1499 | Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the European explorer who discovered California, was born.
1639 | Cambridge College renamed Harvard after cleric John Harvard.
1677 | Massachusetts bought title to Maine for $6,000.
1775 | Tax Revolt: Westminster, Vermont massacre.
1778 | War of Independence: France informed England of their Treaty of Alliance with the US; England responds with a declaration of war against France.
1798 | POTUS: Future First Lady Abigail Filmore was born.
1779 | Composer Oliver Shaw was born.
1855 | Astronomer Percival Lowell was born.
1868 | Congress: Senate began the impeachment trial of President Johnson.
1869 | Civil Rights: The Arkansas legislature banned Ku Klux Klan membership.
1877 | 15-year old Chester Greenwood patented earmuffs.
1884 | Entrepreneur Leland Stanford died.
1896 | Author Dorothy Aldis was born.
1897 | San Diego University was formed.
1901 | POTUS: President Harrison died.
1906 | Susan B. Anthony died.
1908 | Entrepreneur Walter Annenberg was born.
1911 | Author and cleric L. Ron Hubbard was born.
1914 | Medal of Honor recipient Edward “Butch” O’Hare was born.
1916 | Politician Lindy Boggs was born.
1920 | Entrepreneur Ralph J. Roberts was born.
1925 | Civil Rights: Tennessee banned (the Butler Act) teaching evolution in government schools, leading to the Scopes Trial.
1930 | Congress: The the Smoot-Hawley Tariff passed.
1933 | Songwriter Mike Stoller was born.
1937 | Entrepreneur and inventor Elihu Thompson died.
1938 | Lawyer Clarence Darrow died.
1941 | Poet Elizabeth Madox Roberts died.
1942 | Engineer Dave Cutler was born in Lansing, Michigan.
1943 | Banker J.P. Morgan, Jr. died.
1943 | Poet Stephen Vincent Benét died.
1950 | Journalist Charles Krauthammer was born.
1956 | Entrepreneur Jamie Dimon was born.
1960 | Engineer Stuart Sullivan was born in East Lansing, Michigan.
1985 | Actor Emile Hirsch was born.
1987 | Race car driver Marco Andretti was born.
2006 | Actress Maureen Stapleton died.
2009 | Author James Purdy died.
2019 | Civil Rights: Republican President Trump established a national monument at the home of Myrie and Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi.
2020 | Grand Rapids, Michigan native Breonna Taylor was mistakenly shot by police in Louisville, Kentucky and killed.
2022 | Actor William Hurt died.