1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the “Lee Resolution” to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and will lead to the Declaration of Independence.
1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons-Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.
1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the “whites-only” car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kansas.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway ends in American victory.
1965 – The Supreme Court hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1967 – Israeli troops captured Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.
1971 – The Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment.
1998 – Three white supremacists killed James Byrd Jr. by dragging him for 3 miles behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas. The three men were convicted of murder.
