TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JULY 1
0069 Vespasian, a Roman army leader, is hailed as a Roman emperor by the Egyptian legions.
1543 England and Scotland sign the Peace of Greenwich.
1690 Army of England’s Protestant King William III defeats Roman Catholic King James II in Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (Now celebrated on July 12 as “The Battle of the Orange” )
1798 Napoleon Bonaparte takes Alexandria, Egypt.
1862 Internal Revenue Law imposes 1st federal taxes on inheritance, tobacco & on incomes over $600
1863 In the first day’s fighting at Gettysburg, Federal forces retreat through the town and dig in at Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill.
1867 Canada, by the terms of the British North America Act, becomes an independent dominion.
1898 American troops take San Juan Hill and El Caney, Cuba, from the Spaniards.
1899 Gideon Society established to place bibles in hotels
1943 Income tax withholding began in the United States.
1956 President Eisenhower called for $50 billion to be spent over 13 years for the construction of over 42,500 miles of interstate highways using the Interstate Highway Revenue Act which was to be funded by taxing gasoline, currently this tax is 19 cents for each gallon of gas.
1963 The U.S. postmaster introduces the ZIP code.
1966 Medicare goes into effect
1977 The United States Senate held a secret meeting debating whether or not the United States should start building neutron warheads . Neutron warheads leave buildings and structure intact and kill people only by radiation within one or two days of detonation and exposure to the radiation.
1979 The Walkman makes its appearance in stores for the first time
1991 The Warsaw Pact, a defense treaty between 8 communist countries, is formally disbanded in Prague
1997 After 156 years of British colonial rule, Hong Kong was returned to China.
1999 The new Scottish Parliament is opened by the queen, this is the first time Scotland has had its own parliament for nearly 300 years.
2002 The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established It is the first international judicial body that has the power to try individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
2004 The international mission to Saturn, known as Cassini-Huygens, reaches Saturn after six years and has successfully sent back the first close-up photographs of the Saturn’s rings.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
