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On this day for the United States
Events
1754 – Lt–Col.
George Washington surrenders
Fort Necessity to French Capt.
Louis Coulon de Villiers .
1776 –
American Independence Day : The
United States Declaration of Independence by the
Second Continental Congress declaring itself free of British rule.
1802 – At
West Point ,
New York the
United States Military Academy opens.
1803 – The
Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
1817 – At
Rome, New York ,
United States , construction on the
Erie Canal begins.
1826 – Former
American presidents
John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson die, fifty years to the day after the adoption of the
United States Declaration of Independence .
1827 –
Slavery is abolished in
New York State .
1838 – The
Iowa Territory is organized.
1845 – Near
Concord, Massachusetts ,
Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two–year experiment in simple living at
Walden Pond (see
Walden ).
1855 – In
Brooklyn, New York , the first edition of
Walt Whitman 's book of
poems titled
Leaves of Grass is published.
1862 –
Lewis Carroll tells
Alice Liddell a story that would grow into
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
1863 –
American Civil War :
Siege of Vicksburg –
Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to
Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. 150 miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate Army is repulsed at the
Battle of Helena , Arkansas.
1881 – In
Alabama , the
Tuskegee Institute opens.
1894 – The short–lived
Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by
Sanford B. Dole .
1910 –
African-American boxer
Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer
Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight
boxing match sparking
race riots across the
United States .
1927 – First flight of the
Lockheed Vega .
1939 –
Lou Gehrig , recently diagnosed with
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , tells a crowd at
Yankee Stadium that he considered himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league
baseball .
1946 – After 381 years of near–continuous colonial rule, the
Philippines is granted full independence by the
United States .
1959 – With the admission of
Alaska as the 49th
U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49–star
flag of the United States debuts in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .
1960 – Due to the post–Independence Day admission of
Hawaiˈi as the 50th
U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50–star
flag of the United States debuts in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).
1966 –
President
Lyndon B. Johnson signs the
Freedom of Information Act into
United States law . The act goes into effect the next year.
1968 – Two teens are killed at Lake Herman Road in
California . They were the first (known) victims of the
Zodiac Killer .
1992 –
USS George Washington (CVN-73) , a
Nimitz Class
aircraft carrier of the
United States Navy is commissioned at
Norfolk, Virginia .
1997 –
NASA 's
Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of
Mars .
2004 – The cornerstone of the
Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the
World Trade Center in
New York City . (This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks.)
2005 – The
Deep Impact collider hits the
comet
Tempel 1 .
2006 –
Space Shuttle program :
STS-121 Mission –
Space Shuttle Discovery launches at 18:37:55 UTC.
2007 –
Zaca Fire Starts in Santa Barbara, California becomes second largest fire in California history.