Today:
1632 – Galileo Galilei’s book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was published, supporting the heliocentric theory of Copernicus.
1744 – The British Royal Navy defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Toulon during the War of the Austrian Succession.
1784 – The Empress of China, the first American trading ship to sail to China, departed from New York, marking the beginning of U.S.-China trade relations.
1819 – The Adams–Onís Treaty was signed between the United States and Spain, in which Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase.
1856 – The Republican Party held its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a precursor to its first national convention later that year.
1862 – Jefferson Davis was officially inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.
1879 – Frank Woolworth opened his first “five-cent store” in Utica, New York, a precursor to the modern discount store.
1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became the first president to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
1942 – During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur to leave the Philippines as Japanese forces advanced.
1980 – The “Miracle on Ice” occurred when the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.