Events
- 1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under 22–year–old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
- 1774 – American Revolutionary War: The first Continental Congress convenes.
- 1830 – President Andrew Jackson signs The Indian Removal Act which relocates Indians
- 1863 – American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
- 1892 – In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
- 1930 – The Chrysler Building in New York City officially opens.
- 1937 – The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC, who pushes a button signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the span.
- 1952 – Memphis Kiddie Park opens in Brooklyn, Ohio. The park's Little Dipper roller coaster would become the oldest operating steel roller coaster in North America.
- 1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
- 1987 – A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
- 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James McDougal and Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.