TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: JUNE 7
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the new world along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa
1498 Christopher Columbus leaves on his third voyage of exploration.
1628 English King Charles I ratifies the Petition of Rights
1654 Louis XIV is crowned king of France.
1712 The Pennsylvania Assembly bans the importation of slaves.
1767 Daniel Boone sights present-day Kentucky.
1775 The United Colonies change their name to the United States.
1776 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.
1892 Homer Plessy was arrested for his refusal to move from a whites-only seat on a train. This led to the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision.
1903 Professor Pierre Curie reveals the discovery of Polonium.
1929 Vatican City becomes a sovereign state
1932 Over 7,000 war veterans march on Washington, D.C., demanding their bonus pay for service in World War I.
1942 The Battle of Midway ended. The sea and air battle lasted 4 days. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties.
1948 President Eduard Bene of Czechoslovakia resigned and the Communist takeover of the country was completed.
1965 The Supreme Court of the United States decides on Griswold v. Connecticut, effectively legalizing the use of contraception by married couples
1968 The world’s first Legoland resort opens
1981 Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroy Iraq’s only nuclear reactor.
1982 Pres Reagan meets Pope John Paul II & Queen Elizabeth
1983 The U.S. ordered Nicaragua to close all six of its consulates and informed 21 Nicaraguan consular officials that they could not longer remain in the U.S.
2003 Rev. V. Gene Robinson was elected the first openly gay bishop by New Hampshire Episcopalians.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
