May 31
1279 BC – Ramesses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Egypt. 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. 1578 – King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris, France. 1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright...