Today:
1776 – The Continental Congress adopts the resolution for independence from Great Britain.
1839 – 53 African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué, aboard the Spanish ship Amistad, revolt and take control of the ship.
1863 – The Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War ends.
1881 – U.S. President James A. Garfield is shot by Charles J. Guiteau; he would die from his wounds on September 19.
1890 – The Sherman Antitrust Act is signed into law by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison.
1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe.
1962 – The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law.
1976 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Gregg v. Georgia that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual punishment.
2002 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon.
30 American Heritage Events: #2
Battle of Yorktown (1781)
The final major battle of the American Revolutionary War.