July 12th
Today in America's Present Past
1630 | New Amsterdam's governor buys Gull Island for cargo, renames it Oyster Island, later known as Ellis Island.
1774 | The Citizens of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, passed a Declaration of Independence.
1804 | Alexander Hamilton died from his dueling wounds.
1812 | War of 1812: US forces invade Canada.
1817 | Novelist Henry David Thoreau was born.
1843 | Civil Rights: Mormon cleric Joseph Smith announces that God allows polygamy.
1849 | First Lady Dolley Madison died.
1854 | Entrepreneur George Eastman was born.
1861 | ”Wild Bill" Hickok reputedly shoots and kills David McCanles in Rock Creek, Nebraska Territory; Hickok is later acquitted of murder as the court finds he acted in self-defense.
1862 | Congress: Authorized the Medal of Honor.
1870 | Civil Rights: The first “New York City Orange riot.”
1884 | Director Louis B. Mayer was born.
1885 | Composer Oscar Hammerstein was born.
1892 | Baseball founder Alexander Cartwright died.
1908 | Comedian Milton Berle was born.
1909 | The Sixteenth Amendment is submitted to the states for ratification.
1925 | Entrepreneur Roger Smith was born.
1933 | Congress: Enacts the first minimum wage law.
1937 | Comedian Bill Cosby was born.
1948 | Fitness guru Richard Simmons was born.
1951 | Civil Rights: Eisenhower becomes the first President to ride in a helicopter. , race riot.
1957 | POTUS: Republican President Eisenhower becomes the first President to ride in a helicopter.
1966 | Civil Rights: West Side Race Riots, Chicago, Illinois.
1967 | Civil Rights: A Long, hot summer of riots continues in Newark, New Jersey.
1976 | TV: "Family Feud" game show debuts on ABC.
2024 | Educator Ruth Westheimer died.