July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years ) in the Gregorian Calendar , with 180 days remaining.
Events 993 - Saint Ulrich of Augsburg canonized.1054 - A supernova is observed by the Chinese and Amerindians near the star ζ Tauri . For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula .1187 - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan , King of Jerusalem , at the Battle of Hattin .1776 - American Revolutionary War : The Continental Congress approves a Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain forming the United States of America .1802 - At West Point , New York the United States Military Academy opens.1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.1817 - At Rome, New York , construction on the Erie Canal begins.1826 - Fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence , on which John Adams and Thomas Jefferson , two of America's Founding Fathers , died. (Luther Martin , another Founding Father would die a few days later, on July 8 , 1826 .)1837 - Grand Junction Railway , world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool .1838 - The Iowa Territory is organized.1840 - The Cunard Line 's 700 ton wooden paddlewheel steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic passenger cruise.1845 - Near Concord, Massachusetts , Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden 1855 - In Brooklyn, New York , the first edition of Walt Whitman 's book of poems titled Leaves of Grass is published.1859 - Franco-Piedmontese War : The Battle of Magenta .1862 - Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll ) goes on a boating picnic with Alice Liddell , who asks to be entertained with a story. This story would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.1863 - American Civil War : Battle of Vicksburg - Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army capture the Confederate city Vicksburg, Mississippi after the town surrendered. The siege lasted 47 days.1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 1881 - In Alabama , the Tuskegee Institute opens.1894 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole .1910 - African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States .1918 - Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.1918 - Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date). 1927 - Initial flight of the Lockheed Vega .1934 - Joe Louis wins his first professional boxing match.1934 - Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb . 1939 - Lou Gehrig , recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball .1941 - Germans in captured Polish city of Lwów .1946 - After over 400 years, the Philippines achieves full independence.1950 - First broadcast by Radio Free Europe 1959 - With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .1960 - Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21 , 1959, the 50_star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law . The act goes into effect the next year.1976 - Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda , rescuing most of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.1987 - In France , former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.1990 - On 214th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence , Die Hard 2: Die Harder Die Hard Bruce Willis .1997 - NASA 's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars .1998 - Lin "Spit" Newborn and Daniel Shersty are murdered by neonazis in the desert just outside Las Vegas , Nevada , USA .2002 - Three people are shot at the El Al check-in booth at Los Angeles International Airport. The gunman is shot and killed by a security officer.2002 - A Prestige Airlines cargo Boeing 707 crashes just short of the runway in Bangui, Central African Republic killing 25 2004 - The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is lain on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City . (This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks)
Births 1330 - Ashikaga Yoshiakira , Ashikaga shogun (d. 1367 )1540 - Gackt Camui , song writer and singer (self-claimed)1546 - Murat III , Ottoman Emperor (d. 1595 )1799 - Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte, future king Oscar I of Sweden-Norway (d. 1859 )1804 - Nathaniel Hawthorne , writer (d. 1864 )1807 - Giuseppe Garibaldi , Italian patriot1826 - Stephen Foster , songwriter ("Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races") (d. 1864 )1845 - Thomas Barnardo, Irish founder of homes for underprivileged children1847 - James Anthony Bailey , co-founder with Phineas Taylor Barnum of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus .1872 - Calvin Coolidge , 30th president of the United States 1878 - George M. Cohan , singer, dancer, composer, actor, writer (d. 1942 )1883 - Rube Goldberg , cartoonist (d. 1970 )1902 - Meyer Lansky , mobster (d. 1983 )1902 - George Murphy , dancer, actor, Senator from California (d. 1992 ) 1904 - Angela Baddeley , actress, Mrs Bridges on Upstairs Downstairs, sister of Hermione Baddeley (d. 1976 )1910 - Gloria Stuart , actress1911 - Mitch Miller , bandleader, television personality1917 - Manolete (Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez), bullfighter (d. 1947 )1918 - Ann Landers , advice columnist (d. 2002 )1918 - Abigail Van Buren , advice columnist and twin sister to Ann Landers 1921 - Tibor Varga , violinist , conductor and pedagogue1924 - Eva Marie Saint , actress (North by Northwest , On the Waterfront )1927 - Gina Lollobrigida , actress1930 - George Steinbrenner , owner of the New York Yankees 1938 - Bill Withers , singer/songwriter1942 - Floyd Little , American football player1943 - Konrad "Conny" Bauer , musician, free jazz trombonist1943 - Geraldo Rivera , reporter, talk show host 1946 - Ron Kovic , author (Born on the Fourth of July 1951 - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend , U.S. political figure1967 - Vinny Castilla , Mexican baseball player1974 - La'Roi Glover , American football player1976 - Daijiro Kato , Japanese motorcycle racer1986 - Shane Kippel , Canadian actor
Deaths 965 - Pope Benedict V 1187 - Raynald of Chatillon , executed by Saladin after the Battle of Hattin .1821 - Richard Cosway , English artist1826 - John Adams & Thomas Jefferson , 2nd & 3rd presidents of the United States. In a remarkable coincidence, both of these framers of the United States Declaration of Independence died on the 50th anniversary of its adoption.1831 - James Monroe , 5th president of the United States 1838 - Colonel José Antonio Vidaurre and his accomplices, authors of The Riot of Quillota, Chile were shot.1848 - François_René de Chateaubriand , French writer, diplomat1850 - William Kirby , the father of entomology 1891 - Hannibal Hamlin , U.S. Vice President under Abraham Lincoln 1901 - Johannes Schmidt , German linguist1902 - Swami Vivekananda 1910 - Giovanni Schiaparelli , Italian astronomer (b. 1835 )1926 - Pier Giorgio Frassati , Blessed Italian mountaineer.1931 - Buddie Petit , jazz musician (b. ca 1890 )1934 - Marie Sklodowska-Curie , co-discoverer of radium and polonium 1970 - Barnett Newman , artist1971 - August Derleth , science fiction and fantasy writer and editor.1975 - Georgette Heyer , author1976 - Antoni Słonimski , Polish poet and writer (b. 1895 )1986 - Oscar Zariski , mathematician (b. 1899 )1991 - Dr. Victor Chang , Australian doctor, pioneer in heart transplantation , murdered1995 - Eva Gabor , actress1997 - Charles Kuralt , television reporter2002 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr. , African-American general2003 - Barry White , soul singer2004 - Jean-Marie Auberson , Swiss conductor (b. 1920 )
Holidays and observances July 3 - July 5 - June 4 - August 4 - more historical anniversaries
Results from FactBites:
Independence Day (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (988 words)
In the United States, Independence Day, also called the Fourth of July , is a federal holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 , declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain . The Congress reworked the text of the Declaration until a little after eleven o'clock, July 4th , when twelve colonies voted for adoption and released an unsigned copy to the printers. Certainly, the vote on July 2 was the decisive act.
CPL Celebrates July 4th (1040 words)
On July 4, 1776 , America was born when the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. The broadside at the Chicago Historical Society was printed on the night of July 4, 1776 , after the drafters voted to adopt the declaration. July 4th FAQ's were compiled by Nanette Alleman and Rachel Gordon from the Information Center at the Harold Washington Library Center using the following sources:
More results at FactBites »
Feeds |
Contact