1867: Alaska Purchase approved.
After much opposition, a deal negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward for the U.S. purchase of the Russian colony of Alaska was approved, and on this day in 1867 the U.S. flag was flown over the capital, Sitka.
| 1931: | | | American inventor Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, New Jersey. |
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| 1922: | | The British Broadcasting Company, Ltd., was established, to be replaced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1927. |
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| 1898: | | Puerto Rico was turned over to the United States following the Spanish-American War. |
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| 1854: | | The Ostend Manifesto was declared, by which three U.S. diplomats communicating to Secretary of State William L. Marcy advocated U.S. seizure of Cuba from Spain. |
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| 1469: | | | Isabella I, queen of Castile, married Ferdinand II, king of Aragon. |
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