272 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (d. 337) was born.
380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I, with co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II, declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to trinitarian Christianity.
1617 – Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: the House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America.
1801 – Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
1860 – Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
1861 – Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters.
1864 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
1922 – A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.
1932 – Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress (d. 2011) was born.
1933 – Reichstag fire: Germany’s parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.
1934 – Ralph Nader, American lawyer, author, and activist was born.
1939 – United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners’ rights and are therefore illegal.
1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14
1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
1961 – The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.
1964 – The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
1973 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
1986 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that “Kuwait is liberated”.
2002 – Godhra train burning: a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya;
2004 – The initial version of the John Jay Report, with details about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States, is released.
2007 – The former Vice-President Al Gore is accused of hypocrisy for ‘guzzling energy’ while he lectures the world on climate change. A Tennessee-based free market think-tank said that Gore’s home used more than twenty times the national average of gas and electricity. A spokeswoman for Mr. Gore said he was trying to reduce his carbon emissions by using sustainable energy sources. His climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth won an Oscar.
2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii shortly after.
2012 – Pakistan has demolished the compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces in May of 2011. No reasons were given for the demolition but it is likely that the authorities did not want it to be turned into a shrine for the al-Queda leader.
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