This Day in History – 4th July

This Day in History is DUE’s daily dose of trivia for all the history buffs out there. So sit back and take a ride to all the fascinating things that happened today!

People are trapped in history and history is trapped in people, and hence, every day has been a significant one in the foibles of History. Let’s take a tour of “This Day in History – 4th of July”.

1776 US Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from Great Britain

By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists’ motivations for seeking independence.

Read more here.

1827 Slavery abolished in New York

Slavery officially ended in New York in 1827. When the Gradual Emancipation law was passed in 1799 it did not apply to persons enslaved at the time, but gradually emancipated children of enslaved mothers born after the enactment of the law.

1829 The first London bus “omnibus”, operated by George Shillibeer, begins service between Marylebone Road and Bank Junction

On this day in history, the first two omnibuses left for the Bank Junction, in the city of London. The route that was chosen was along Marylebone Road, Euston Road, Pentonville Road, City Road, Moorgate, and Princess Street. This new service was provided by Mr. George Shillibeer, who was born in 1797 at Tottenham Court Road, London. Shillibeer had seen this kind of operation while working in Paris in 1825 for M. Lafitte, who, besides being a banker, was also the proprietor of the world’s first omnibus that Shillibeer had been assisting with the building.

1831 “America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee)” is 1st sung in Boston

It was first sung in public on July 4, 1831, at a children’s concert at the Park Street Church, Boston, and published in 1832. Let Freedom Ring.

1884 Statue of Liberty presented to the US in Paris

The Statue of Liberty or in full Liberty Enlightening the World was first proposed by the French thinker Édouard René de Laboulaye as a gift from the French people to America and to commemorate the abolition of slavery. It was designed by the French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi.

1887 M.A Jinnah begins his studies at Sindh Madressatul Islam University in Karachi

The future founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, on this day in history, begins his studies at Sindh Madressatul Islam University in Karachi. He studied here for the longest period of his academic life, from 1887 to 1892.

1918 Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne

On this day in history, Mehmed VI became the sultan just before the end of World War I and while the Ottomans were in the middle of exterminating the Armenian population, he did not last long. Months after his reign was proclaimed, Allied forces occupied Constantinople at the end of the war, and this awoke a Turkish national uprising led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

1934 Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb

On this day in History, Szilard had conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear fission reactor in 1934, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein’s signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb.

2019 Theft at the oldest mummy’s of Egypt

Egypt, on this day in history, had claimed that the 3,000-year-old Tutankhamun bust is stolen as it sells for $6 million at auction at Christie’s.

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