Today in History
1776 – American Declaration of Independence is approved by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The day is now Independence Day.
1826 – Deaths of John Adams, second US president, and Thomas Jefferson, the third, within five hours of each other.
1829 – The first regular scheduled bus service is introduced in London.
1862 – English clergyman Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) begins inventing the story of Alice in Wonderland.
1863 – The Confederacy is torn in two when General John C Pemberton surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1868 – Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tu¯ ruki of Rongowhakaata, exiled to the Chatham Islands after his arrest in 1865, escapes.
1884 – The Statue of Liberty is presented to the US by the people of France.
1892 – Samoa shifts to the east side of the International Date Line, to align with the US. It shifts back to the west side in December 2011.
1894 – Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed.
1902 – New Zealand Boxing Association is formed, holding its first national champs in Christchurch later in the year.
1913 – New Zealand tennis player Anthony Wilding, left, wins his fourth straight Wimbledon singles title.
1931 – Irish writer James Joyce and Nora Barnacle finally marry in London registry office after meeting in 1904.
1934 – Death of Marie Curie, Polish-French physicist and Nobel prize winner.
1941 – Howard Florey and Norman Heatley meet for the first time, 11 days before successfully recreating penicillin.
1946 – Republic of the Philippines is founded after 47 years of US rule.
1970 – Casey Kasem’s ‘‘American Top 40’’ debuts on Los Angeles radio.
1976 – About 20 Ugandan soldiers, four Israelis and seven hijackers are killed when Israeli commandos raid a hijacked airliner at Entebbe airport to rescue 106 hostages.
1997 – Nasa’s Pathfinder becomes the first US spacecraft to land on Mars.
2008 – Italy grants Pompeii emergency status, with a commissioner to oversee the site’s preservation and management.
2017 – North Korea tests first successful intercontinental ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.