July 1: Battle of Gettysburg begins, Canada is a country

July 1, 11:14 PMPortland History ExaminerNatalie Leavitt

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Maine Fast Fact: The University of Maine system has nine universities across the state: the University of Maine at Augusta, Farmington, Fort Kent, Machias, Orono (flagship campus), Rockland, Presque Isle, the School of Law and Southern Maine.

Births:

• 1888: Thomas Green Clemson, American politician, statesman, served as an ambassador, U.S. Superintendent of Agriculture and founder of Clemson University
• 1906: Estée Lauder, American co-founder of the cosmetic company Estée Lauder Company.
• 1934: Sydney Pollack, American film director
• 1945: Deborah Harry, American musician, singer/songwriter and lead singer of the group Blondie
• 1951: Fred Schneider, American singer, front man and co-founder of the group The B-52’s
• 1952: Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor
• 1961: Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales
• 1967: Pamela Anderson, Canadian model, American actress
• 1971: Missy Elliot, American rapper and singer
• 1977: Liv Tyler, American actress
• 1982: Hilarie Burton, American actress

Deaths:

• 1860: Charles Goodyear, American inventor, first American to vulcanize rubber, the tire and rubber company Goodyear was named after him by its founder Frank Seiberling
• 1896: Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author, known for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• 1999: Forrest Edward Mars, Sr., founder of the Mars Candy Company
• 2000: Walter Matthau, American actor
• 2004: Marlon Brando, American actor
• 2005: Luther Vandross, American singer

History:

• 1863: The Battle of Gettysburg begins.
• 1867: The Canadian Confederation is created when the British North America Act takes effect as Canada’s Constitution and John A. Macdonald is sworn in as the first Prime Minister.
• 1870: The United States Department of Justice officially opens.
• 1873: Prince Edward Island is included into the Canadian Confederation.
• 1890: Bermuda and Canada become linked by telegraph cable.
• 1908: SOS is made into the international distress signal.
• 1921: The Communist Party of China is founded.
• 1931: United Airlines, Boeing Air Transport at the time, begins service.
• 1933: Chinese immigration is suspended in Canada by the Canadian Parliament.
• 1960: Somalia becomes independent; Ghana becomes a Republic and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is no longer Ghana’s head of state.
• 1962: Rwanda becomes independent; Burundi becomes independent.
• 1963: The United States Postal Service introduces the five digit ZIP Code.
• 1966: The Medicare federal insurance program goes into effect.
• 1968: The Nuclear non-proliferation treaty is signed by 62 countries in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow.
• 1972: The first Gay Pride march takes place in England.
• 1979: The Walkman is introduced by Sony.
• 1980: Canada makes “O Canada” its national anthem.
• 1984: The Motion Picture Association of America introduces the PG-13 rating.
• 1991: President George H.W. Bush nominates federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
• 2000: Vermont’s civil unions’ law goes into effect which grants gay couples most of the benefits, rights and responsibilities of marriage; South Carolina removes the Confederate Flag from atop its State House.
• 2002: The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute people for crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
• 2004: Saddam Hussein makes his first public appearance in an Iraqi court after being captured seven months earlier.
• 2005: Supreme Court Judge Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice, announces her retirement.
• 2007: England bans smoking in all public indoor places, becoming the final country in the UK to ban public smoking; Australia also bans smoking.

July 1 was the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the battle with the largest number of casualties in the Civil War. Union Major General George Gordon Meade’s Army of the Potomac stopped attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and ended Lee’s invasion of the North. Mainer General Joshua L. Chamberlain and the 20th Maine defended Little Round Top from the Confederate Army on July 2. The three day Battle of Gettysburg is known as the turning point of the Civil War.

July 1 is Canada Day, the anniversary of the day Canada was made into a single country with the enactment of the British North America Act. It is also Independence Day in Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia, and Republic Day in Ghana.