On July 30, 1619, the first representative assembly in the American colonies met at Jamestown, Va. Laws were enacted against idleness, drunkenness and gambling.
In 1718 William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, died.
In 1818 British author Emily Bronte was born.
In 1863 auto pioneer Henry Ford was born in Greenfield, Mich.
In 1880 Robert R. McCormick, who was to become the editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, was born in Chicago.
In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating the WAVES, a women`s auxiliary in the Navy.
In 1953 race riots broke out in Chicago`s Trumbull Park housing project after a black family moved into the previously all-white community.
In 1965, as former President Harry Truman looked on, President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law during a ceremony in Truman`s hometown of Independence, Mo.