On this date
In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange had its beginnings as a group of brokers met under a tree on Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.
In 1875, the first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was Aristides.
In 1938, Congress passed the Second Vinson Act, providing for a strengthened U.S. Navy.
In 1968, nine men and women entered the Selective Service office in Catonsville, Maryland, seized several hundred draft files and burned them outside to protest the Vietnam War. (The “Catonsville Nine” received federal prison sentences ranging from 24 to 42 months.)
In 1973, a special U.S. Senate committee began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. (“Megan’s Law,” as it’s known, was named for Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994.)
In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriages.
In 2008, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was flown to a Boston hospital after suffering a seizure at his Cape Cod home. (He was later diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, and he died in August 2009.)
In 2013, Ousted Internal Revenue Service chief Steven Miller faced intense grilling before Congress, acknowledging agency mistakes in targeting tea party groups but insisting no laws were broken.
In 2017, The Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into potential coordination between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 presidential election.