Fact of the day

On This Day:
Thursday July 4, 2013

This is the 185th day of the year, with 180 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: America The Beautiful

The national hymn, "America The Beautiful," was published in "The Congregationalist" in 1895. The poem was written by a Wellesley College English literature professor, Katharine Lee Bates, to commemorate the Fourth of July.

Holidays

United States: Independence Day.
Feast day of The Martyrs of Dorchester, St. Andrew of Crete, St. Elizabeth of Portugal, St. Ulric of Augsburg, St. Bertha of Blangy, and St. Odo of Canterbury.
Wisconsin: Indian Rights Day.

Events

1776 - The Continental Congress adopted the "Declaration of Independence."
1802 - The United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, New York. 
1817 - Construction began on the Erie Canal, to connect Lake Erie and the Hudson River.
1832 - "America," written by Dr Samuel Francis Smith, was sung in public for the first time, at the Park Street Church in Boston.
1845 - Henry David Thoreau began his two-year simple living experiment at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts. 
1848 - The "Communist Manifesto" was published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
1894 - After seizing power, Judge Stanford B. Dole declared Hawaii a republic.
1946 - The United States granted the Philippine Islands their independence.
1955 - "The Soupy Sales Show" premiered on TV.
1959 - America's 49-star flag, honoring Alaskan statehood, was officially unfurled.
1960 - The 50-star flag, to include Hawaii, made its debut, in Philadelphia.
1966 - President Lyndon Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act.
1970 - Casey Kasem hosted "American Top 40" on the radio for the first time.
1976 - The United States celebrates its bicentennial.
1997 - NASA's Mars Pathfinder became the first U.S. spacecraft to land on Mars in more than two decades.
2003 - Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault after a woman accused him of sexual misconduct. The case is later dismissed (September 1, 2004) and the charges dropped when the accuser says she will no longer cooperate.
2004 - The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Births

1804 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author.
1826 - Stephen Foster, American songwriter.
1872 - Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States of America (1923-1929).
1883 - Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist.
1900 - Louis Armstrong (Satchmo), American jazz trumpeter and singer.
1911 - Mitch Miller, American musician, record company executive, producer, arranger.
1918 - Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman) and Abigail Van Buren (Pauline Esther Friedman), American advice columnists.
1927 - Neil Simon, American award-winning playwright.
1930 - George Steinbrenner, American businessman and baseball executive.
1958 - Kirk Pengilly, Australian musician.

Deaths

1826 - John Adams, 2nd President of the United States of America.
1826 - Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States of America .
1831 - James Monroe, 5th President of the United States of America.
1995 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress.
2003 - Barry White (born Barrence Eugene Carter), American singer.