On this date...

Angel Island

In 1677, the first medical publication in America, a pamphlet on smallpox, was published in Boston

In 1776, Washington issued General Orders directing regimental commanders to send knowledgeable officers into the countryside to purchase serviceable firearms. Recruits who bring their own guns will be paid for their use and compensated if those weapons are lost.

In 1789, the first American novel, William Hill Brown's "The Power of Sympathy," was published by Isaiah Thomas

In 1831, African Americans were forcibly deported from Portsmouth, Ohio

In 1861, five Southerners resigned from the U.S. Senate, including Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, the future president of the Confederacy.

In 1880, the 1st US sewage disposal system was separated from storm drains in Memphis, Tennessee

In 1910, Referred to as the "Ellis Island of the West," Angel Island in California's San Francisco Bay opens January 21, 1910, as America's major port of entry for Asian immigrants.

In 1915, the first Kiwanis Club, dedicated to community service, was founded in Detroit.

In 1950, in the conclusion to one of the most spectacular trials in U.S. history, former State Department official Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury. He was convicted of having perjured himself about testimony about his alleged involvement in a Soviet spy ring before and during World War II.

In 1953, John Foster Dulles was appointed as the US Secretary of State

In 1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn.

In 1959, Carl Dean Switzer, the actor who as a child played Alfalfa in the Our Gang comedy film series, died at age 31 in a fight, allegedly about money, in a Mission Hills, California, home.

In 1967, the US female Figure Skating championship was won by Peggy Fleming

In 1968, a B-52 bomber carrying four nuclear bombs crashed in Greenland. There was no detonation, but radioactive materials were scattered along the icy debris field. Cleanup operations lasted through September of that year.

In 1977, on his first full day in office, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

In 1983, President Reagan certified El Salvador's human-rights abuses had decreased, making the country eligible for US military aid

In 1994, a jury in Manassas, Va., acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary insanity of maliciously wounding her husband, John, whom she'd accused of sexually assaulting her.

In 1996, Cleanup of 1.8 million gallons (6.8 million liters) of oil began near Block Island National Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island, two days after the barge North Cape ran aground and created a 12-mile (19-km) oil slick.

In 1997, American politician Newt Gingrich became the first speaker in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives to be given a formal reprimand for ethics violations after the House voted 395–28 in favor of the measure.

In 2003, the Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America's largest minority group.

In 2010, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5–4) that laws preventing corporations and unions from using general treasury funds for independent electioneering communications violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech.

In 2010, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted fathering a child during an affair before his second White House bid.