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)