1639 – The “Fundamental Orders”, the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut.

1784 – American Revolutionary War: Ratification Day, United States – Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain which officially ended hostilities between the two countries.

1858 – Napoleon III of France escaped an assassination attempt made by Felice Orsini and his accomplices in Paris.

1911 – Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition made landfall on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.

1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill began the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.

1952 – NBC’s long-running morning news program Today debuted with host Dave Garroway.

1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.

1690 – The clarinet was invented in Nürnberg, Germany.

1699 = Massachusetts held day of fasting for wrongly persecuting “witches”.

1785 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his “Dissonanzenquartett / “Dissonance quartet” (opus 10).

1794 – Dr. Jessee Bennet of Edom, Virginia, performed the first successful Cesarean section operation in the US on his wife.

1799 – Eli Whitney received a government contract for 10,000 muskets.

1873  – Prominent African American Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback  was elected to US Senate, though he was never seated due to state elections controversy.

1878 – US Supreme court ruled that race separation on trains was unconstitutional.

1956 – Little Richard released the single “Tutti Frutti”.

1960 – US Army promoted Elvis Presley to Sergeant.

1963 – George Wallace was sworn in as Governor of Alabama.  His address stated “segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever!”

1966 – David Bowie released his first single “Can’t Help Thinking About Me”.

1967 – Counterculture of the 1960s: The Human Be-In took place in San Francisco, California’s Golden Gate Park, which launched the Summer of Love.

1967 – Sonny & Cher released the single “The Beat Goes On”.

1969 – USS Enterprise fire: An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii killed 28 people.

1972 – “Sanford & Son”, starring Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, premiered on NBC.

1973 – Elvis Presley’s concert Aloha from Hawaii was broadcast live via satellite, and set the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.

1976 – “The Bionic Woman” with Lindsay Wagner debuted on ABC.

1977 “Fantasy Island” starring Ricardo Montalbán and Hervé Villechaize premiered on ABC.

1977 – RCA released David Bowie’s 11th studio album, “Low”.

1978 -Sex Pistols held their final concert  (Winterland, San Francisco).

1979 – US President Jimmy Carter proposed that Martin Luther King’s birthday be a holiday.

---

To report an issue or typo with this article – CLICK HERE