- 1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the Constitution.
- 1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes is sworn in as the first African American to serve in the U.S. House.
- 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi sends the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean.
- 1913 Two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was recovered from a hotel room in Florence, Italy.
- 1917 – Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town in Nebraska.
- 1968 – Arthur Ashe became the first African American to be ranked No. 1 in tennis.
- 2000 – The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 reversing the ruling of the Florida Supreme Court allowing the hand recount of votes in Florida. The decision in effect ensured Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush would win the presidency over former Vice President Al Gore.
