1701 – William Penn presents Charter of Priviliges.
1731 – In Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin opens 1st library in the north American colonies.
1789 – Bourbon Whiskey 1st distilled from corn by Elijah Craig in Bourbon, Kentucky.
1861 – USS San Jacinto commanded by Charles Wilkes captures two Confederate diplomats from the British mail steamer Trent, almost causing a war between the US and the UK.
1904 – American President Theodore Roosevelt (R) defeats Alton B. Parker (D).
1910 – 1st Washington State election in which women could vote.
1910 – William H. Frost receives the first U.S. patent for an electrical insect destroyer.
1933 – FDR creates Civil Works Administration.
1942 – Operation Torch; began as US and British forces under Eisenhower land in French North Africa.
1950 – A US aircraft shoots down a North Korean jet in the Korean War, the first jet-to-jet dogfight in history.
1961 – Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8, a Lockheed Constellation aircraft, crashes near Richmond, Virginia, 77 die.
1964 – IMF grants Great Britain credit of $1 billion.
1966 – Edward W. Brooks (Rep-R-Mass) becomes 1st African American popularly elected to the US Senate.
1973 – Nevada approves pari-mutual betting on Jai Alai.
1984 – Anna Fisher becomes 1st “mom” to go into orbit.
1989 – Douglas Wilder elected 1st African American Governor of Virginia and any state since reconstruction.
1990 – 100,000 additional US troops are sent to Persian gulf.
2004 – War in Iraq: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
2014 – US President Obama authorizes deployment of 1,500 additional troops to help train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants.
2016 – Republican Donald Trump is elected President of the United States of America, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton, who received 2.9 million more votes.
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