1788
Constitution ratified
The U.S. Constitution went into effect when New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify it.
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1527
Italian statesman, diplomat, and author of “The Prince,” Niccolo Machiavelli died.
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1834
Cyrus McCormick's mechanical reaper was patented.
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1964
Three civil rights workers—James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24—disappeared in Philadelphia, Miss. In 2005, 41 years after the disappearance, Edgar Killen was convicted of their murders.
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1982
John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted murder of President Ronald Reagan.
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1989
The U.S. Supreme Court decided that burning the U.S. flag was protected under the First Amendment.
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1997
The WNBA made its debut.
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2004
Michael Melvill pilots the first privately-developed spacecraft,SpaceShipOne, into space.
