July 1, 1867. The Constitution Act, 1867 is enacted,  uniting the three separate colonies of the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single Dominion within the British Empire called Canada.

July 2, 1881. President James A. Garfield was shot as he entered a railway station in Washington, D.C. He died on September 19.

June 4, 1989. In Beijing's Tiananmen Square, unarmed protestors are fired upon by soldiers on order from the Chinese government.

June 6, 1872.  Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in a presidential election in Rochester, New York.

May 1, 1960.  An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Central Russia. Powers was tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released in exchange for an imprisoned Soviet spy.

May 4, 1886.  The Haymarket Square Riot occurred in Chicago after 180 police officers advanced on 1,300 persons gathered in the square listening to speeches of labor activists and anarchists. An incendiary device  thrown by an unknown person caused police to open fire and led to the death of several people, including eight policemen.

April 2, 1513.  Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon sighted Florida and claimed it for Spain. His landing site is now present day St. Augustine -  the oldest city in the continental United States.

April 4, 1949. NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created with the signing of a treaty by twelve nations united for common military defense against the threat of expansion by Soviet Russia into Western Europe.