Portal:United States/On this day/July 5

On this day for the United States

July 5:

Events

• 1775 - US Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition.
• 1813 - War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin.
• 1814 - War of 1812: Battle of Chippawa - American Major General Jacob Brown defeats British General Phineas Riall at Chippawa, Ontario.
• 1934 - "Bloody Thursday" - Police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco.
• 1935 - The National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor relations in the United States, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1937 - Spam, the luncheon meat, was introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation.
• 1947 - Larry Doby signs a contract with the Cleveland Indians baseball team, becoming the first black player in the American League. (Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League 11 weeks earlier.)
• 1950 - Korean War: Task Force Smith - First clash between American and North Korean forces.
• 1951 - William Shockley invents the junction transistor.
• 1954 - Elvis Presley has his first commercial recording session. He sang That's All Right (Mama) and Blue Moon of Kentucky. Widely considered to be the birth of Rock and Roll.
• 1971 - Right to vote: the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon.
• 1975 - Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title.
• 1989 - Iran-Contra Affair: Oliver North is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service.
• 1994 - The United States announced it would refuse further unrestricted immigration from Haiti.
• 1998 - Japan launches a probe to Mars, and thus joins the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.