fashion that both find acceptable... if some sort of reconciliation between science and religion is not forthcoming, the future of humanity is, at best, precarious. -- Ken Wilber (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber)