1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the American rebels over British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga in October.
1787 – New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1865 – The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States.
1917 – The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by Congress.
1957 – The first nuclear facility in the United States to generate electricity, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, went online.
1972 – Following the collapse of peace talks with North Vietnam, President Richard Nixon announced the beginning of Operation Linebacker II, a bombing campaign against targets in Hanoi and Haiphong.
1977 – United Airlines Flight 2860 crashes near Kaysville, Utah, killing all three crew members on board.
