Although this was not the first armed skirmish between American and British forces, it is marked as the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It is celebrated as Patriots Day in the New England states.
1782 – The government of the Netherlands recognized the newly independent United States. The home of John Adams in The Hague became the first American embassy.
1939 - Connecticut ratified the Bill of Rights, 150 years after it was proposed.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Georgia did not ratify the Bill of Rights in the 18th century because majorities in the legislatures of those state thought it was unnecessary.
1943 - The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began.
1951 Gen. Douglas MacArthur gave his farewell speech to Congress, immortalizing the saying, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm048.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1971 – Salyut 1, the first space station, was launched.
1993 - The siege of the Branch Davidians ended with the burning of their "compound" and the deaths of over 80 people.
1995 - The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a car bomb that killed 168 people. It was the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history up to that time.
