July 4th
Today in America's Present Past
1645 | Zipporah Potter Atkins, the first African American to own property, was born.
1774 | Orangetown Resolutions adopted in New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts.
1776 | War of Independence: The Declaration of Independence is publicly proclaimed.
1789 | POTUS: The first U.S. tariff act was signed by President Washington.
1796 | The first Independence Day celebration is held.
1802 | The U.S. Military Academy opens at West Point, NY.
1804 | Novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne was born.
1816 | Entrepreneur Hiram Walker was born.
1826 | POTUS: President Adams died.
1826 | POTUS: President Jefferson died.
1826 | Composer Stephen Foster was born.
1827 | Slavery was abolished in New York.
1831 | “America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" is performed for the first time at Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts.
1831 | POTUS: President Monroe died.
1845 | Essayist Henry David Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond.
1847 | Circus entertainer James Anthony Bailey was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1855 | “Leaves of Grass” is published by Walt Whitman.
1857 | “Dead-rabbit” riots start in New York City.
1872 | POTUS: President John Calvin Coolidge was born.
1875 | Civil Rights: White Democrats kill several African Americans in terrorist attacks in Vicksburg, Tennessee.
1881 | Booker T. Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute (Alabama).
1883 | Cartoonist Rube Goldberg was born.
1883 | Buffalo Bill Cody presents his first Wild West Show, North Platte, Nebraska.
1884 | Statue of Liberty presented to the U.S. in Paris.
1888 | America’s first organized rodeo competition was held in Prescott, Arizona.
1891 | Vice President Hannibal Hamlin died.
1901 | Historian John Fiske died.
1905 | Writer Lionel Trilling was born.
1910 | Actress Gloria Stuart was born.
1910 | SCOTUS: Chief Justice Melville Fuller died.
1915 | “Bandit Wars” between Texas and Mexico started.
1920 | Entrepreneur Leona Helmsley was born.
1924 | Naval aviator Harry Stewart Jr. was born.
1927 | Playwright Neil Simon was born.
1930 | Entrepreneur George Steinbrenner was born.
1943 | Entertainer Geraldo Rivera was born.
1960 | America's new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled.
1966 | POTUS: Democrat President Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act.
1970 | Stoneman Meadow Riot in Yosemite, California.
1970 | Civil Rights: Ashbury Park, New Jersey riots start.
1970 | Yachtsman Harold Vanderbilt died.
1971 | Admiral Thomas C. Hart died.
1988 | The US Navy shoots down an Iranian jetliner over the Gulf, killing 290.
1990 | 2 Live Crew release "Banned in the USA.”
1992 | Civil Rights: Washington Heights riots, Manhattan, New York City.
1995 | Musician Post Malone was born.
1995 | Painter Bob Ross died.
1996 | Hotmail, a free email service on the internet, began.
2003 | Musician Barry White died.