July 4

Categories: Days

July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 180 days remaining. The phrase "Fourth of July" has acquired widespread significance in American lingo as a reference to the Independence Day celebration in the United States and that celebration's many cultural accoutrements.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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Events

993 - Saint Ulrich of Augsburg canonized.
1054 - A supernova is observed by the Chinese and Amerindians near the star ζ Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
1187 - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin.
1584 - Sir Walter Ralegh first sees the coast of North Carolina
1636 - City of Providence, Rhode Island forms.
1712 - 12 slaves are executed in New York for starting an uprising that killed 9 whites
1776 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress approves a Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1802 - At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens.
1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
1810 - The French occupy Amsterdam.
1817 - At Rome, New York, United States, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
1826 - Fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, on which John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two of America's Founding Fathers, died.
1827 - Slavery is abolished in New York State.
1831 - James Monroe dies on the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
1837 - Grand Junction Railway, world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
1838 - The Iowa Territory is organized.
1840 - The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic passenger cruise.
1845 - Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden).
1855 - In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems titled Leaves of Grass is published.
1859 - Franco-Piedmontese War: The Battle of Magenta.
1862 - Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Vicksburg - Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of seige.
1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published.
1881 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
1894 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
1910 - African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.
1918 - Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.
1918 - Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
1927 - First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
1934 - Joe Louis wins his first professional boxing match.
1934 - Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.
1939 - Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball.
1941 - Mass murder of Polish scientists and writers, committed by Nazi Germans in captured Polish city of Lwów.
1946 - After 381 years of colonial rule, the Philippines is granted full independence by the United States.
1950 - First broadcast by Radio Free Europe.
1959 - With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1960 - Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).
1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.
1976 - Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing most of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.
1976 - The citizens of the United States celebrate their country's bicentennial.
1982 - Four Iranian diplomats have been kidnapped upon Israel invasion of lebanon.
1984 - NASCAR driver Richard Petty wins his 200th and final career victory at the Firecracker 400 race.
1987 - In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1989 - 14-year-old actress Drew Barrymore attempts suicide.
1993 - The Argentine national football team defeats mexico to win the Copa América 1993 in Guayaquil.
1997 - NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
1998 - Lin "Spit" Newborn and Daniel Shersty are murdered by neonazis in the desert just outside Las Vegas.
2002 - Three people are shot at the El Al check-in booth at Los Angeles International Airport. The gunman is shot and killed by a security officer.
2002 - A Prestige Airlines cargo Boeing 707 crashes just short of the runway in Bangui, Central African Republic killing 25
2004 - The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. (This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks)
2004 - National Team of Greece won the EURO 2004 Cup after the Final against Portugal with 1-0.
2005 - The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.

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Births

1330 - Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (d. 1367)
1546 - Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1595)
1694 - Louis-Claude Daquin, French composer (d. 1772)
1776 - The United States of America
1799 - Oscar I of Sweden (Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte), French Napoleonic general (d. 1859)
1804 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (d. 1864)
1807 - Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot (d. 1882)
1826 - Stephen Foster, American songwriter (d. 1864)
1845 - Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian (d. 1905)
1854 - Victor Babeş, Romanian bacteriologist (d. 1926)
1847 - James Anthony Bailey, American circus impresario (d. 1906)
1872 - Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933)
1878 - George M. Cohan, American singer, dancer, composer, actor, and writer (d. 1942)
1881 - Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (d. 1968)
1882 - Louis B. Mayer, American film producer (d. 1957)
1883 - Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (d. 1970)
1896 - Mao Dun, Chinese writer (d. 1981)
1900 - Louis Armstrong, American musician (d. 1971)
1902 - Meyer Lansky, Russian-born mobster (d. 1983)
1902 - George Murphy, American dancer, actor, and Senator from California (d. 1992)
1904 - Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976)
1905 - Irving Johnson, American author and adventurer (d. 1991)
1910 - Gloria Stuart, American actress
1911 - Mitch Miller, American bandleader and television personality
1917 - Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
1918 - Ann Landers, American advice columnist (d. 2002)
1918 - Abigail Van Buren, American advice columnist and twin sister to Ann Landers
1920 - Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor
1921 - Gerard Debreu, French-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1921 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
1923 - Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss Federal Councilor
1924 - Eva Marie Saint, American actress
1926 - Alfredo Di Stefano, Argentinian footballer
1927 - Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress
1927 - Neil Simon, American playwright
1929 - Bill Tuttle, baseball player
1930 - George Steinbrenner, baseball team owner
1938 - Bill Withers, American singer and songwriter
1942 - Floyd Little, American football player
1943 - Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German jazz trombonist
1943 - Geraldo Rivera, American reporter and talk show host
1946 - Ron Kovic, American peace activist
1946 - Ed O'Ross, American actor
1951 - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American politician
1961 - Richard Garriott, English video game designer
1962 - Pam Shriver, American tennis player
1967 - Vinny Castilla, Mexican Major League Baseball player
1967 - Andy Walker, Canadian television personality
1973 - Gackt, Japanese singer
1974 - La'Roi Glover, American football player
1976 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer