1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.
1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
1836 – Texans celebrate the first Texas Independence Day with the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, officially broke Texas from Mexico, and creating the Republic of Texas.
1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.
1847 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-American engineer, invented the Telephone (d. 1922) was born.
1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail.
1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Canada as recorded in The Montreal Gazette.
1882 – Charles Ponzi, Italian businessman (d. 1949) was born.
1901 – George Gilman, American businessman, founded The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (b. 1826) died.
1905 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly, the Duma.
1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy.
1913 – Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C.
1915 – NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded.
1918 – Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia’s involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time.
1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.
1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1939 – In Mumbai, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest at the autocratic rule in India.
1943 – World War II: In London, England, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
1945 – World War II: The RAF accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.
1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records “Rocket 88″, often cited as “the first rock and roll record”, at Sam Phillips’ recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
1991 – In concurrent referenda, 74% of the population of Latvia votes for independence from the Soviet Union, and 83% in Estonia.
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