1789: North Carolina becomes the 12th state to ratify the United States Constitution, officially making it the law of the land.
1806: Napoleon Bonaparte issues the Berlin Decree, blockading trade with Britain and its allies in an attempt to weaken the British economy.
1877: Thomas Edison announces the successful recording and playback of sound, marking the birth of the phonograph.
1916: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson appoints Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court, making him the first Jewish justice in the court's history.
1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono release their anti-war song "Give Peace a Chance," which becomes an international anthem for peace.
1974: Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in an iconic boxing match known as "The Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).
1985: The first issue of "USA Today" newspaper is published, introducing a new format and style in American journalism.
1995: The Dayton Agreement is signed, putting an end to the Bosnian War and dividing Bosnia and Herzegovina into two autonomous entities.
2002: NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft enters orbit around Mars, beginning a two-year mission to study the planet's geology and search for evidence of past water activity.
2013: Ukrainian protestors gather in Kyiv's Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in what eventually escalates into the Euromaidan protests, leading to political upheaval and regime change in Ukraine.