Today in history, June 15

June 15

Today in history

Today is June 15. On this date in:

1215: King John of England signed the Magna Carta, Latin for the “Great Charter,” a peace agreement between him and rebellious, liberty-seeking barons that didn’t last. Pope Innocent III annulled the treaty before the First Barons’ War. The treaty was revived multiple times and served as a model for colonists who drafted the U.S. Constitution.

1667: French Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys performed the first-known blood transfusion.

1775: The Continental Congress appointed Gen. George Washington as the commander in chief of the Continental Army.

1776: Nearly three weeks before the Fourth of July, Delaware leaders voted to declare its independence from Britain and Pennsylvania in New Castle, its future state capital. The date became known as Delaware’s Separation Day.

1804: New Hampshire became the 13th of the 17 states to ratify the 12th Amendment, giving it the three-fourths necessary to make it part of the U.S. Constitution. The amendment restructured U.S. presidential elections by adjusting the Electoral College to eliminate deadlocks.

1836: Arkansas was admitted as the 25th state. The land was part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France.

1844: The U.S. Patent Office approved a patent for Charles Goodyear’s vulcanized rubber, a combination of India rubber, sulfur and white lead that was heat resistant.

1864: U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton officially declared the former Arlington House estate belonging to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to become a national cemetery about a month after the first military burial there in Virginia. Arlington originally sat on 200 acres and grew to more than triple that size.

1864: Congress approved a bill equalizing pay, arms, equipment and medical services for Black American troops. Congress also made the measure retroactive.

1904: Fire killed over 1,000 of about 1,350 people aboard the steamboat PS General Slocum, a side-wheel passenger ship. Most of the passengers were women and children from the German American community of New York’s Lower East Side. The ship caught fire in the East River on its way to Long Island’s North Shore.

1944: After heavy naval gunfire and aircraft bombing, U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of the Japanese-held island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. It was the first heavily defended land mass in the Central Pacific to be assaulted by U.S. amphibious forces. America’s victory in Saipan was key to its strategy for striking Japan with B-29 bombers.

1973: Motown Records released Marvin Gaye’s single, “Let’s Get It On,” which went on to top Billboard’s rhythm and blues as well as pop charts.

1989: Sub Pop Records released Nirvana’s debut album, “Bleach,” which the band had recorded at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle for about $600.

1996: Iconic American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died at 79.

2020: The Food and Drug Administration rescinded the emergency use authorization that allowed hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate to be donated to the Strategic National Stockpile for the treatment of COVID-19.

2022: Microsoft ended support for its web browser, Internet Explorer, which debuted in August 1995, in favor of its new one dubbed Edge.

– USA TODAY Network