Passed this day in 1855 in Mexico, the Ley Juárez abolished special courts for the clergy and military in an attempt by justice minister Benito Juárez to eliminate the remnants of colonialism in Mexico and promote equality.
| 1946: | | At least 6,000 Vietnamese civilians were killed in a French naval bombardment of the port city of Haiphong. |
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| 1935: | | Lincoln Ellsworth landed on Ellsworth Land, Antarctica, and claimed it for the United States, a claim the U.S. government has never taken up. |
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| 1883: | | | Mexican painter José Clemente Orozco, considered the most important 20th-century muralist to work in fresco, was born. |
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| 1863: | | The Battle of Chattanooga, a decisive Union victory during the American Civil War, began. |
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| 1765: | | The British Stamp Act received its first repudiation from jurists in the Frederick County Court House in Frederick, Maryland. |
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| 1407: | | Louis I, duc d'Orléans, was assassinated by agents of John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, during a power struggle over control of the French king Charles VI. |
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