• The British Parliament passes the Tea Act, granting the British East India Company a monopoly on the North American tea trade (1773)
• Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette ascend the throne of France (1774)
• The Second Continental Congress begins (1775)
• The Barbary pirates declare war on the US, who send Marines to the shores of Tripoli (1801)
• The Sepoy Rebellion begins (1857)
• Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops (1865)
• The Golden Spike completes the first transcontinental railroad in the United States (1869)
• Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated to be US President (1872)
• The US Supreme Court rules that a tomato is a vegetable (1893)
• The first Mother’s Day is celebrated in the US (1908)
• Ernest Shackleton arrives in the South Sandwich Islands after a 16 day, 800 mile journey in a lifeboat so he can organize the rescue of his trapped crew (1916)
• J. Edgar Hoover is appointed director of the FBI (1924)
• Winston Churchill becomes UK Prime Minister (1940)
• Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland (1941)
• Bill Haley & His Comets release “Rock Around the Clock,” the first Billboard No. 1 rock and roll record (1954)
• The USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth (1960)
• Marvel publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk (1962)
• The assault on Hill 937 (“Hamburger Hill”) begins (1969)
• Bobby Orr scores “The Goal” to win the Stanley Cup Finals (1970)
• Sony introduces the Betamax (1975)
• Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa (1994)

Birthdays

• Confederate Memorial Day (North and South Carolina)
• Constitution Day (Micronesia)
• Mother’s Day (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico)