1566 – Nostradamus, [Michel de Nostre-Dam], French astrologist, dies at 62
1776 – The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not approved until July 4.
(1776 – Continental Congress resolves “these United Colonies are & of right ought to be Free & Independent States”)
1776 – NJ Jersey gives the right to vote to all adults who could show a net worth of 50 pounds
1777 – Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery.
1787 – Marquis de Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered
1822 – Thirty-five slaves are hanged in South Carolina, including Denmark Vesey, after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion.
1823 – Bahia Independence Day: the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship Amistad.
1843 - An alligator falls from sky during a thunderstorm in Charleston, South Carolina
1849 – Garibaldi begins hunger strike in Rome
1877 – Hermann Hesse, Switzerland, novelist/poet (Steppenwolf, Nobel 1946), (d. 1962) born
“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else … Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
1881 – Charles J. Guiteau allegedly shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from an infection on September 19.
1890 – The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
1897 – Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.
1890 – Congress passes Sherman Antitrust Act
1894 – Government obtains injunction against striking Pullman Workers
1900 – The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
1901 – Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid rob train of $40,000 at Wagner, Montana
1908 – Thurgood Marshall, 1st African American Supreme Court justice (1967-91), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1993)
1915 – Erich Muenter, an instructor in German at Cornell University, explodes a bomb in the US Senate reception room
1916 – Lenin says Imperialism is caused by capitalism
1916 – Barry Gray, [Bernard Yaroslaw], interviewer (started call-in radio) Born
1917 – The East St. Louis Riots end.
1921 – World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Imperial Germany.
1928 – British parliament reduces the age at women can vote to 21 – the same as men (Representation of the People Act 1928)
1934 – The Night of the Long Knives ends with the death of Ernst Röhm.
1937 – Richard Petty, American NASCAR Driver (Daytona 500 – 1979 & 81), born in Level Cross, North Carolina
1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.
1939 – Paul Williams, American singer and choreographer (The Temptations) (d. 1973) was born.
1940 – Lake Washington (Seattle) Floating bridge dedicated
1940 – Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta.
1942 – Vicente Fox, Mexican businessman and politician, 35th President of Mexico was BIRTHED.
1947 – Military coup discovered in France
1947 – Larry David, Brooklyn NY, actor/comedian/writer (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm) Born
1951 – Leidse astronomers discover radio signal out of Milky Way system
1956 – Elvis Presley records “Hound Dog” & “Don’t Be Cruel”
1956 – Jerry Hall, Mesquite Tx, model/Mrs Mick Jagger (Batman, Freejack) Born
1957 – Bret Hart, Canadian wrestler and actor was born.
1959 – “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, one of the worse films ever, premieres
1961 – Ernest Hemingway, American author and Nobel laureate, dies from suicide at 61
1962 – Cubans minister of Foreign affairs Raul Castro arrives in Moscow
1962 – Fidel Castro visits Moscow
1962 – The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964 – Glenn “Fireball” Roberts, biggest NASCAR money winner, dies in crash
1964 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.
1970 – The Prevention of Incitement to Hatred Act (Northern Ireland) is introduced; it proved difficult to secure convictions under its provisions and was seldom enforced
1971 – Troy Brown, Superbowl winning NFL wide receiver (NE Patriots) Born
1972 – Two Catholic civilians are shot and killed in Belfast by Loyalist paramilitaries, probably the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
1972 – Joseph F Smith Jr, leader US mormon chuch, dies at 95
1973 – Betty Grable, US actress (How to Marry a Millionaire), dies at 56
1973 – Swede Savage, dies of injuries at Indianapolis 500
1976 – Formal reunification of North & South Vietnam
1976 – Supreme Court rules death penalty not inherently cruel or unusual
1976 – Ramble Inn attack: the Ulster Volunteer Force killed 6 civilians (5 Protestants, 1 Catholic) in a gun attack at a pub near Antrim; the pub was targeted because it was owned by Catholics
1977 – Vladimir V Nabokov, Russian/US writer (Lolita), dies at 78
1979 – Susan B. Anthony dollar is issued, 1st US coin to honor a woman
1980 – Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir & Mickey Hart are arrested for incitement
1982 – In South Africa, the Internal Security Act is passed, giving massive powers to the authorities to investigate any organization or publication
1986 – General strike against Pinochet regime in Chile
1986 – US Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in 2 rulings
1990 – Panic in tunnel of Mecca: 1,426 pilgrims trampled to death
1990 – Imelda Marcos & Adnan Khashoggi found “not guilty” of racketeering
1991 – Riot at Guns N’ Roses concert in St Louis
1991 – Lee Remick, actress (Days of Wine & Roses), dies of cancer at 55
1993 – Fred Gwynne, actor (Herman-Munsters), dies of pancreatic cancer at 66
1994 – Andres Escobar, Colombia world cup soccer star, shot for losing to US
1997 – Jimmy Stewart, American actor (It’s a Wonderful Life), dies at 89
1999 – Mario Puzo, American author, dies at 78
2000 – Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
AND…………..
2001 – Bush Administration announce that it will seek to let oil companies drill on about 1,500,000 acres of the Gulf of Mexico
2001 – UN Security Council, facing an almost certain Russian veto, agrees to postpone indefinitely a vote on the US-led “smart sanctions” package for Iraq
2001 – AbioCor self contained artificial heart created.
2003 – Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, insults German MP Martin Schulz by calling him a “kapo” during a session of the European Parliament.
2005 – The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa, More than 1,000 musicians performed and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.
2007 – Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano (b. 1929)
2010 – Oil tanker truck explosion in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, kills at least 230 people
2012 – GlaxoSmithKline settles the largest healthcare fraud case in history for US$3 Billion
2012 – Ben Davidson, American professional footballer and actor, dies from prostate cancer at 72
2013 – 16 people are killed and 200 are injured in protest clashes at Cairo University against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi
2014 – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is criminally charged with corruption by French prosecutors (REINSTATED AS PRESIDENT 2015)