1785 - Thomas Jefferson is appointed minister to France.
1848 - Congress ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War.
1864 - U. S. Grant became commander of the Union armies during the Civil War.
1876 - The first telephone call ("Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.") was made by Alexander Graham Bell.
1969 - James Earl Ray was sentenced in Memphis, Tennessee, to 99 years in prison for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., in April 1968.