June 7

1098 – During the First Crusade, Saracen forces return and besiege the city of Antioch taken 5 days earlier by Crusader forces.

1099 – During the First Crusade, Crusader forces besiege Jerusalem, held by the Saracens.

1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.

1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the “Lee Resolution” to the Continental Congress calling for the colonies’ independence from Great Britain. “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” The motion is seconded by John Adams and will lead to the United States Declaration of Independence.

1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.

1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas.

1906 – The Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania is launched from the John Brown Shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland.

1942 – The Battle of Midway ends in American victory, the turning point in the war in the Pacific against Japan.

1965 – The Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibits the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.

1967 – During the Six-Day War, Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem.

1971 – ATF officers raid the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades, which were later determined to be inert, smoke and practice grenades which are perfectly legal to possess.

1981 – The Israeli Air Force attacks and destroys Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor at the Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Center near Baghdad.

1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public. The tour includes a large storage building containing concert gear and the interior of the house.

1991 – Mount Pinatubo erupts on Luzon island in the Philippines.

2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.