EVENTS:
- 1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
- 1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
- 1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
- 1871 – The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.
- 1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
- 1948 – In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
- 1966 – The Church of Satan is established at the Black House in San Francisco.
- 1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.
- 1993 – Monica Seles is stabbed by Günter Parche, an obsessed fan, during a quarterfinal match of the 1993 Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany
- 1995 – U.S. President Bill Clinton becomes the first President to visit Northern Ireland.
- 2014 – A bomb blast in Ürümqi kills three people and injures 79 others.
- 2019 – Emperor of Japan Akihito abdicates, and is succeeded by his son, Naruhito.
- 2021 – Forty-five men and boys are killed in the Meron stampede in Israel.
BIRTHS:
- 1723 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (d. 1806)
- 1870 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
- 1901 – Simon Kuznets, Belarusian-American economist, statistician, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- 1902 – Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1910 – Sri Sri, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1983)
- 1926 – Shrinivas Khale, Indian composer (d. 2011)
- 1947 – Tom Køhlert, Danish footballer and manager
- 1966 – Dave Meggett, American football player and coach
- 1983 – Chris Carr, American football player
- 1984 – Lee Roache, English footballer
- 1987 – Alipate Carlile, Australian footballer
- 1987 – Rohit Sharma, Indian cricketer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
