- 1749 – Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
- 1777 – American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
- 1861 – Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
- 1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
- 1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
- 1947 – Congress is televised for the first time.
- 1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in Congress.
- 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th state.
- 1961 – The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba after Fidel Castro announced he was a communist.
- 1990 – Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces. He was taken to Florida to face narcotics trafficking charges.
