1792

President George Washington signed an act creating the United States Post Office Department, the predecessor of the U.S. Postal Service.

1905

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, upheld, 7-2, compulsory vaccination laws intended to protect the public’s health.

1962

Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Project Mercury’s Friendship 7 spacecraft.