TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: July 5
1643 1st recorded tornado in US (Essex County, Massachusetts)
1687 Isaac Newton’s great work Principia published by Royal Society in England, outlining his laws of motion and universal gravitation
1776 The Declaration of Independence is first printed by John Dunlop in Philadelphia.
1811 Venezuela declares independence from Spain
1814 U.S. troops under Jacob Brown defeat a superior British force at Chippewa, Canada.
1832 The German government begins curtailing freedom of the press after German Democrats advocate a revolt against Austrian rule.
1834 Provisional government established in Oregon Country
1852 Frederick Douglass, fugitive slave, delivers his ‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?’ speech to the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, condemns the celebration as hypocritical sham
1865 William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London.
1865 The U.S. Secret Service Division was created to combat currency counterfeiting, forging and the altering of currency and securities..
1892 Andrew Beard is issued a patent for the rotary engine.
1935 U.S. President Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. The act authorized labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.
1943 The Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, begins
1946 The bikini swimsuit made its debut at a Paris fashion show.
1948 Britain’s National Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care.
1950 Law of Return passes, guarantees all Jews right to live in Israel
1973 Coup in Rwanda. Then Army Chief of Staff, Juvénal Habyarimana, staged a coup and overthrew the President, Grégoire Kayibanda. Habyarimana then held the post of president for 20 years.
1975 Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title when he defeated Jimmy Connors.
1984 Supreme Court weakens 70-year-old “exclusionary rule”-evidence seized with defective court warrants can now be used in criminal trials
1989 Former U.S. National Security Council aide Oliver North received a $150,000 fine and a suspended prison term for his part in the Iran-Contra affair. The convictions were later overturned.
1996 Dolly, the first sheep cloned from adult cells, was born.
2000 Jordanian security agents shot and killed a Syrian hijacker after he threw a grenade that exploded and wounded 15 passengers aboard a Royal Jordanian airliner.
2004 First Indonesian presidential election by the people – first round (eventually won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono)
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
