May 31

1775 – A month after the battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, the Mecklenburg Resolves, annulling and vacating all laws originating from the authority of the British King or Parliament, and ending recognition of the Crown’s power in the colony of North Carolina are adopted by the Mecklenburg County Committee of Safety.

1790 – Congress enacts the first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.

1862 – During the Peninsula Campaign; outside Richmond, Virginia,  Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston engages Union forces under General George B. McClellan

1864 – During  the Overland Campaign; at Cold Harbor, Virginia, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under General Ulysses S. Grant.

1879 – Gilmore’s Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.

1889 – After several days of heavy rain, the earthen work South Fork Dam of the Little Conemaugh River fails, sending a 60 foot wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania killing over 2,200 people.

1921 – A race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma results in the deaths of an estimated  55 to 300 black people.

1924 – A fire at the Hope Development School in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, California, kills 24 people, mostly disabled children.

1951 – Under authority given by the Constitution in Article I, Section 8, which provides that “The Congress shall have Power….To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces“, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 United States Code §§ 801–946 takes effect as the legal system of the U.S. Armed Forces.

1955 – The U.S. Supreme Court expands on its Brown v. Board of Education decision by ordering district courts and school districts to enforce educational desegregation “at all deliberate speed.”

1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.

1973 – The Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.

1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, running from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska is completed.

1985 – 41 tornadoes strike Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada leaving 76 dead.

2008 – Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, at 9.72 seconds.

2013 – A record 2.6 mile wide, multiple vortex, EF5 force tornado, strikes El Reno, Oklahoma, killing 8 people, 4 of them ‘storm chasers’ and injuring 151 more.

2019 – A disgruntled city employee commits mass murder at a municipal office building at Virginia Beach, Virginia, shooting and killing 12 people and wounding 4 others before being engaged and killed by Police.

2020 – SpaceX Crew Dragon 2 Endeavour docks with the International Space Station and astronauts Hurley and Behnken transfer over to spend 62 days in space.