This Day in History

1847: The first adhesive U.S. postage stamps go on sale.
1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railroad Act, which authorizes the building and operation of a transcontinental railroad. It is completed seven years later.
1863: In the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg begins in Pennsylvania; Union forces win a major victory over the Confederates after 3 days of brutal fighting.
1867: The Dominion of Canada is formed by the confederation of Upper and Lower Canada and some of the Maritime Provinces.
1893: Pres. Grover Cleveland undergoes surgery on a cancerous growth in his mouth; the surgery is kept secret until 1917.
1943: Wage and salary earners start having money withheld from their paychecks to cover their income tax.
1944: The Bretton Woods Conference, which results in the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), begins in New Hampshire.
1949: With French backing, South Vietnam is established as a separate country with its capital at Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).
1957: The International Geophysical Year (IGY), an international project of concentrated, coordinated exploration of the earth and its cosmic environment, begins.
1960: Ghana is proclaimed a republic. Somalia is granted independence.
1962: Rwanda and Burundi become independent.
1963: The United States introduces the ZIP code for mail.
1968: The United States, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and 58 other nations sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
1974: In Argentina, Pres. Juan Perón dies and is succeeded by his wife, Isabel.
1997: After 99 years as a British territory, Hong Kong is returned to China.
2002: An accidental U.S. air force attack leaves dozens dead in Southern Afghanistan, prompting President Hamid Karzai to demand an investigation.