1776 – The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not published until July 4.
1788 – It was announced in Congress that the new Constitution had been ratified by the required nine states, the ninth being New Hampshire.
1881 – Charles Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds President James Garfield (who would die of complications from his wounds on September 19).
1890 – Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1976 – North and South Vietnam reunited, forming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and naming Hanoi the capital.
2002 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
