December 19

1606 – The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who found Jamestown, Virginia Colony

1675 – The militia of the English settlers of the villages of Kingston and West Kingston in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations are victorious against warriors of the Narragansett tribe during King Philip’s (Chief Metacomet ‘s Christian name) War in New England.

1776 – Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled “The American Crisis”.

1777 – The U.S. Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1828 – Vice President John Calhoun sparks political crisis when he anonymously publishes the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828,  stating his view that a state has the right to reject federal law.

1871  – Albert L Jones of New York City patents corrugated paper

1907 – 239 coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

1932 – The BBC Empire Service, now called the World Service begins international broadcasting.

1946 – The First Indochina War between France and the Vietnamese National Army against the Việt Minh and the People’s Army of Vietnam begins

1950 – A Chinese invasion of Tibet forces the Tibetan spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso, Gyalwa Rinpoche, the 14th Dalai Lama, to flee Lhasa for Yadong on the Tibetan-India border

1972 – Apollo 17, the last manned Moon landing mission to date, returns to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, 4 miles from the recovery ship, USS Ticonderoga

1974 – Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States

1984 – The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997 at the end of a 99 year lease, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.

1995 – Having not been included under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Congress finally passes legislation recognizing the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi tribe in Athens Michigan.

1998 –The House of Representatives votes to impeach President Bill Clinton

2016 –Murdering the original driver, a moslem from Tunisia deliberately drives a truck  into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 more.