Today in 1807, an act of Congress making slave importation into the U.S. illegal was passed.
Today in 1819, the United States passed its first immigration law. The Steerag Act of 1819 was the first piece of legislation regulating the transportation of migrants to and from America and the first measure requiring that immigration statistics be kept. The United States maintained uninterrupted data on individuals coming into the country from the time this act was passed
Today in 1819, the territory of Arkansas was organized.
Today in 1836, a group of ordinary citizens in Mexico declared their independence and founded the Republic of Texas. They also and formed an interim government.
Today in 1861, the Territory of Nevada was organized.
Today in 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 Presidential Election, even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote. It was one of the most controversial elections in American history – with 20 disputed electoral votes. In the end, Hayes was given the votes in exchange for removing federal troops from the American South – a choice that ended reconstruction and led to the disenfranchisement of black voters.
Today in 1903, the Martha Washington Hotel opened for business in New York City. The hotel featured 416 rooms and was the first hotel exclusively for women.
Today in 1962, the first K-Mart department store opened in Garden City, Michigan selling a variety of clothes, shoes, housewares, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and electronics. The department greatly expanded up to the early 80’s. During the late 80’s, their sales began to decline due to lack of investment in technology and increased competition from Walmart and Target stores and change in customer tastes sales declined. By 2005, following sales declined Kmart merged with Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Today in 1972, the U.S. spacecraft Pioneer 10 was launched. It passed close by Jupiter and Neptune before leaving the solar system. It was more than six billion miles from earth in 1997 when NASA stopped communicating with it.
Today in 1987, two sets of quintuplets were born on the same day in the USA as Rosalind Helms delivered a basketball team of bouncing babies in Peoria, Illinois and Robin Jenkins became the mother of five in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Today in 1997, it was revealed that Vice President Gore had raised millions of dollars for the 1996 campaign through direct telephone solicitations, and that some of the calls were made on special phones installed in government buildings for that purpose.
Today in 1998, a New Jersey State Appeals Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America discriminated against an assistant scoutmaster when it ousted him for being gay. The Superior Court appellate panel rejected arguments by the Boy Scouts the organization was protected by a constitutional right of free association and was exempt as a private, voluntary association from anti-discrimination laws.
Today in 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones began their attempt to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon non-stop. They succeeded 19 days later.
Today in 2004, NASA announced that the rover Opportunity had found evidence of the existence of water on Mars.
Today in 2011, the Eastern Cougar was officially declared extinct by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Today in 2012, NFL established existence of a bounty program at the New Orleans Saints 2009-11; players given incentives to injure opposition; coach Sean Payton is suspended for 2012 season.
Today in 2016, the longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight by distance was completed: Emirates A380 flew 8,824 miles from Dubai to Auckland in 17-hours, 15-minutes.
Today in 2016, American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to earth after nearly a year (340 days), setting an International Space Station (ISS) record.
Today in 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation into Trump campaign contacts with Russia after revelations he met Russian ambassador.