- 1638 | Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent
- 1873 | A law is approved by the Spanish National Assembly in Puerto Rico to abolish slavery
- 1888 | In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional Association Football league, is founded
- 1923 | The first radio broadcast of ice hockey is made by Foster Hewitt
- 1960 | Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser
- 1972 | The United States Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification
- 1972 | Eisenstadt v. Baird decision by the United States Supreme Court allows unmarried persons the right to contraceptives
- 1978 | Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico
- 1997 | The Comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to Earth
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