1394 – In France, Charles VI published an ordinance that expelled all Jews from France.

1778 – The United States signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Delaware Nation. 

1787 – The Constitution of the United States of America was signed by delegates at the Constitutional Convention. 

1796 – U.S. President George Washington’s Farewell Address was read before the U.S. Congress. 

1862 – The Battle of Antietam took place during the American Civil War. More than 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. The Rebel advance was ended with heavy losses to both armies.

1872 – Phillip W. Pratt patented a version of the sprinkler system.

1911 – The first transcontinental airplane flight started. It took C.P. Rogers 82 hours to fly from New York City to Pasadena, CA.

1920 – The American Professional Football Association was formed in Canton, OH. It was the precursor to the National Football League (NFL).

1930 – Construction on Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, began in Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, NV.

1932 – Sir Malcolm Campbell set a speed record when he reached 276.27 mph over a half mile.

1937 – At Mount Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln’s face was dedicated.

1939 – The Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.

1944 – Operation “Market Garden” was launched by Allied paratroopers during World War II. The landing point was behind German lines in the Netherlands.

1947 – The first U.S. Secretary of Defense, James V. Forrestal, was sworn in to office.

1953 – Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. He retired in 1971 known as ‘Mr. Cub’.

1953 – The Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA, successfully separated Siamese twins. Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were connected at the waist when born.

1955 – “The Perry Como Show” moved to Saturday nights on NBC-TV.

1961 – The Minnesota Vikings were debuted as the new National Football League (NFL) team.

1962 – U.S. space officials announced the selection of Neil A. Armstrong and eight others as new astronauts.

1963 – “The Fugitive” premiered on ABC-TV. The show starred David Janssen.

1964 – “Bewitched” premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 – “Hogan’s Heroes” debuted on CBS-TV.

1966 – “Mission Impossible” premiered on CBS-TV.

1972 – “M*A*S*H” premiered on CBS-TV.

1976 – NASA unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, CA.

1983 – Vanessa Williams, as Miss New York, became the first black woman to be crowned Miss America.

1983 – Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds) retired after 16 years as a catcher.

1983 – Carl Yastrzemski (Boston Red Sox) broke Hank Aaron’s major league record for games played when he started his 3,299th game. (MLB)

1984 – 9,706 immigrants became naturalized citizens when they were sworn in by U.S. Vice-President George Bush in Miami, FL. It was the largest group to become U.S. citizens. 

1984 – Gordon P. Getty was named the richest person in the U.S. His fortune was $4.1 billion.

1984 – Reggie Jackson hit his 500th career home run. It was exactly 17 years from the day he hit his first major league home run.

1988 – Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril declared himself president of Haiti after President Henri Hamphy was ousted.

1991 – The United Nations General Assembly opened its 46th session. The new members were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

1992 – Lawrence Walsh called a halt to his probe of the Iran-Contra scandal. The investigation had lasted 5 1/2 years.

1995 – Hong Kong held its last legislative election before being taken over by China in 1997.

1997 – Northern Ireland’s main Protestant party joined in peace talks. It was the first time that all of the major players had come together.

1998 – The United States government offered a reward for the capture of Haroun Fazil for his role in the U.S. bombing in Kenya on August 7, 1998.

1998 – The U.S. announced a plan that would compensate victims in the Kenya and Tanzania U.S. Embassy bombings on August 7, 1998.

2014 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all time high of 17,156.

nytimes.com

On September 16, 1893, the largest land run in history begins with more than 100,000 people pouring into the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma to claim(TAKE) valuable land that had once belonged to Native Americans. With a single shot from a pistol the mad dash began, and land-hungry pioneers on horseback and in carriages raced forward to stake their claims to the best acres.

Ironically, not many years before that same land had once been considered worthless desert. Early explorers of Oklahoma believed that the territory was too arid and treeless for white settlement, but several suggested it might be the perfect place to resettle Native Americans, whose rich and fertile lands in the southeast were increasingly coveted by Americans. The U.S. government later took this advice and began removing eastern tribes like the Cherokee and Choctaw to Oklahoma Territory in 1817. No more eager than the whites to leave their green and well-watered lands for the arid plains, some Native Americans resisted and had to be removed by force-most tragically, the 4,000 Cherokee who died during the brutal overland march known appropriately as the “Trail of Tears.”

For the complete article … go to the link below

history.com

1400 – Owain Glyndwr was proclaimed Prince of Wales after rebelling against English rule. He was the last Welsh-born Prince of Wales.

1620 – The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England. The ship arrived at Provincetown, MA, on November 21st and then at Plymouth, MA, on December 26th. There were 102 passengers onboard.

1630 – The village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston.

1782 – The Great Seal of the United States was impressed on document to negotiate a prisoner of war agreement with the British. It was the first official use of the impression.

1810 – The Mexicans began a revolt against Spanish rule. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest of Spanish descent, declared Mexico’s independence from Spain in the small town of Dolores.

1893 – The “Cherokee Strip” in Oklahoma was swarmed by hundreds of thousands of settlers.

1908 – General Motors was founded by William Crapo “Billy” Durant. The company was formed by merging the Buick and Olds car companies.

1924 – Jim Bottomley knocked in 12 runs in a single game setting a major league baseball record.

1940 – U.S. President Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which set up the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.

1940 – Samuel T. Rayburn of Texas was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He served for 17 years.

1941 – “The Arkansas Traveler” debuted on CBS Radio. The show was later renamed “The Bob Burns Show.”

1953 – “The Robe” premiered at the Roxy Theater in New York. It was the first movie filmed in the wide screen CinemaScope process.

1953 – The St. Louis Browns of the American League were given permission to move to Baltimore, MD, where they became the Baltimore Orioles.

1963 – “The Outer Limits” premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 – “The Dean Martin Show” debuted on NBC-TV.

1968 – “The Andy Griffith Show” was seen for the final time on CBS.

1972 – “The Bob Newhart Show” premiered on CBS-TV.

1974 – U.S. President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for draft-evaders and deserters during the Vietnam War.

1976 – The Episcopal Church formally approved women to be ordained as priests and bishops.

1982 – In west Beirut, the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children began in refugee camps of the Lebanese Christian militiamen.

1985 – The Communist Party in China announced changes in leadership that were designed to bring younger officials into power.

1987 – The Montreal Protocol was signed by 24 countries in an effort to save the Earth’s ozone layer by reducing emissions of harmful chemicals by the year 2000.

1990 – An eight-minute videotape of an address by U.S. President George H.W. Bush was shown on Iraqi television. The message warned that action of Saddam Hussein could plunge them into a war “against the world.”

1994 – Exxon Corporation was ordered by federal jury to pay $5 billion in punitive damages to the people harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. 

1994 – Two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery went on the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years. 

1998 – Universal paid $9 million for the rights to the Dr. Seuss classics “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”

1998 – Meryl Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1620 – The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England. The ship arrived at Provincetown, MA, on November 21st and then at Plymouth, MA, on December 26th. There were 102 passengers on board.

1893 – The “Cherokee Strip” in Oklahoma was swarmed by hundreds of thousands of settlers aka white people

1990 – An eight-minute videotape of an address by U.S. President George H.W. Bush was shown on Iraqi television. The message warned that the action of Saddam Hussein could plunge them into a war “against the world.”

1994 – Exxon Corporation was ordered by federal jury to pay $5 billion in punitive damages to the people harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill.

1994 – Two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery went on the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years.