1773 – The Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.
1777 – Virginia becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
1944 – Germany launched a counteroffensive in World War II that became known as “The Battle of the Bulge.”
1978 – Cleveland, Ohio defaulted on its financial obligations, the first American city to do so since the Great Depression.
