On this date...

Everett Massacre - 1916

In 1639, First post office in the colonies is set up in Massachusetts.

In 1733, Printer and journalist John Peter Zenger publishes the first issue of New York Weekly Journal. After attacks on the colonial governor landed him in jail for libel, a jury acquitted him—a first win for press freedom in the English colonies.

In 1773, John Hancock is elected as moderator at a Boston town meeting that resolves that anyone who supports the Tea Act is an "Enemy to America".

In 1775, Washington hears that some soldiers plan to mark Guy Fawkes Day by burning an effigy of the Pope—an anti-Catholic ritual. Outraged, Washington issues orders condemning the plan as “ridiculous and childish.” He reminds his army that the American cause depends on winning over French Canadian Catholics.

In 1780, French-American force under Colonel LaBalme is defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle.

In 1781, George Washington's stepson, John (Jacky) Parke Custis, age 26, died of "camp fever" (epidemic typhus or dysentery) after the Battle of Yorktown.

In 1862, In Minnesota, after five weeks of trial proceedings centered around actions taken during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, more than 300 Dakota men are found guilty of raping and murdering Anglo settlers and are sentenced to hang.

In 1862, A tortured relationship ends when President Abraham Lincoln removes General George B. McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac.

In 1872, Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the American women's suffrage movement, cast a ballot in the presidential election, and she was later arrested for voting illegally and convicted in a trial she called “the greatest outrage history ever witnessed.”

In 1872, Ulysses S. Grant re-elected US President.

In 1895, US state Utah accepts female suffrage.

In 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th president of the United States, with Thomas R. Marshall as vice president. In a landslide Democratic victory, Wilson won 435 electoral votes against the eight won by Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and the 88 won by third-party Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. The presidential election was the only one in American history in which two former presidents were defeated by another candidate.

In 1912, Arizona, Kansas & Wisconsin vote for female suffrage.

In 1916, The Everett Massacre takes place in Everett, Washington as political differences lead to a shoot-out between IWW organizers and local police.

In 1917 Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) strikes down Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance requiring backs & whites to live in separate areas.

In 1930, Writer Sinclair Lewis is first American to win Nobel Prize for literature.

In 1935, Parker Brothers began marketing the board game "Monopoly."

In 1935, Maryland Court of Appeals orders University of Maryland to admit Donald Murray, a Black man as a student

In 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt is first and only US president elected to third term.

In 1941, the Combined Japanese Fleet receive Top-Secret Order No. 1: In just over a month's time, Pearl Harbor is to be bombed, along with Malaya (now known as Malaysia), the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines.

In 1968, Winning one of the closest elections in U.S. history, Republican challenger Richard Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

In 1974, Ella Grasso of Connecticut became the first woman elected governor in the United States without succeeding her husband.

In 1977, 31-year-old future President George W. Bush marries 31-year-old Laura Welch at the First United Methodist Church in her hometown of Midland, Texas.

In 1994, In a handwritten letter released, 83-year-old former President Ronald Reagan informs the world he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  

In 1994, George Foreman became the oldest heavyweight boxing champion at age 45, knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10^th round of their title bout.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton won a second term in the White House, defeating Republican candidate Bob Dole.

In 1998, The journal Nature published a report that DNA testing had confirmed (still disputed by some) that a member of Thomas Jefferson's family had fathered a child with the slave Sally Hemings; the testing, however, was unable to definitively prove that Jefferson was the father.

In 1999, A federal judge declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly.

In 2007, Google unveils Android.

In 2024, Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, defeating Kamala Harris; he became the first convicted felon to be elected to the office and the second president to win a second nonconsecutive term.