1706 – The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each countries’ Parliaments, led to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1793 – Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Pacific Ocean becoming the first European to complete a transcontinental crossing of North America.
1937 – New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
1977 – Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power.
Births
1713 – Jacques-Germain Soufflot, a French architect, designed the Panthéon (d. 1780)
1944 – Rick Davies, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Supertramp)
1955 – Willem Dafoe, American actor
Deaths
1821 – Napoleon II, French emperor. Born on August 15, 1769, in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio, Napoleon was a fervent nationalist that fought in the French Revolution as a lieutenant-colonel. His pride and fierceness carried on throughout his military and political career, a string of successful battles landed him one of his most notable promotions as Commander of the Interior, giving him authority over the Army of Italy.
After winning a series of battles in Castiglione, Bassano, Arcole, and Rivoli against Piedmontese and Austrian troops in 1797, the Austrians finally decided to sue for peace. The French gained control over Northern Italy and the Low Countries(The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg) in the Treaty of Leoben. Napoleon would win most of his battles through his favorite envelopment strategy whereby the
concealment of troop deployments and concentration of his forces on the ‘hinge’ of an enemy’s weakened front proved to be extremely effective. Using various military tactics, Napoleon was very successful in his military campaigns leading up to and throughout his emperorship. He died on the island of Saint Helena on 15 December 1821.
1869 – John A. Roebling, a German-American engineer, designed the Brooklyn Bridge (b. 1806)
1950 – William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian economist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)