What Happened in July?

Pioneer Day. Completing a treacherous thousand-mile exodus, an ill and exhausted Brigham Young and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) arrived in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon, as they were commonly known, viewed their pioneer arrival as the founding of a Mormon homeland. hence Pioneer Day. More

Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, declares its independence. Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It has a population of around 5.5 million. More

The Seneca Falls Convention, widely recognized as the first women's rights convention in the United States begins in Seneca Falls, New York. Organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and several Quaker women, it aimed to discuss the social, civil, and religious conditions and rights of women. The convention is credited with launching the women's rights movement and the fight for woman suffrage. Lucretia Mott, and Frederick Douglass were among those who played key roles in the convention. More

Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and a former slave, delivers his powerful speech, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?", in Rochester, New York, at an event organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. Douglass used the occasion to remind all of the continuing enslavement of millions of people and poignantly articulated the stark contrast between the ideals of liberty and the reality of bondage for enslaved people.

American Commodore Matthew Perry arrives with four warships at the Tokyo Bay harbor, seeking to re-establish trade relations with Japan. Perry was not the first westerner to visit the islands. Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch traders engaged in regular trade with Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries, but attempts by the Europeans to convert the Japanese to Christianity and unfair trading practices led Japan to expel most foreigners in 1639.  Expand +

The Battle of Gettysburg takes place in Pennsylvania. The loss ended Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s ambitious second quest to invade the North and bring the Civil War to a swift end. With more than 50,000 estimated casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the conflict. More

Kit Carson begins his campaign against the Navajo that resulted in their removal from the Four Corners area to southeastern New Mexico. More

The "Draft Riots - Sparked by the first federal draft in U.S. history, New York City erupts in violence in the largest civil uprising in US history.  Expand +

The U.S. Secret Service officially begins operations within the Department of the Treasury, less than three months after President Abraham Lincoln authorized the agency's creation. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in as the first Secret Service chief (now known as “director”). The initial focus of the Secret Service was to combat the widespread counterfeiting of U.S. currency. It wasn't until
1902 when the Secret Service assumed full-time responsibility for protection of the President. At that time, only two men were assigned full-time to the White House Detail. More

The New Orleans Massacre: a mob of ex-Confederates led an armed attack on a group of Louisiana Republicans and their African American supporters as they convened in the Mechanics Institute Building in New Orleans, site of a reconvened Louisiana Constitutional Convention, resulting in 38 people dead and 146 wounded. More

Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the National Day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, when the three separate colonies of the United Canadas, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united into a single dominion within the British Empire called Canada.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a cornerstone of civil rights, is ratified. It was passed by Congress two years earlier on June 13, 1866. South Carolina became the 28th State to ratify it on July 9, 1868 at which time the constitutionally necessary approval by three-quarters of the states (28 of 37) was reached. Secretary of State William Henry Seward certified on July 28 that the 14th Amendment had become part of the U.S. Constitution. Expand +

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed by the Senate in 1966, is officially adopted, having been ratified by the requisite number of states. The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states. More

President James A. Garfield was shot and mortally wounded by an assassin with a .44 handgun, as he entered a railway station in Washington, D.C. Garfield's doctors were unable to remove the bullet, which was lodged in the President's pancreas. He died of blood poisoning and complications from the shooting in a hospital room on September 19th. 1881. More

Sitting Bull and his his remaining followers return to the United States from Canada after facing starvation and lack of resources and surrendered to U.S. Army officials on July 19–20, 1881 at Fort Buford, North Dakota. Expand +

Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, pharmacist, and pioneer in microbiology, successfully tests his rabies vaccine on a 9 year-old boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog fourteen times. This first vaccination was a success and the boy never developed rabies , becoming the first ever human being to be vaccinated. Louis Pasteur kept quiet about his success as the experiment had been conducted in relative secrecy. However in September 1885, Louis Pasteur administered his second treatment and was successful again, and publicly shared the story, leading to the opening  of a special rabies vaccination clinic. In 1887 the Institut Pasteur opened its doors. More

The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published by Charles H. Dow, of Dow Jones & Company, (founded in 1882). The newspaper's accuracy in reporting and the breadth and detail of its coverage, quickly  gave it respect and success becoming an important source of business journalism. View historical Milestones

Six prominent and politically powerful Wyoming cattlemen lynched and hanged Jim Averell and Ella Watson, the woman they called Cattle Kate. They had both been wrongly accused of cattle rustling. The lynching rocked the nation as the shocking story traveled quickly across the country. The men who killed Watson and Averell never went to trial. The grand jury was made of 16 people, seven of whom were cattlemen and could not find two key witnesses. Expand +

Idaho is admitted into the Union becoming the 43rd State.

Wyoming is admitted into the Union becoming the 44th State. More