On this day in history
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Source: HistoryNet.com
1215: King John signs the Magna Carta.
1752: Benjamin Franklin and his son test the relationship between electricity and lightning by flying a kite in a thunder storm.
1775: George Washington is named Commander-in-Chief by Congress.
1846: Great Britain and the United States agree on a joint occupation of Oregon Territory.
1864: The Battle for Petersburg begins.
1887: Carlisle Graham survives his second ride over the Horseshoe Falls in a barrel.
1894: Unincorporated town of Red Deer is established.
1898: The U.S. House of representatives approves the annexation of Hawaii.
1902: Maritime Provinces switch from Eastern to Atlantic time zone.
1916: President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.
1917: Great Britain pledges the release of all Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.
1932: Gaston Means is sentenced to 15 years for fraud in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
1947: The All India Congress accepts a British plan for the partition of India.
1958: Greece severs military ties to Turkey because of the Cyprus issue.
1962: Canada becomes the third power to reach space with the launch of a scientific satellite by NASA.
1991: Lucien Bouchard, former Minister of the Environment in the PC government of Brian Mulroney, officially founds a new independent party, the Bloc Québécois.
2012: PM Stephen Harper announces the construction of a new $1-billion bridge from Windsor to Detroit; will be named the Gordie Howe International Bridge after the Detroit hockey legend.
