1776 – The Continental Congress opened all American ports to international trade with any part of the world that wasn’t under British rule.
1830 – Joseph Smith established the Mormon Church in Fayette Township, NY.
1882 – Rose Schneiderman, U.S. women’s rights activist and the only female member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Labor Advisory Board, was born in Sawin, Poland.
1895 – Writer Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray) was arrested for homosexual acts, after he lost a libel case against the Marquess of Queensbury.
1896 – The first modern Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece with 13 nations competing.
1909 – Commodore Robert Peary became the first man to reach the North. Actually, Peary and Matthew H. Henson, Peary’s servant, were the first men to reach the North Pole. Because Henson was a Black, hired man, his presence was not recognized until 1945 when he received a medal for outstanding service in the field of science from the U.S. government.
1916 – Charlie Chaplin signed a movie contract with the Mutual Film Corporation with an annual salary of $675,000, becoming the highest-paid film star in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79i84xYelZI
1917 – Two days after an 82 to 6 vote to declare war against Germany, the U.S. entered World War I.
1927 – William P. MacCracken, Jr. earned license number ‘1’ when the Department of Commerce issued the first aviator’s license.
1956 – Capitol Tower, the home of Capitol Records in Hollywood, CA, and the first circular office tower designed in America, was dedicated.
1957 – Trolley cars in New York City completed their final runs on this day.
1992 – War erupted in the former Yugoslavia, as Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence.
Chief Writing Wolf 