This day in history - May 17

[seamusTX]

1756 - Britain declared war on France, commencing the Seven Years' War. When this war spilled into North America, the Americans called it the French & Indian War.

These events were critically important to the formation of the United States. The colonists armed themselves and militarized as they never had before, and the British government began to take an interest in the colonies that led to military occupation, higher taxes, and political meddling.

Some veterans of this war went on to important roles in the Revolutionary War, including Washington.

1792 - The New York Stock Exchange was founded by brokers meeting outdoors under a tree on what is now Wall Street.

1875 - The first Kentucky Derby was won by a horse named Aristides.

1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody's wild west show premiered in Omaha.

1884 - Alaska became a U.S. territory.

1946 - Pres. Truman took control of the railroads to avoid a strike.

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1954 The U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education.

1973 -- The Senate Watergate hearings began.

1974 - Six members of the Symbionese Lliberation Army died in a shootout with police in Los Angeles.

This incident was the beginning of the end for this gang of murderous sociopaths posing as radical revolutionaries.

- Jim