421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia. The wedding was celebrated at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).
1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.
1628 – The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document, is granted the Royal Assent by Charles I and becomes law.
1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.
1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the “Lee Resolution” to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and will lead to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1788 – French Revolution: Day of the Tiles: Civilians in Grenoble toss roof tiles and various objects down upon royal troops.
1800 – David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
1810 – The newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres is first published in Argentina.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons-Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.
1863 – During the French intervention in Mexico, Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the “whites-only” car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
1893 – Mohandas Gandhi commits his first act of civil disobedience.
1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas.
Plessy v. Ferguson.
The resulting “separate but equal” decision by the Supreme Court
widely affected civil rights in the U.S.
1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.
1936 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, a trade union, is founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Philip Murray elected as its first president.
1955 – Lux Radio Theatre signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, effectively legalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1971 – The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1971 – The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades.
1977 – 500,000,000 people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Births
1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and man of letters (d. 1615)
1730 – Georg von Pasterwiz, composer
1917 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995)
Deaths
1980 – Henry Miller, American novelist and essayist (b. 1891)
1992 – Bill France Sr., American race car driver and businessman, co-founded NASCAR (b. 1909)
Edited from various sources including historyorb.com, the NYTimes.com
Wikipedia and other internet searches