History for July 4

History for July 4 - On-This-Day.com:
Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804, Stephen Foster 1826, Calvin Coolidge (U.S.) 1872 - 30th President of the United States


Rube Goldberg 1883, Ann Landers 1918/Abigail Van Buren 1918, George Steinbrenner 1930


1776 - The amended Declaration of Independence, prepared by Thomas Jefferson, was approved and signed by John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress in America.


1802 - The U.S. Military Academy officially opened at West Point, NY.


1803 - The Louisiana Purchase was announced in newspapers. The property was purchased, by the U.S. from France, was for $15 million (or 3 cents an acre). The "Corps of Discovery," led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, began the exploration of the territory on May 14, 1804.


1817 - Construction began on the Erie Canal, to connect Lake Erie and the Hudson River.


1946 - The Philippines achieved full independence for the first time in over four hundred years.


1966 - U.S. President Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act, which went into effect the following year.


1976 - The U.S. celebrated its Bicentennial.


2009 - North Korea launched seven ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast that defied U.N. resolutions.