Events

1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.

1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.

1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.

1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.

1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield

1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.

1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.

1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the 'Art of Applying Statistics' — his punched card calculator.

1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.

1906 – A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, caused by the excavation of clay along the Hudson River, kills 20 people.

1918 – President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.

1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in a complete failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.

1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.

1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.

1963 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.

1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.

1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.

2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.

2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona.

Births

1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, ex-Jesuit, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)

1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)

1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)

1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)

1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)

1854 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)

1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)

1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)

1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)

1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)

1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist

1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (d. 2004)

1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)

1967 – R. Kelly, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor

Deaths

1825 – Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (b. 1765)