1706 – The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each countries’ Parliaments, led to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1793 – Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Pacific Ocean becoming the first recorded human to complete a transcontinental crossing of North America.
1798 – The USS Constitution was underway and out to sea for the first time since being launched on October 21, 1797.
1812 – English troops under the Duke of Wellington defeated the French at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain.
1933 – Wiley Post ended his around-the-world flight. He had traveled 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
1937 – The U.S. Senate rejected President Roosevelt’s proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.
1942 – Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.
1943 – American forces led by General George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily.
1941 – Plans for the Pentagon were presented to the House Subcommittee on Appropriations.
1955 – U.S. Vice-President Richard M. Nixon chaired a cabinet meeting in Washington, DC. It was the first time that a Vice-President had carried out the task.
1975 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee had his U.S. citizenship restored by the U.S. Congress.
1987 – The U.S. began its policy of escorting re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers up and down the Persian Gulf to protect them from possible attack by Iran.
1998 – Iran tested medium-range missile, capable of reaching Israel or Saudi Arabia.
2000 – Astronomers at the University of Arizona announced that they had found a 17th moon orbiting Jupiter.
2003 – In northern Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s sons Odai and Qusai died after a gunfight with U.S. forces.
2004 – The September 11 commission’s final report was released. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited “deep institutional failings within our government.” The report was released to White House officials the day before.
2009 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurred over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis landed successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS-135. It was the final flight of NASA’s space shuttle program.