March 4
1152-Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of the Germans
1461-Henry VI is deposed by Edward IV
1493-Christopher Colombus arrives in Lisbon, Portugal from his discovery of the Americas
1519-Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico
1629-Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter
1681-Charles II grants land charter to William Penn to settle Pennsylvania
1776-Americans capture "Dorchester Heights" dominating the Port of Boston
1778-Continental Congress ratifies Treaty of Amity and Commerce and Treaty of Alliance with France.
1789-First U.S. Congress meets in New York, putting the U.S. Constitution into effect.
1791-Vermont is admitted as the 14th state in the United States
1794-The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified
1797-John Adams succeeds George Washington as President of the United States, marking the first peaceful transfer of power between elected leaders in modern times
1837-Chicago is incorporated as a city
1861-First national flag of the Confederate States of America ("The Stars and Bars") is adopted
1865-The third (and last) national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
1877-Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake premiers at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow
1894-Great fire in Shanghai, over 1,000 buildings destroyed
1902-American Automobile Association established in Chicago
1904-Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops
1911-Victor Berger (Wisconsin) becomes the first socialist congressman in U.S.
1917-Jeanette Rankin (Montana) becomes first female U.S. Congressman
1917-Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia's renunciation of the throne is made public and Tsar Alexander II publicly issues his abdication manifesto.
1925-Calvin Coolidge becomes the first U.S. President to have his inauguration broadcast on radio
1929-Charles Curtis becomes the first Native-American Vice-President
1933-Frances Perkins becomes U.S. Secretary of Labor, the first female U.S. Cabinet member.
1933-Bertha Wilson is appointed first female member of Canadian Supreme Court
1976-Northern Ireland Constitution is formerly dissolved, resulting in the direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via British Parliament.
1985-Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS
1997-U.S. President Bill Clinton bans federally funded cloning research.
1998-Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services: U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal laws banning on the job sexual harassment also apply if both parties are the same sex.
2001-A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring 11 people.
2005-United Nations warns that about 90 million Africans could be infected by HIV virus in the future without further action in preventing the spread of the disease.
