TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: July 26
1526 Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon and colonists leave Santo Domingo for Florida.
1529 Francisco Pizarro receives a royal warrant to “discover and conquer” Peru.
1775 The Continental Congress establishes a postal system for the colonies with Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general.
1788 New York becomes 11th state to ratify constitution
1790 US passes Assumption bill making US responsible for state debts
1803 The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London
1830 King Charles X of France issues five ordinances limiting the political and civil rights of citizens.
1847 Liberia becomes the first African colony to become an independent state.
1881 Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny execute a patent application for a facsimile telegraph (U.S. Pat. 479,184).
1893 Commercial production of the Addressograph started in Chicago, IL.
1908 United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation)
1920 The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.
1945 Potsdam Declaration is signed. Also known as the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, the declaration signed by the US, UK and China, detailed the terms of surrender for Japan after World War II.
1945 Churchill resigns as Britain’s PM
1947 President Harry S Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1948 In an Executive Order, President Harry Truman calls for the end of discrimination and segregation in the U.S. armed forces.
1953 Fidel Castro leads a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, intended to spark a revolution in Cuba
1963 Syncom 2, the world’s first geosynchronous communications satellite is launched
1964 Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa convicted of fraud & conspiracy
1971 Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL.
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is signed into law
1998 AT&T and British Telecommunications PLC announced they were forming a joint venture to combine international operations and develop a new Internet system.
2005 The shuttle Discovery launches on mission STS-114, marking a return to space after the shuttle Columbia crash of 2003.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
