July 14th

1798 - The U.S. Congress passed the Sedition Act. The act made it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the U.S. government.

1868 - Alvin J. Fellows patented the tape measure.

1891 - The primacy of Thomas Edison's lamp patents was upheld in the court decision Electric Light Company vs. U.S. Electric Lighting Company.

1911 - Harry N. Atwood landed an airplane on the lawn of the White House to accept an award from U.S. President William Taft.

1914 - Robert H. Goddard patented liquid rocket-fuel.

1945 - American battleships and cruisers bombarded the Japanese home islands for the first time.

1946 - Dr. Benjamin Spock’s "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" was first published.

1951 - The first sports event to be shown in color, on CBS-TV, was the Molly Pitcher Handicap at Oceanport, NJ.

1951 - The George Washington Carver National Monument in Joplin, MO, became the first national park to honor an African American.

1965 - The American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, and sent back photographs of the planet.

1967 - Eddie Mathews of the Houston Astros hit his 500th career home run.

1968 - Hank Aaron, while with the Atlanta Braves, hit his 500th career home run.

1981 - The All-Star Game was postponed because of a 33-day-old baseball players strike. The game was held on August 9.

1986 - Richard W. Miller became the first FBI agent to be convicted of espionage.

1998 - Los Angeles sued 15 tobacco companies for $2.5 billion over the dangers of secondhand smoke.

2003 - Jerry Springer officially filed papers to run for the U.S. Senate from Ohio.

2009 - The iTunes Music Store reached 1.5 billion applications downloaded.