1787: Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, five days after Delaware.
1800: Washington, D.C., established as the capital of the United States of America.
1858: Province of Canada issues 1¢, 5¢, 10¢ and 20¢ pieces.
1831: William Lyon Mackenzie is expelled from the Upper Canada Assembly by a Tory majority vote of 24 to 15 after he called the assembly a “sycophantic office” in his newspaper, The Colonial Advocate. A mob of several hundred then entered the assembly, demanding that Governor Colborne dissolve parliament; he refused. Mackenzie is later re-elected in a by-election on January 2, 1832, by 119 votes to one.
1901: Italian scientist and engineer Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio message on Signal Hill, from 3,200 km away across the Atlantic Ocean from Poldhu, Cornwall.
1904: Eaton's installs Toronto's first escalator in the Queen Street West store.
1933: Ace Bailey collides with Bruins player Eddie Shore and ends up with a fractured skull; ends playing career after seven seasons in the NHL.
1981: Edmonton Oilers’ Wayne Gretzky scores his 50th goal of the season in just 39 games.
2003: Paul Martin sworn in as Canada’s 21st Prime Minister.