November 3

1493 – On his second voyage to the new world, Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean.

1534 – English Parliament passes the first Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the Anglican Church.

1783 – The American Continental Army is disbanded.

1868 – John Willis Menard (R-LA) is the first African American elected to Congress. Because of an electoral challenge, he is never seated.

1903 – Panama declares independence and separates from Colombia.

1908 – William H. Taft is elected the 27th President of the United States.

1911 – Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant, a former manager of General Motors, found the Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit with investors William Little of Little Automobile, and former Buick owner James H. Whiting

1926 – Phoebe ‘Annie Oakley’ Butler dies at Greenville, Ohio, age 66.

1936 – Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected President of the United States.

1946 – Written under supervision of General MacArthur, by occupation officers, the new Constitution of Japan is adopted, ending ‘Imperial Japan’ and reducing the Emperor to a symbolic position

1957 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik with the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.

1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson is elected to a full term as President of the United States.

1973 – NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.

1978 – Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1986 – The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States government has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon and secretly finance the Nicaraguan Contra rebels.

1992 – Arkansas Governor William J. Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States.

2014 – One World Trade Center officially opens as the replacement for the World Trade Center Twin Towers

2020 – The United States presidential election takes place, but not until 5 days later is Joe Biden declared to be the winner.