en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion
2 corrections found
the creation of the Espionage Act, which passed by Congress in late 1917.
The Espionage Act was enacted on June 15, 1917, not in late 1917.
Full reasoning
This date is off by several months. The U.S. National Archives states that Congress adopted the Espionage Act on June 15, 1917, just two months after the United States entered World War I. Congress.gov likewise refers to the law as the “Act of June 15, 1917”. So describing it as having passed in late 1917 is incorrect.
2 sources
- Defining a Spy: the Espionage Act - Pieces of History
On June 15, 1917, just two months after the United States entered World War I, Congress adopted the Espionage Act.
- Congressional Record | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Act of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 217, chapter 30) (commonly known as the "Espionage Act of 1917").
The island was artificial, created by landfill around a rock of the same name, which had been a local hazard to navigation.
Black Tom was originally a small island, later enlarged with landfill; it was not created entirely as an artificial island.
Full reasoning
This description gets the island’s origin wrong. The Library of Congress says Black Tom was “originally a small island in New York Harbor” and that it was only later connected to the mainland and enlarged with landfill. History.com likewise describes Black Tom as “once a small island.”
So the evidence indicates Black Tom was an existing island that was subsequently expanded by landfill, not an island that was created from scratch around a rock.
2 sources
- WWI-Era Terrorism: Black Tom Island and Anti-German Hysteria | Library of Congress
Although originally a small island in New York Harbor located next to Liberty Island, by 1880, it was connected to the mainland by a causeway, and later, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the owner of the depot, added landfill between 1905 and 1916.
- In 1916, German Terrorists Launched an Attack on American Soil | HISTORY
It was Black Tom, once a small island, that was "the single most important assembly and shipping center in America for munitions and gunpowder being sent to the Allies."