In September 26, 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.
In 1789, Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.
In 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was established.
In 1933, the James Hilton novel “Lost Horizon” was first published in London by Macmillan & Co. Ltd. and in New York by William Morrow & Co.
In 1957, the musical “West Side Story” opened on Broadway.
In 1960, the first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience from Chicago.
In 1964, the situation comedy “Gilligan’s Island” premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.
In 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America announced it had created a new rating, NC-17, to replace the X rating.
In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.)
In 1996, President Clinton signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their babies.
In 2003, President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a two-day summit at Camp David.
In 2005, Army Pfc. Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury in Fort Hood, Texas, on six of seven counts stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. (England was sentenced to three years in prison; she ended up serving half that time.)