TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JULY 9 2018
455 Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, becomes Emperor of the West.
1572 19 Catholic priests hanged in Gorcum
1755 Battle at Duquesne (Pittsburgh): French troops beat British
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.
1789 In Versailles, the French National Assembly declares itself the Constituent Assembly and begins to prepare a French constitution.
1795 James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt
1815 1st natural gas well in US is discovered
1847 A 10-hour work day was established for workers in the state of New Hampshire.
1850 U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies in office at the age of 65. He is succeeded by Millard Fillmore.
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.
1869 Corncob pipe, made from small corn kernels, invented
1872 Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine
1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is established by an act of British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.
1932 A bill to legalize beer containing 3.2 percent alcohol was presented to the senate but was again rejected keeping the country dry for a further period.
1941 Dutch-American Physicist Abraham Pais is awarded his Ph.D. in Holland five days before a Nazi deadline banning Jews from receiving degrees
1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
1962 Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans make their debut
1971 The United States turns over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.
1972 Springhill Massacre: British snipers shoot dead five Catholic civilians and wounded two others in Springhill, Belfast
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.
1982 30-year-old Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace morning and spent 10 minutes talking with Queen Elizabeth II in her bedroom before being arrested inside the palace at 3 a.m
2005 Danny Way, a daredevil skateboarder, rolled down a large ramp and jumped across the Great Wall of China. He was the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid.
2004 A Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded the CIA had provided unfounded assessments of the threat posed by Iraq which the Bush administration used to justify for invasion of Iraq.
2008 In an attack on the United States consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, a total of six people were killed on this day. The attacks were linked to an Islamic fundamentalist group by the name of the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders.
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.
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.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
