1192 Richard the Lionhearted captured in Vienna
1606 The English colonial expedition to America, consisting of the ships Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant, departs Blackwall, London to found Jamestown, Virginia
1669 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection & sentenced to flogging, branding & slavery
1699 Peter the Great ordered that the Russian New Year be changed from September 1 to January 1.
1790 1st successful US cotton mill begins spinning yarn in Pawtucket, Rhode Island built by Samuel Slater based on Richard Arkwright’s design
1803 The United States Senate ratified a treaty that included the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million. The transfer was completed with formal ceremonies in New Orleans.
1812 “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” or “Children’s and Household Tales” by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm is first published https://www.history.com/news/the-dark-side-of-the-grimm-fairy-tales
1820 The state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21-50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year.
1860 South Carolina declared an “independent commonwealth” and secedes from the Union (US Civil War)
1893 1st state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia
1924 Adolf Hitler freed from jail early, having served only nine months of five-year sentence for “Beer Hall Putsch”
1951 Walter Zinn’s Experimental Breeder Reactor I, the first nuclear reactor to produce electric power, goes live at the Argonne National Laboratory, USA
1954 Buick Motor Company signed Jackie Gleason to one of the largest contracts ever entered into with an entertainer. Gleason agreed to produce 78 half-hour shows over a two-year period for $6,142,500.
1957 Elvis Presley receives his draft notice to join the US Army for National Service
1963 The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners. It was only for the holiday season. It closed again on January 6, 1964.
1986 White teenagers beat blacks in New York City’s Howard Beach
1988 Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod’s department store, London
1989 General Noriega, Panama’s former dictator, was overthrown by a United States invasion force invited by the new civilian government. The project was known as Operation Just Cause.
1991 A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1994 Marcelino Corniel, a homeless man, was shot and mortally wounded by White House security officers. He had brandished a knife near the executive mansion.
1999 The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.
2001 The U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan.
2005 US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of “intelligent design” in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
2017 US House and Senate pass $1.5 trillion tax and jobs bill, the biggest tax overhaul for decades
2018 New figures show average US male weighs 198 pounds and stands 5 feet 9 inches, women 171 pounds and 5 feet 4 inches
2019 United States Space Force founded, an armed forces branch dedicated to space warfare
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
