1868 – The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws
0118 – Hadrian, Rome’s new emperor, made his entry into the city.
0455 – Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West.
660 – Battle of Hwangsanbeol: At Nonsan, China a 50,000 strong Silla force led by general Kim Yu-shin annihilate the army of Baekje and kill their leader general Gyebaek
1357 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor assists laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague
1401 – Turko-Mongol ruler Tamerlane (Timur) destroys Baghdad, killing 20,000
1540 – England’s King Henry VIII had his 6-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.
1572 – Death of the Gorcum Martyrs: Calvinist militant force the Watergeuzen (the Sea Beggars) capture and hang 19 Catholic priests in Brielle
1595 – Johannes Kepler inscribes geometric solid construction of universe
1609 – In a letter to the crown, the emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia freedom of worship.
1755 – Battle of Fort Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh): French troops repel a British advance
1755 – General Edward Braddock was mortally wounded when French and Indian troops ambushed his force of British regulars and colonial militia. He died on July 13.
1776 – The American Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington’s troops in New York.
1789 – In Versailles, the French National Assembly declared itself the Constituent Assembly and began to prepare a French constitution.
1790 – The Swedish navy captured one third of the Russian fleet at the naval battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea.
1793 – Act Against Slavery passed in Upper Canada and importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited.
1810 – France annexes Holland following the abdication and flight of Napoleon’s brother Louis Bonaparte, who has been king since 1806 but refused to join Napoleon’s Continental system
1816 – Argentina declared independence from Spain.
1847 – A 10-hour work day was established for workers in the state of New Hampshire.
1850 – President Zachary Taylor dies and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States.
1868 – The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. https://www.loc.gov/rr/program//bib/ourdocs/14thamendment.html
1872 – The doughnut cutter was patented by John F. Blondel.
1877 – The first Wimbledon Championship is held
1900 – The Commonwealth of Australia was established by an act of the British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.
1917 – British battleship HMS Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow (the result of an internal explosion of faulty cordite), killing 804
1918 – Great train wreck of 1918: In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history
1926 – Chiang Kai-shek appointed to national-revolutionary supreme commander in China
1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian federal government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution
1939 – A meeting of 6,000 Indians, held at the Indian Sports Ground in Johannesburg South Africa, launch the Passive Resistance Campaign against apartheid and racial policy in South Africa
1941 – Dutch-American Physicist Abraham Pais is awarded his Ph.D. in Holland five days before a Nazi deadline banning Jews from receiving degrees
1943 – American and British forces made an amphibious landing on Sicily.
1948 – Satchel Paige, 42, debuts in majors pitching 2 scoreless innings for Cleveland in St. Louis
1951 – U.S. President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war between the United States and Germany.
1953 – New York Airways began the first commuter passenger service by helicopter.
1957 – Discovery of element 102 (Nobelium) announced
1958 – Lituya Bay megatsunami, A megatsunami, a tsunami whose waves are higher than a normal tsunami, hit Lituya Bay in Alaska, United States, resulting in a wave that was recorded to be 1,720 feet or 516 meters high. This is the highest wave recorded in history.
1962 – Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans make their debut
1971 – Henry Kissinger visits the People’s Republic of China to negotiate a detente between the US and China
1971 – The United States turned over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.
1976 – Uganda asks UN to condemn Israeli hostage rescue raid on Entebbe
1978 – American Nazi Party, holds a rally at Marquette Park, Chicago
1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by famed “”Nazi hunters”” Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility
1981 – Nintendo release arcade game “Donkey Kong” created by Shigeru Miyamoto in Japan (July 31 in the US), Nintendo’s famous character Mario debuted as Jumpman in this popular arcade game.
1982 – A man breaks into Queen Elizabeth II’s bedroom in what became known as the Michael Fagan incident
1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.
1986 – Attorney General’s Commission on pornography links hard-core porn to sex crimes
1989 – Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others
1991 – International Federation of Human Rights cites human rights violations committed by police and military personnel during Oka crisis in Quebec, Canada.
1993 – Peter Gill of the British Forensic Science Service announced that his team had positively identified the remains of Russia’s last czar, Nicholas II, his wife, Czarina Alexandra, three of their five children, and four of their servant
1995 – Former South African President F. W. de Klerk is implicated of knowing and condoning a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign that was waged against the ANC between 1990 and the 1994 election in a bid to destabilize the organization
1997 – Mike Tyson was banned from the boxing ring and fined $3 million for biting the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield.
1999 – Days of student protests begins after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory of University of Tehran.
2000 – Police fired tear gas at fans during a World Cup qualifying soccer game between Zimbabwe and South Africa, setting off a stampede that killed twelve people in Harare, Zimbabwe
2011 – South Sudan becomes the youngest country in the world, The North East African country, formally known as Republic of South Sudan peacefully seceded from Sudan after an independence referendum was passed. Since independence, however, the country has been wrecked with widespread ethnic violence and human rights violations.
2014 – Spokesperson for Medical Aid for Palestinians claims that at least 7 children have been killed by Israeli air strikes
2015 – The South Carolina House of Representatives approved taking down the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds. The flag was removed the next day and taken to a state military museum
2017 – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaims victory over Islamic State forces in Mosul
2018 – Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially end the “no war, no peace” peace deal made in 2000 in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara
2018 – US President Donald Trump names Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee
2020 – McGirt v. Oklahoma, in landmark case US Supreme Court rules Congress had not disestablished Oklahoma Indian reserves
2022 – Thousands of Sri Lankan protesters storm the Presidential Palace and set the PM’s house on fire in Colombo, leading to promises both will resign amid continuing economic turmoil
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
