1776 – Thomas Hickey, Continental Army private and bodyguard to General George Washington, is hanged for mutiny and sedition.
1841 – The Paris Opera Ballet premieres Giselle in the Salle Le Peletier.
1846 – Adolphe Sax patents the saxophone.
1855 – Sigma Chi fraternity is founded in North America.
1859 – The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
1881 – The Austro-Serbian Alliance of 1881 is secretly signed.
1894 – Labor Day becomes an official US holiday.
1895 – The United States Court of Private Land Claims rules James Reavis’ claim to Barony of Arizona is “wholly fictitious and fraudulent.”
1902 – The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.
1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo; this is the casus belli of World War I.
1919 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending the state of war between Germany and the Allies of World War I.
1926 – Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies.
1956 – in Poznań, workers from HCP factory go to the streets, sparking one of the first major protests against communist government both in Poland and Europe.
1964 – Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
1969 – Stonewall riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.
1973 – Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.
1978 – The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke bars quota systems in college admissions.
1987 – For the first time in military history, a civilian population is targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht.
1997 – Holyfield-Tyson II: Mike Tyson is disqualified in the third round for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield’s ear.
2004 – Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.
Births
1491 – Henry VIII, King of England (1509-47) who separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church
1703 – John Wesley, English Christian theologian and co-founder of the Methodist movement
1712 – Jean Jacques Rousseau, France, composer/social contractor
Deaths
1958 – Alfred Noyes, British poet/essayist (Robin Hood)